Ingrown Hairs

Do you suffer from painful, red ingrown hairs? Ever wonder what causes them and why we get them?

An ingrown hair; the dreaded bumps on your otherwise smooth skin. Although there is some warped satisfaction in extracting, we’d happily swap out that moment of gratification for a silky-smooth surface. 

Why do we get ingrown hairs in the first place? Simply put, they form when the hair grows back into your skin instead of rising up through the pore opening, after hair removal such as shaving, waxing or tweezing. Quite often, this is a result of dead skin and oils clogging the hair follicle or the hair curling back into the skin. Often a cause for embarrassment and they can be awfully irritating for some individuals forming a boil like sore bringing about pain and discomfort. Your body reacts to the hair penetrating in the same way it would with a foreign body and becomes inflamed. Normally ingrown hairs aren’t a huge cause for concern but chronic ingrown hairs can lead to infections, hyperpigmentation, scarring and serious razor bumps.  

Some people are unfortunately more prone to ingrown hairs then others, especially those with naturally curly hair.

The second biggest contributor to ingrown hairs forming is a dull razor.  Even worse, a dull multi blade disposable razor where soap, grime, oil and hair can get trapped between the blades resulting in the build up of bacteria - yes, that goes straight into or over your pores when shaving! Put the dull multi blade cartridge down.  With multiple blades slicing the hair at various angles with each passing, the hair is unlikely to be cut straight leaving the hair fragmented, causing them to curl back into the skin, and yes… you guessed it, form an ingrown hair.

We recommend the Ritology Smooth Operator Razor with a single blade, easy to clean between blades, reducing the likelihood of ingrown hairs forming.

Find out more about ingrown hair treatment here.