How to Get Rid of Ingrown Hairs With Depilatory
Ingrown hairs are unsightly and often uncomfortable. They can appear as individual red bumps, or as a bumpy, itchy rash that appears a day or two after shaving. An ingrown hair happens when a hair curls down and starts growing into the skin, and it can become infected and painful. You can prevent ingrown hairs somewhat by shaving or waxing correctly, but some people are more prone to them than others.
Things You'll Need
- Tweezers
- Depilatory cream
- Shaving razor
- Electrolysis or laser treatment
Instructions
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Use tweezers to gently pull the ingrown end of the hair out of the skin. Do not pluck the hair, as it can become ingrown again, only deeper. Do not attempt to dig out an ingrown hair if you cannot actually see the hair.
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Try using a depilatory cream instead of shaving. Depilatory creams use chemicals to burn the hair away, so they can remove ingrown hairs. They can also help prevent ingrown hairs because the hair that grows back has a rounded tip that can't pierce the skin as easily as the sharp tips left from shaving. Do not use depilatory creams on an irritated shaving rash or on open sores from ingrown hairs.
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Avoid depilatory waxing, and try shaving and depilatory creams instead. Shaving and creams remove hair from the surface of the skin while waxing yanks the hair out at the root. If hairs curl when they're growing back, they're more likely to burrow under the skin.
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Have professional electrolysis or laser treatments. If chronic ingrown hair is really a problem for you, electrolysis and laser treatments remove hair permanently by killing the hair follicles and preventing the hair from growing back.
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Tips & Warnings
Gentle exfoliation after shaving helps prevent ingrown hairs by clearing away dead skin and cleaning out pores, which will make it harder for hairs to become trapped under the skin. Ingrown hairs resolve themselves in time, though you should keep the area clean to prevent infection. Do not attempt any kind of hair removal on an area that is already irritated from ingrown hairs-- you'll just make the irritation worse and increase the risk of infection.
Resources
- Photo Credit Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons
