What Exactly Is An Ingrown Hair?
One of the frustrating things about ingrown hairs is that they can be difficult to identify. Sometimes they are misidentified, and then subsequently mistreated or ignored, because they might be mistaken for a pimple or a cyst.
A ingrown hair is simply a hair that has curled back into the skin instead of growing out and perpendicular to the skin. Ingrown hairs basically grow sideways instead of out.
They commonly cause irritation but the visual appearance of an ingrown hair can vary. Some look like a raised red bump. Some just look like a painful sore. And some don't have any discoloration but merely look like a bump under the skin. Most of the time, the visual signs of an ingrown hair will help tell you how advanced it is.
Little red bump ingrown hairs, also known as razor bumps, are usually very young and recently acquired. By the time it's a big bump well under the skin though, this is a good indication you have a pretty advanced ingrown hair.
Ingrown hairs are more common with men that have curly hair, but any man can get them from shaving. The good news is that they aren't too serious and won't cause any problems as long as you don’t let them get infected. However, that doesn't make them any less annoying or irritating.
The 7 Most Common Causes Of Ingrown Hairs --
And How To Prevent Them
Unfortunately, there's no 100% foolproof plan for preventing ingrown hairs. Even today, I will get them every once in awhile after a careless shave. But I don't get them nearly as often as I used to. And they are not as bad or irritating because I recognize what they are much sooner and act accordingly.
I believe most men can significantly reduce how often they get ingrown hairs by making a few small changes in their shave routine.
Before I get into a game plan on how to prevent or treat ingrown hairs though, I think you need to understand what causes them in the first place. Genetics can play a big role in if you're prone to getting ingrown hairs, but for most men there is a cause and effect.
In other words, most guys are doing something wrong while shaving and that is what causes the ingrown hair. So if we can see what you're doing to cause them, it should be pretty easy to make a correction and prevent or at least reduce their magnitude and frequency.
1) Shaving Against The Grain
I can give you plenty of reasons why not to shave against the grain, and preventing ingrown hairs is at the top of that list. If you shave against the grain, you are essentially lifting the hair up and cutting them slightly below the surface of your skin. And once the hair follicle is cut below the skin, it now has the option to grow in a direction other than straight out.
Solution: Shave with the grain. Shaving against the grain causes more problems than benefits. If you want a closer shave, work your way up to a sharper blade or more aggressive razor. If you just really feel like you need to shave against the grain to get a smooth shave though, do it on your second or third pass. By this time, it is much less rough on your face and you are much less likely to cause an ingrown hair.
2) Using A Multi-Blade Razor
Yes, I am an advocate for single-blade razors, whether it be a safety razor or a straight razor, and I have briefly covered my thoughts on multi-blade razors before and why I think single-blade razors are far superior. But this isn’t just about what my preferences are. When you use a multi-blade razor, you are much more likely to get a hair trapped between two of the blades. And what does this do? If the hair gets trapped, it can’t get cut. Instead, it basically gets yanked out. When you are shaving, you are cutting the hairs, not plucking them out 1 by 1 like you would with tweezers. Again, this leads to less predictability about what direction the hair will grow back at.
Solution: Ditch the multi-blade razor and switch to some form of single blade razor. If you’re looking for a pretty easy transition to a single-blade razor that won’t take too long to learn, I recommend buying a safety razor. Straight razors are another great option, but they are much more difficult to learn how to use and using one will add some time to your shave routine. For more information on either, I recommend checking out my beginner's guide to safety razors and beginner’s guide to straight razors. I am pretty confident that switching to either of these options though will make a big impact in decreasing how many ingrown hairs you get from shaving.
3) Bad Shaving Technique
I think shaving against the grain on the first pass can be considered bad technique, but I won’t lump it into this category. What else constitutes bad technique? Applying pressure and shaving at the incorrect angle. And unfortunately, multi-blade razors actually encourage bad technique. How so? Well when you use a cheap disposable or cartridge razor, there’s no weight to it so you have to apply pressure. Which is not good. Additionally, many of them have razorheads that pivot which enables you to use pretty much any angle you want. Unfortunately, both of these errors can lead to ingrown hairs though because it can lead to tugging entire hair follicles out of the root instead of just shaving the hair at the surface.Therefore, when the hair follicle does grow back, it doesn’t grow back at the correct angle.
Solution: Continue to work on your technique by trying to apply less pressure and use the correct angle. One obvious sign you need to work on your technique is if you are getting quite a bit of razor burn. Razor burn is your face and necks way of talking to you and saying you need to correct something in your technique. One of my recommendations would be to get an alum block. Heck, even if you don’t have much razor burn you should get an alum block. One of the many benefits of alum blocks is that they give you feedback in regards to the quality of your shave. When you rub it on your face, it will sting in some areas and those are the areas you need to focus on technique a little more maybe. Also, if you’re unsure if you have good technique, you probably don’t. So youtube a few “how to” videos and you will learn some great tips and tricks.
4) Poor Pre-Shave Preparation
Failing to prepare is preparing to fail. That’s as true in shaving as it is in life. What’s the purpose of prepping your face before a shave? To moisturize the face, ensure there is adequate lube, and lift and soften hair follicles. By softening and lifting the hair, you’re just giving your razor a little extra boost when it has to cut the hair and ensures that it cuts the hair at the right angle for it to be able to grow out again.
Solution: There is no “one size fits all” when it comes to pre-shave preparation. I definitely recommend softening the beard up with a warm shower or face wash, followed by applying some pre-shave oil and then lastly applying your lubricant with a good shaving brush. But not every guy needs all of that. Some guys can simply take a hot shower and their face is good to go because they already have oily skin. You don’t have to follow my exact routine. But the only point I want make is that if you don’t do much pre-shave prep, maybe you should reconsider it. Pre-shave oils do a great job of softening the hair and providing an extra layer of lubricant so your razor blade won’t cut “under” the skin. And shaving brushes are great at helping exfoliate the skin and make sure all your little hair follicles are massage and ready to go. If you don’t use either of them, I recommend checking them out a little more.
