Treating & Preventing Ingrown Facial Hairs

I suffer from fairly bad ingrown hairs on my face due to shaving. For many years these painful, unsightly beasts have caused me much discomfort and I thought I had exhausted every avenue available. In another example of not asking the right question to get the right answer, I recently stumbled upon some new information that could make a big difference.

One characteristic of ingrown hairs is how stubborn they are. I’m not talking about little razor burn or bumps, I’m talking about hairs hooked back under the skin causing infection and pimples. They leave you feeling helpless and deflated like you can’t do anything to stop them. In previous years I have looked to post-shave ingrown hair creams and lotions with not much luck. Googling ingrown hairs doesn’t reap many helpful results and it’s hard to trust the marketing surrounding official product websites. I had also altered my shaving habits, trying wet-shaving, before shower, after shower, gels, creams, soaps, morning or night etc. As I said, I felt I had tried everything.

It turns out, it may have been the Mach 3 razor I was using all these years. 3 blades means you get a close shave but this usually cuts the hair BELOW the skin meaning when it grows back, it can really go anywhere but upwards. The answer is a single bladed razor. There are a number of brands out there but you will be looking for double-edge razors with the most popular standard being the Merkur Heavy Duty (HD) Double Edge Razor.

These razors feature individual pros and cons, require different style strokes than you’re used to and a variety of blade combination so have a look and research for yourself. They require a higher up front cost than you would be used to however are actually cheaper in the long run due to the replaceable blades being a fraction of the cost for cartridges.

The principle at work here is a slower, more delicate shave that doesn’t cut your hair too sharp or deep. These razors do have the capability of going deep, deeper than a cartridge multi-blade razor, but closeness isn’t a goal for ingrown hair sufferers.

The biggest encouragement has been reading real every day peoples testimonials on two great forums. The Badger and Blade and Shave My Face websites offer thousands of peoples questions and answers. I spent some time reading users recommendations and this is an outline of what I learnt.

General Tips
- Shave gently, no pressure.
- Shave slowly.
- Shave when you have to, not necessarily each day.
- Shave with the grain.
- Try different blades to see which is best, one may work great for John Doe but not for you.
- Watch shaving help videos on said websites.
- Disinfect your razor occasionally.
- Thick blades are good. Even better than a double edge razor is a single edge but these days are hard to track down.

A Great Overview From A Forum User
1. Hot water Preparation. Try soaking your face for a couple of minutes with warm/hot water and a washcloth. Not only does this help soften the beard hair, I find it also “lifts” the hairs out from the pores, and helps with any incipient ingrowns. The lice comb idea is also probably good (though I haven’t tried it).

2. Soap not Cream. This is not a negative thing about creams. Not at all. It’s just that if you suffer from ingrowns, I find soap better. I suspect that this is because it doesn’t leave any residue behind, and it’s a mild antiseptic. Try one of the triple milled hard soaps (I like Tabac, D.R. Harris, Valobra stick, etc., but there are lots of others as well).

3. Double edge not cartridge. My strong advice: Ditch the Mach 3. Use one of your Merkurs and really learn how to do the correct angle, no pressure thing. You also might want to try dialing it back from the Feather blades… Feathers are WONDERFUL blades, but they are so sharp that the cut the hair to a sharp tip, which may contribute to ingrowns. Try Derby or the Israelis (though there are lots of other good choices for milder blades).

4. Shave with the grain. I think this is a biggie for preventing ingrowns. You may just have to accept that you won’t be able to shave into the grain, and that’s OK. A single-edge blade shaving with the grain is really going to help reduce ingrowns, without doubt, I think. By contrast, against the grain (esp with a multi-blade) may really aggravate the ingrown problem.

5. Consider a post-shave that contains glycolic acid and possibly salicylic acid as well. La Roche-Posay has an exfoliant lotion. You can get it here, but it may need a doctor’s OK. http://skincarerx.com/review_box.html?pid=484. By spot-treating ingrowns with such a product, I have had OUTSTANDING results in immediately calming (the now very occasional) ingrowns. Of course, there are lots of over the counter products that contain those ingredients that I’m sure work equally well… probably just ask at the pharmacy.

Ingrown Hair Treatments
After all that if you are still getting ingrowns, here are some reputable products. Key ingredients glycolic acid or especially, salicylic acid. These are in order of my preference.
- Anthony Logistics
- Art of Shaving
- Baxter of California
- Bump Patrol
- Tendskin
- Bump Zapper

Natural Products
- Witch Hazel with Hydrosol
- Tea Tree Oil, recommended brand Organic Root Stimulator

Further Resources
http://www.badgerandblade.com/vb/
http://www.shavemyface.com/forum/
http://leisureguy.wordpress.com/2006/08/01/shaving-recommendations/
http://leisureguy.wordpress.com/2006/07/15/i-have-a-vision/
http://www.shavemyface.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=24431&highlight=ingrown
http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php?t=28367&highlight=ingrown