preventing ingrown hairs

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

i have a question about shaving and ingrown hairs. I've been shaving down there for years and have consistently had ingrown hairs. They're not too bad, and normally i catch them pretty early and am able to use tweezers to pluck the hair before it grows into my skin completely. However, I've had one ingrown hair for awhile now (at least 3 months) and its not growing back out....any ideas on how to fix this?? Also, next time I shave, is there any advice anyone can pass along? I've heard things like soak in a bath before you shave, exfoliate (before or after???) and I've even heard of using a single blade razor. In the past I've used a venus triple blade, but I'd always put in a fresh blade before shaving. Any personal experience on prevention anyone can pass along? Thanks for the help!

Comments

[sparklesistah.livejournal.com]

Hmm, best thing I would imagine would be to pop a warm/hot compress on it, that way the skin around it will expand somwwhat and you may be able to get into it a wee bit easier, but you may well have already tried that so I'm not sure ;-)

And i'm pretty sure you exfoiliate after, at least that's what I do and i've only had one ingrown hair the entire time i've been shaving, and by god it was a nasty lump of a thing haha. I use a Venus triple blade and it's awesome. I wouldn't use a single blade. I have in the past and it's been shite so I use Venus all the time. And I don't even need to put in a fresh blade everytime, i've used it 3-4 times in the past and it's been fine.

The only problem I get sometimes is razorburn which sucks, but I dind, and my hair seems to grow really fast, that if I leave it maybe 4-5 days till it's grown at least half a centimetre or something, then shaving against the grain is SO much better and I get smoother results and little to no razorburn or ingrowns.

It is a pest to leave it to grow but it's so much better than shaving little stubblies.

hoope that helps a bit? :)

[brn-eyd-grl.livejournal.com]

From everything I have read, you are supposed to exfoliate before shaving because it will remove the dead skin cells and better expose the hair to be shaved.

[sparklesistah.livejournal.com]

I should have probably put I do it before I shave as well heh :) I do it before and after and it hasn't bothered me?

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

k, i think its multiple ingrown hairs, cause I found a couple in the zit(you know, the lump it forms) and they were looong, maybe 2 inches? and right now I can see one through the skin but havent been able to get it out. the whole thing is maybe 1.5cm long and on the far side from the hair I can see, is the really dark purple part of the bump...so I'm assuming there's at least one more hair over there, too. I will try the hot compress though and see what happens.

[princesslalena.livejournal.com]

I use desitin after I shave everytime. It really helps. I also try and shave at night before bed so I can out on some comfy panties and loose boxer shorts so nothing gets too warm and moist while that area heals.

[adiekit.livejournal.com]

Desitin is Amazing for shaving. :P I just had to add.

to the OP- it may have turned into a sebatious cyst(sp). Try google, and look up the symptoms.

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

I looked that up and thankfully thats not it...cause those symptons sounded pretty gnarly. I think its just an out of control ingrown hair.

[adiekit.livejournal.com]

Ok. They aren't that gnarly, I can tell you from personal experience. They sound worse than they are. :)

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

the part i read that scared me was that they can move freely under the skin and emit a foul smelling pus. This thing has definitely chilled in one spot and occassionally pusses, but not to the point that it alarms me.

[adiekit.livejournal.com]

I just had one removed. This one was on my scalp. It didn't move anywhere, or emit the cheesy pus stuff. It was just a hard lump that wouldn't go away. I also have one under my arm- This was due to shaving, my surgeon said, and an ingrown hair that refused to heal. Thats why I suggested it might be one. Neither one of mine have ever emitted smells or puss. They just hang out.

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

hmmmm, how long did you have it there before you decided to have a doctor look at it?

[adiekit.livejournal.com]

The one on my scalp I had checked right away. I had just started a medication and was worried it was a side effect. My general doc had me come back in a month- He thought it might actually be a swollen lymph node. I had my blood checked and ears checked for infection, and NOTHING! :P After a month and a half, he sent me to a surgeon. The one under my arm has been there for months. I always figured it was an ingrown hair, but as time went by I started to get worried. Lumps of any kind even remotely near my boobs scare me. :P The surgeon looked at that one and decided it was a cyst as well. Again, neither of them had a weird smell or had pus come out of them. :P

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

is desitin available at most drug stores? and what section would it be in? I would be so mortified to have to ask the salesperson where it is....

[adiekit.livejournal.com]

Its diaper Rash ointment. Its usually in the baby aisle. If you can't find it, and are embarrassed, tell a clerk you are getting it as part of a baby shower gift or something.

[princesslalena.livejournal.com]

get the desitin creamy though. Its a lot easier to manage cause normal desitin is hard to wash off. I agree with the above poster in if your embarassed just play it off like you're buying it for a baby.

[kjsgirl.livejournal.com]

I dig the occasional bad ingrown out with a splinter probe. It sounds ghastly, but it works and stops me having to exfoliate/scratch it out.

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

a splinter probe? I'm normally all about disinfecting tweezers. is that something different?

