Ingrown Hair

When you find within your hair growth, be it on your head, beard, legs, or pubic region, a swollen, inflamed area, especially if it has a hair coming out of it, or you can see the darkness of a hair beneath the surface, it is most likely that you have an ingrown hair.

An ingrown hair is a hair that fails to come through the hair follicle, and remains underneath the skin.  This happens in people with curly hair more often than people with straighter hair.  Eventually, the ingrown hair will cause an inflammation, become red (like a rash, or form a pustule like a pimple) becoming sore and swollen.

Home Remedies For Ingrown Hair:

Cleaning:

Common sense tells you that if you can see the hair beneath the skin, you can clean the area carefully, with an antiseptic, like alcohol, or good anti-bacterial soap, dry the area, and, with sterilized tweezers and a sterilized needle, lightly prick the pustule, and pull out the ingrown hair with tweezers.  Once you have removed the hair, be sure to clean the area again with anti-bacterial soap, apply an antibiotic ointment, and cover with a bandage.  Continue to keep clean and dry, and in a few days, you will be back to normal.

Prevention:

• Don’t use a dull razor.  This is the number one cause of ingrown hair besides genetic factors like having curly hair.  
• Don’t use petroleum-based shaving gel.  This tends to block skin cells and hair follicles, and if you do use a petroleum-based shave gel, make sure you wash with a mild facial soap or cleanser afterward to rid your skin of any residue, so your skin can breathe.
• Don’t go several days without shaving, and then shave with a dull blade.
• Don’t use an electric shaver, except when you have to.
• Periodically wash with an exfoliating scrub to slough off dead skin cells.

Dead skin cells can overlay hair follicles, and trap hair beneath the surface.

Two easy to make, healthy and invigorating exfoliating scrubs are:

Peppermint and Dead Sea Salt Scrub:

Take two tablespoons of Dead Sea Salt (or course, regular salt) add enough peppermint oil to make a moist mixture, and gently scrub away the dead skin cells.  

Sugar Scrub:

Take two tablespoons of granulated, white sugar.  Add enough mineral oil (baby oil works) to form a paste.  Massage gently into skin.  This is a great home remedy for dry elbows, feet, knees, and as an all over exfoliant.  Rinse well, and pat dry.  If using this as a facial, follow with a Milk of Magnesia facial mask for about 20 minutes, and you will have the best skin around!