How To Get Rid Of Ingrown Beard Hair

There'southward nothing like a smooth shave to make yourself look put together. But sometimes, your razor work tin backlash, leaving you lot with painful, unsightly red bumps that make you lot look like you lot've hit acne-fueled puberty all over once again.

They're called ingrown hairs, and they're extremely common, peculiarly among guys who are required to accept a close shave for every mean solar day for work, says Bruce A. Brod, M.D., clinical professor of dermatology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the Academy of Pennsylvania. Sometimes, dermatologists even take to provide medical excuses so guys take a legit excuse to avoid shaving, he says.

But why exercise ingrown hairs become such an issue? Here'southward everything you lot need to know nearly why they tend to pop upward, how to go rid of them, and what you can do to preclude them then you can achieve shine peel for proficient.

What Is an Ingrown Hair?

While ingrown hairs may wait a lot like pimples, they're really "foreign body reactions" that occur when something goes wonky in your pilus follicle, explains Dr. Brod.

"If the hairs are cut very short, instead of exiting the skin and growing out of the skin normally, the hairs sort of make a U-turn and grow into the skin," says Dr. Brod. "It's almost like the hair is acting like a little splinter."

Your body sees that trapped hair shaft as a foreign invader, then it sends off white blood cells to fight it off. That's where the inflammation comes from, which causes the painful, tender, ruddy bump.

While any guy can become an ingrown hair, those with thicker, curlier strands are particularly prone to them, he says. And y'all can blame your razor for the bump, particularly if information technology has more than than one blade.

"It shaves the hair so very shut, that it cuts the hair off beneath the surface of the peel, and that'south where it has the hazard, if information technology'southward a chip curly, to not be able to exit the skin and instead grow inside of it," explains Dr. Brod.

That's why ingrown hairs typically course around your beard area and beneath your jawline. "At that place'south a trend of men to stretch the pare when they're shaving at that place which creates a very very shut shave," he adds. Just ingrown hairs can develop in any area you groom—yes, even below the belt.

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How to Get Rid Of an Ingrown Hair

You lot can attempt putting a warm compress on the bump to run across if that can assist un-trap the pilus. No luck? If your ingrown pilus isn't too bothersome, there are over-the-counter treatments, like Tend Skin Liquid, that encourage your hair to grow upward and out of your skin's surface.

If that doesn't work for you, expect for products that contain benzoyl peroxide, salicylic acid, or hydrocortisone to help exfoliate your peel and reduce the inflammation, says Dr. Brod.

But if your ingrown hair is peculiarly painful or persistent, y'all should connect with your dermatologist. Digging into your skin to tweeze the pilus is not just painful, but it tin can also make things worse. Same goes for trying to popular it open up like a pimple. This tin cause small tears in your skin's bulwark, making it a convenance basis for leaner, which can potentially lead to an infection, scarring, or fifty-fifty set you up for some other ingrown hair in that aforementioned spot, says Dr. Brod.

In one case you become to your dermatologist, he or she volition typically utilize a sterile needle or a sharp blade to slightly nick your skin and release the hair. In more severe cases, they may prescribe topical cortisone creams or even oral antibiotics to reduce the inflammation or cure whatsoever infection that may have adult.

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How to Prevent Ingrown Hairs

If you're constantly dealing with ingrown hairs, there are steps you tin take to forestall them, so you won't have to head to your dermatologist to go them removed afterward the fact, says Dr. Brod. Here are his meridian iv tips:

Soften your facial hair with a warm washcloth for five to x minutes before you shave and utilize a more lubricating shaving gel, similar Jack Blackness Beard Lube Conditioning Shave.
When you do shave, opt for a single-bract razor if you can, and shave along the grain of your hair. Shaving against the grain results in besides shut of a cutting and can irritate your peel.
When you hair get-go starts growing in subsequently shaving, massage your bristles area for five minutes before bed, using a warm washcloth in circular motions. This will aid loosen any hairs that are staring to grow into your skin.
Exfoliate your skin one time or twice a week with a gentle scrub. Topical retinoids can too help if you're dealing with hyperpigmentation or scarring due to your ingrown hairs. This volition remove expressionless peel cells and help bring your hairs forward by thinning the tiptop layer of your skin.

Alisa Hrustic is the deputy editor at Prevention, where she leads the brand'south digital editorial strategy. She'south spent the last five years interviewing top medical experts, interpreting peer-reviewed studies, and reporting on health, nutrition, weight loss, and fitness trends for national brands like Women'due south Health and Men'southward Health. She spends nearly of her days diving into the latest wellness trends, writing and editing stories about health conditions, testing skincare products, and trying to empathize the adjacent greatest internet obsession.