Prevent and eliminate ingrown hairs with these 5 dedicated treatments

Ingrown hairs can be tough. Emanated from normal hair follicles found under the skin, they fail to pierce it and therefore continue to grow under the epidermiscausing a kind of small painful pimple that tends more or less to red, even black.

Where do ingrown hairs come from?

They can be favored in particular by the very nature of the hair (the curlier they are, the more risk they have of becoming ingrown), by the thickening of the skin due to the sun (in summer if you sunbathe a lot for example), or even after shaving and waxing.

How to prevent ingrown hairs?

To prevent the appearance of ingrown hairs, we can therefore try exfoliate particularly prone areas of the body — using a cereal scrub or chemical exfoliants based on acids such as BHA, AHA or pHA (the latter is my favorite acid, far too underrated).

Depending on the sensitivity of your skin, you can exfoliate the grains once a week and the day before any waxing or shaving is particularly prudent.

Softer and therefore easier to tolerate for most skin types, chemical exfoliation can be done more frequently, although once a week is usually sufficient. But we can put several days in a row on a recalcitrant ingrown hair, even a small unfailing group like the village of Asterix and Obelix.

How to remove ingrown hair without slaughtering yourself?

But what to do once installed, those annoying ingrown hairs?

Rather than scratching the skin until it bleeds, to remove the intruder – using nails or tweezers previously disinfected with 90° alcohol – at risk of leaving a bad mark or scarthere are other solutions.

Different brands compete in ingenuity to offer dedicated products, which is good for people who no longer know where to turn.

However, keep in mind that they mostly contain the same file type anti-inflammatory active ingredients and exfoliating acids compared to treatments that we could already use for prevention. So you clearly don’t have to buy different cosmetics for an ultra-specific action every time, if you already have what you need at home!

If you want a dedicated product, here’s a Anthology of ingrown hairs…but not only.

5 products to eliminate ingrown hairs gently, without leaving scars

Fur Anti ingrown hair serums

Body care brand Fur has just launched an anti ingrown hair serum.

Contains willow bark with anti-inflammatory properties, lactic acid which is an AHA and therefore exfoliating, and lavender essential oil with tonic properties, of course, but which can be allergenic, so be careful.

This serum is applied after each waxing/shave as a prevention and/or when ingrown hairs seem to eliminate them, either on the face, body, armpits or even on the pubis (but not on the mucous membranes).

If this novelty is not yet available everywhere (it is already sold on the brand’s American eshop at $36 for 32ml if you don’t mind customs duties), such a cocktail of ingredients is more easily found everywhere and responds to the sweet name of Ingrown Concentrate.

Both are used in the same way: massage a few drops into the finger on clean, dry skin and do not rinse.

Skin Doctors Ingrown Hair Lotion

Behind this name which could be that of a drag-queen, the Skin Doctors Ingrow Go Lotion it consists of antibacterial isopropyl alcohol that disinfects pores, anti-inflammatory acetylsalicylic acid to calm the game and glycolic acid (AHA, fruit acid) to exfoliate the skin to ward off the intruder.

A winning combo in large format that is applied once or twice a day, on cleansed and dry skin, and without rinsing, as a delicate treatment to eliminate ingrown hairs in exactly 48 hours!

This galenical lotion in lotion is particularly practical for a large area such as the legs, for example, to be applied with cotton.

Typology’s glycolic acid against ingrown hairs

This type serum contains 10 percent glycolic acid (an AHA), making it a powerful all-purpose exfoliator.

If it proves too strong for the whole face of the most sensitive and reactive skins, it can be used in an ultra-localized way (just a drop to be massaged with your finger) on an ingrown hair on the chin, body, legs, armpits, buttocks and pubis (avoiding the mucous membranes, always, of course).

It is used as a shock treatment only in the evening, on cleansed and dry skin, and it is not rinsed off (you can apply a moisturizer a few minutes later if you feel the need).

Warning: it is essential to apply sunscreen at least the next day on the affected area if exposed, because this product is photosensitizing, like any chemical exfoliant.

Paula’s Choice Acidic Body Lotion for Ingrown Hairs

At first glance, applying a body milk that contains 10% AHA all over your body can be scary, especially if you have sensitive, reactive, dry, even atopic, eczema-prone skin like me. But that’s not the most strategic way to use this Paula’s Choice product…which is expensive, so use sparingly!

Rather, it should be viewed as a chemical exfoliant that doesn’t rinse off. After the shower, on cleansed and dry skin, it can be applied to areas of the body prone to ingrown hairs, but also to brown spots and keratosis pilaris (the perpetual goosebumps effect that some people have, on the back of the arms Often ).

To optimize tolerance of its 10% concentration of AHAs, this treatment also contains emollient and soothing shea butter, as well as green tea, which is also calming and antioxidant. So it’s a much milder combination than it sounds, but it’s also available in a 2% BHA version if that’s what your skin prefers.

Chemical exfoliation requires, it’s photosensitizing, so remember to apply sunscreen to affected areas the next day.

Ingrown hairs aren’t taboo, but we’ll all get there eventually. Courage!

Front page photo credit: Fur.