How To Avoid Ingrown Hairs: The IPL Guide To Hair Removal
By Gr0 Core Team
You think you had the perfect shave and got your legs nice and smooth. Finally, no irritation or razor burn! But then, you see it: a hair (or multiple hairs) that is trapped under your skin. You pick at it and pluck at it and hope for the best.
We’ve all been there, and it is so annoying. Shaving (and waxing, sugaring, etc.) is annoying as it is, and on top of it all, you have to deal with ingrown hairs? Not fair. You would think there would be a better solution by now.
Maybe you have even tried a few tips and tricks to avoid them. Popular tricks for waxing include using a washcloth in a circular motion to gently exfoliate your skin to get rid of those dead skin cells.
Many people also recommend that you use specific shaving cream and a multiple blade razor with warm water if you're shaving your legs or bikini line. You should also use a gentle lotion or moisturizer in the area immediately afterward to avoid a buildup of dry skin. Unfortunately, those tips and tricks are never foolproof, exfoliation can only go so far, and, more times than not, you still end up with ingrown hairs and razor bumps!
Shaving and waxing are actually the worst hair-removal techniques for ingrown hairs, even with the best skincare routine. Especially when waxing, you should take extra precautions to prevent ingrown hairs. The wax sticks and causes skin irritation, setting the stage for ingrown hairs to emerge. With shaving, it's easy to miss a hair or irritate the skin, resulting in ingrown hair growing in.
Tried everything you can think of and still getting ingrown hairs? It might be time to try something else entirely: IPL (intense pulsed light). This is a form of hair removal that works by using pulses of light that have different wavelengths of energy.
It destroys the hair follicle as well as the root, which effectively prevents the hair from growing back. If your hair can’t grow back, it can’t turn into ingrown hair! Read on to learn more about using IPL to avoid ingrown hairs.
What Is An Ingrown Hair?
Basically, ingrown hair is hair that gets trapped just below the surface of the skin. Let’s put it this way: if you remove hair, it is going to grow back. The hair grows into the skin instead of pushing through to the surface. The body then treats this hair as if it were a foreign object and starts to reject it and try to get rid of it.
When not taken care of, it can actually lead to irritated skin, redness and bumps, and even infection. These small bumps can be papules or pustules (which are pus-filled). The bump might be painful to the touch or it might itch, and they tend to look something like a pimple. The worst part is that you can get ingrown hairs anywhere that you've removed hair, from your armpits to your pubic area. For some with extra sensitive skin, they can even happen when you remove facial hair.
While some people just get them once in a while, for others, it is a regular occurrence. They tend to be especially common for people with curly hair because as the hair curls, it can reenter the skin. If this is the case, you want to be adamant about addressing the root cause, which is hair growth. The hair regrowth itself is what directly leads to ingrown hairs.
If you get one, here’s what not to do: don’t pick at it. Resist the urge (we know it is hard) because picking at it will only make it worse. In fact, you could actually push the hair deeper into the skin or get bacteria into the pores of your skin, making it more likely you will get an infection.
Typically, you can leave it alone, and it will go away on its own, or it will loosen and can be removed the next time you shave. Alternatively, you can use a sterilized needle to gently loosen the hair and then use tweezers to pluck it.
So, it might seem like you are stuck. Remove your body hair and be hair-free but get ingrown hairs, or leave your body hair, do not remove it, and be annoyed. That hardly seems fair, right? We go through all this trouble to have smooth skin and be hair-free; the last thing we should have to deal with is irritating, bumpy, ingrown hairs!
Thankfully, there is a solution that really truly works. It will have you throwing your razors away and canceling all your waxing appointments. And best of all, it will ensure you never get ingrown hair again.
What Is IPL And How Can I Do It At Home?
IPL is a cosmetic procedure that can be used for a variety of things, such as hair removal, addressing redness in the face, and helping you achieve glowing skin. Some devices are specific for facial rejuvenation, while others are made for hair removal.
Thankfully, IPL is not just something you can have done at a dermatologist’s office or spa. You can do it from the comfort of your own home. Do it while you’re lounging on the couch, watching a show, listening to music. You get the picture; it is super easy and simple!
Being able to do your own hair removal at home makes everything so much easier. You will not have to keep scheduling appointments and wasting tons of money. Hair removal at the dermatologist’s office is expensive! Buying a handheld IPL device is a smarter, more cost-effective decision.
Is IPL Effective For Hair Removal And Avoiding Ingrown Hairs?
Yes, IPL is very effective for both removing body hair and avoiding ingrown hairs entirely. In fact, it is the only hair removal method that will completely prevent ingrown hairs from happening. Other hair removal methods might actually make ingrown hairs worse, depending on the method and your skin type.
Take our IPL laser hair removal handset, for example. It is extremely effective at slowing the regrowth of your body hair. Most users begin to see results in as little as three to four weeks, which can be compared to the typical six to eight visits it takes at the dermatologist.
It is much gentler than other forms of hair removal. There are five different strength settings you can try. Even the lowest setting will still give you excellent results, but it will all depend on your skin type to decide which setting will be the most effective for you.
The KENZZI IPL device is designed to last for ten years (or longer) with proper use. That is a long time of not having to buy razors or get waxed. On top of that, you will not have to worry about ingrown hairs while using the device!
Using the IPL device for hair removal is pretty much a pain-free process. If anything, you might feel a slight snapping sensation, but you should have no redness, pain, or irritation afterward. It is even safe for those with sensitive skin to use. You should start by using the lowest strength setting on the device to see how your skin reacts, and then you can work your way up to higher and stronger settings.
Conclusion
Ingrown hairs are the worst. They happen when our hairs grow into the skin rather than out of it. While they are more annoying than anything, they can lead to infections in the worst-case scenarios. Otherwise, it is pretty common to have red bumps that can be pus-filled.
Some itchiness may occur as well.
Even if you shave or wax your hair regularly, you will pretty much always end up with at least one ingrown hair. It is just the way it is because with hair growing back, it is easy for some of it to get trapped underneath the skin’s surface.
It is best to just leave the ingrown hairs alone and wait to see if they go away. Be careful not to pick at them because that could just irritate your skin more. Unfortunately, even exfoliating and prepping your skin for hair removal does not always work. There is only one way to ensure you don’t ever have to deal with ingrown hairs again, and that is with using IPL for hair removal.
KENZZI makes a super simple and effective IPL device that you can use at home. It works to destroy the hair follicle and the root, slowing the regrowth of your body hair. With consistent and proper use, you can eventually get to a point where your hair does not grow back at all. If you do not have hair growing, you can’t get ingrown hairs; it is that simple!
Sources:
https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/beauty-hair/a9166539/how-to-stop-ingrown-hairs/
https://www.healthline.com/health/treating-preventing-ingrown-vaginal-hair#_noHeaderPrefixedContent
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