5) No Post-Shave Treatment
You might think that you're done with your shave once you put your razor away. But you're not. It's important to start “preparing” for your next shave. If you let your skin dry out and stay “damaged” it's going to affect how healthy your beard grows back. Dead skin causes hair to want to grow sideways and inhibits outward growth. So you need to make sure you are moisturizing and exfoliating between shaves.
Solution: It's really important that you develop a good post-shave routine and stick to it. Some guys will need to do exfoliate and/or moisturize every day. Other guys might only need to do one or the other every couple of days. Overall, just make sure you are doing everything you can to keep your skin healthy which in turn promotes healthy hair growth. This includes treating nicks and cuts, treating razor burn, moisturizing and exfoliating. It might seem like a lot but it’s really not that much work once it’s become part of your routine. And it can make a huge impact.
6) Using Dull Blades
Dull blades are ineffective and don’t do a good job of shaving your facial hair. In fact, instead of actually shaving your beard, a dull blade will just tug at the hair much like a multi-blade razor does. This is not effective.
Solution: It's really important that you find a safety razor blade that has a nice balance of sharpness and smoothness for your features. You basically need to find a blade that is sharp enough to shave your beard but still smooth enough that is won't be overly aggressive on your face. This is probably going to take some trial and error of trying out different blades to find the right one.
One mistake that I see beginners make a lot is they use a blade that is way too mild for their beard. I'm not saying every wet shaver needs an ultra-sharp blade like a Feather, but don't be overly intimidated by an above average sharpness blade. There are sharp blades out there that offer a good amount of smoothness. The problem is that if you use a blade that is too mild, it's going to be impossible to use proper technique because you will revert back to bad habits and have to apply pressure with the razor.
One last thing -- make sure you are changing your blades out adequately. Blade longevity is going to vary from user to user depending on a lot of factors, but don't stick with an old blade too long. I typically change my blades every 4 or 5 shaves, but my motto is that it's best to change a blade out 1 shave too early rather than 1 shave too late.
7) Genetics
Unfortunately, genetics can play a pretty big role in whether or not you are prone to getting ingrown hairs. Guys with naturally curly or thick/coarse hair are more likely to get an ingrown hair than guys with straight and fine hair.
Solution: I really think that if you follow the solutions to the first 6 causes of ingrown hairs, you will get them much less often. But if you’re doing everything else right and still getting ingrown hairs, I recommend shaving a little less frequently. If you shave every 24 hours, maybe start shaving every 36 or 48 hours instead. This will give your beard time to grow out just a little longer. And if the hair is a little longer when you shave it off, it’s much less likely to get shaved off at the wrong angle. Unfortunately, not every guy can get away with some stubble at the office. But if you can, I highly recommend shaving just slightly less often. It can make a big impact.
Where Do Men Typically
Get Ingrown Hairs After Shaving?
You can get an ingrown hair just about anywhere you shave, but the most common area most men get ingrown hairs after shaving is on the neck. Especially the lower part of the neck. Why? Because most guys don’t shave with proper in the right direction on the lower part of the neck.
If you have never taken the time to map your beard grain, you should make sure and take some time do it. It is a great learning experience.
With most guys though, the hair on their face and upper part of the neck grows in an outward or downward direction, so it’s intuitive to shave in a downward direction which also happens to be with the grain. However, their beard grain typically changes direction somewhere on the neck and the hairs start pointing in more of an upward or sideways direction. Therefore, they need to shave the lower part of the neck area with an upward or sideways stroke to keep going with the grain.
But most guys don’t. They simply shave their entire face in a downward direction and this is a huge mistake. I used to.
But then one day it clicked for us that “hey, I can actually shave this area with an upward stroke”. And ever since then, I have pretty much completely eliminated getting ingrown hairs. Yeah, every once in awhile I might make a mistake and get an ingrown hair by shaving a little carelessly or quick. But once I finally figured out how to actually shave with the grain, it was a game changer for me.
What Should I Do If I Get An
Ingrown Hair After Shaving?
Most ingrown hairs will eventually go away on their own. But some of the deeper ingrown hairs can stick around for a while. So what should you do?
First of all, don’t overly irritate it. Be gentle and go easy on it or you could just make the spot worse. There’s a couple things you can do at home to try and lift the hair out though.
- Use a loofah or toothbrush to try and exfoliate the spot. Don’t rub your skin raw, but gently massaging the area may clean away some dead skin and soften the beard enough to lift that hair up.
- Apply some acne medication. This should help reduce the inflammation and hopefully lift the hair up out of the skin.
- Use some tweezers to lightly lift the hair so that you can then shave over it later. Do not rip the hair out.
If you are unable to treat the ingrown hair on your own or it looks like it has become infected, you should see a doctor to have it removed. It’s a pain to have to make a doctor’s appointment and go in, but it’s a pretty simple procedure and you won’t have to worry about it getting any worse. Just give your general physician a call and they can either do it themselves or recommend a dermatologist.
9 Rules You Should Follow to Prevent Ingrown Hairs
- 1Always shave with the grain.
- 2Shave with a single-blade razor.
- 3Learn proper wet shaving technique and use good form when shaving.
- 4Adequately prep your beard before you shave.
- 5Exfoliate and moisturize as frequently as necessary.
- 6Never shave with a dull blade.
- 7Use a shaving brush to apply lather.
- 8Don't shave so frequently -- let some stubble grow before shaving again.
- 9If all else fails, grow a beard.