[kjsgirl.livejournal.com]

yeah.. it's the thing you use to dig splinters out when they're under your skin and you can't get at them yet with tweezers. it's kind of like a needle tailor-made for the job i guess.

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

would i be able to find it a drug store?

[kjsgirl.livejournal.com]

I honestly couldn't tell you, sorry. I live in Australia and they used to be readily available in drug stores etc but i recently got a new one and it was incredibly hard to find. In any case, this is what I'm referring to:

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

okay, thanks. i'll probably try calling a few drugstores to see if they know what i'm talking about before i head out to buy one. thanks!

[kjsgirl.livejournal.com]

no worries :) just sorry i couldn't be more helpful.
oh how much i wish there was a permanent form of hair removal...

[amethsunreyse.livejournal.com]

I just recently switched to waxing...fucking awesome! No bumps, no in-grown hairs and still smooth days later. Just a thought for you...

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

i always thought that waxing still had the risk of ingrown hairs?? I've never done it, but now that I think about it, it probably makes sense because I'll bet they put on lotion/something to prevent it. but still, making that decision creeps my out, not cause of the pain, but because of letting some random person touch my vagina...i get all bajiggity about the gyno, too.

[kjsgirl.livejournal.com]

i wax and love it but just so you know, i can still get ingrowns from that too.

[joleine.livejournal.com]

I've always rubbed a little deoderant on the freshly shaven skin down there, I've always used "Mitchum Clear Gel" deoderant that has no fragrances or colors or anything. It has antibacterial stuff in it, so it helps with the razorburn and ingrown hairs..

Just a note: don't attempt oral sex after putting the deoderant on.. it tends to taste horrible for the guy :)

[appletrees.livejournal.com]

I always exfoliate before *and* after.

I also do the deodorant thing... apply unscented deodorant immediately after, it helps a lot.

[jasminelily.livejournal.com]

Buy some Tend Skin (you can get it at Sephora, and some salons). Dab it on after shaving, and it prevents ingrowns.

[mays-rays.livejournal.com]

I exfoliate before, and (gently) after shaving. Actually, each and every day I will scrub my bikini line with my shower puff (that's my idea of exfoliation), and that seems to help prevent ingrown hairs. Usually I will only get one or two small red ingrown hairs each time I shave, which expose the hair as soon as I squeeze 'em.

Can you see the hair through the skin? You might want to go to the doctor about it. I've never had one last that long, and you might have a hard time getting rid of it yourself (I would anyway -- I hate pain). I'd try the warm compresses like others have suggested, and if I didn't have any luck with that, and still couldn't see the hair through the skin, I'd probably see a doctor.

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

I've been putting off going to a doctor because its so difficult for me to find someone i'm comfortable with. Would I want to see a gyno about this or just a regular doctor. I havent seen a regular doctor in like 2 years (I hated the one my family went to for my whole life) and i've only been to the gyno once and was super uncomfortable.

[mays-rays.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I don't know what kind of doctor you'd want to see. A nurse practitioner might even be able to take care of it. I had some moles that I wanted removed, and the nurse practitioner at my GP's office was qualified to freeze them off for me. You could try asking coworkers or friends if they have a doctor/gyno/nurse practitioner that they especially like, since you haven't had good experiences with the doctors you've seen in the past.

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

good call, ill ask around and see if any of my friends can reccomend someone, much better than just picking someone random out of the phonebook.

[mays-rays.livejournal.com]

Yup. :) I moved recently, so I've been doing that a lot lately.

[radha103.livejournal.com]

I've used baby oil with aloe, and that helps with razorburn and ingrowns alot for me. I'm very prone to both, and it's annoying. As for the ingrown hair... I've had one like that before, and I used a sterile needle to dig it out, but I could see it under the skin before I went after it. If you can see it, use a warm compress (I just use a washcloth with really warm water) on it for a few minutes, then used a needle that's been cleaned with rubbing alcohol to dig it out. If you can't see the hair under the skin, then you should definitely go to the doctor for it instead of digging blindly for it.

[lustforblo0d.livejournal.com]

I always use Neosporin (Triple Anti-Bacterial Ointment) after I shave because if I don't I get wicked bad ingrown hairs ... I also shave with the hair as opposed to against it , you may have to go over it a few times but it's well worth not having to deal with the razorburn. Good luck! ♥

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

thanks...would putting neosporin on the ingrown hair i already have do anything to speed along the healing process?

Safe Space Maintainer

[feckalyn.livejournal.com]

Just an FYI:

This is considered a "frequent topic" (http://www.vaginapagina.com/faq.php#FrequentTopics) here on vp.
You might want to read through our community user info and look for information in our articles (http://vaginapagina.com/archives.php) and articles (http://vaginapagina.com/articles.php#Shaving%20and%20Hair%20Care) to make sure there isn't info over there before posting :)


Thanks and welcome,
Sasha
on behalf of the vp team

Re: Safe Space Maintainer

[feckalyn.livejournal.com]

And that first link should read "archives" rather than "articles" :)

*d'oh*

Re: Safe Space Maintainer

[igotthemoshpit.livejournal.com]

okay, my bad, i will for sure look there next time before posting. thanks for the info!