How To Get Rid of Ingrown Hairs

To understand how to get rid of Ingrown Hairs, you first need to understand what causes them, so that you can start to take preventative measures before you run into any problems. In some respects, their name is fairly self explanatory - it is a hair that curls back on itself and starts growing back into the follicle, or that fails to grow out of the follicle and stays embedded in the skin. 

They are unfortunately a very common contra-action after shaving, tweezing and waxing. Although they are nothing to be seriously concerned about, having an ingrown hair (or a few of them) can cause a lot of discomfort and irritation. 

3 Of The Most Common Causes & Fixes

1. Dry Skin

If you are prone to dry skin, you are probably not a stranger to Ingrown Hairs. Essentially a layer of dry skin forms a barrier that traps your hair and either redirects it back into the follicle or simply prevents it from breaking free. 

We recommend tackling dry skin in a multi-phase attack: Exfoliate & Moisturise

A couple of steps that add about a minute to your daily routine can seriously reduce the occurrence of Ingrowns and improve your skin condition enormously.

2. Congested Follicles

After your waxing treatment, your therapist should provide you with aftercare advice that should help minimise the occurrence of Ingrown Hairs. This usually includes: avoiding exercise, tight clothing, hot showers/baths or touching the area for at least 24 hours. While it would be fantastic if everyone followed this advice to the letter, many people will bend the rules in some way or another. When you remove a hair from it's follicle, that follicle will remain 'open' for a period of time. If sweat, moisture or any bacteria find their way into your open follicles, this can lead to ingrown hairs and infection. 

To finish of your LYCON treatment, your therapist should apply our Ingrown X-it Solution  to your freshly-waxed areas. This genius product contains fantastic chemically exfoliating ingredients such as Salicylic Acid & Lactic Acid to keep your follicles free from infection. For best results, we recommend that you continue to use the Ingrown x-it everyday at home when you get out of the shower! 

3. Weakened Hair Shafts

Unlike shaving or depilatory creams, one of the best things about waxing is that the longer you do it, the sparser and lighter your hair will appear. This is because each time we remove the hair follicle from the root, we cause a little bit of damage to the hair bulb. Over time, the new hair that is produced me become weaker and weaker until the bulb eventually stops producing hair. That said, occasionally, these weakened hairs are unable to break through the top layer of skin which can cause ingrowns. 

While you may not have dry skin, we would recommend exfoliating at least twice a week with a good physical exfoliant to ensure that you are helping along the natural process of Desquamation (shedding of dead skin cells that lie on the surface) and helping these weaker hairs pop through. Dry body brushing is useful for this, or you could opt for a creamier in-shower exfoliant like this one from LYCON.