With the good weather we are having, hair removal becomes part of the everyday routine for many of us. In fact, with the heat, our clothes tend to get shorter in certain areas, and places which may not have seen the light of day in quite some time find themselves exposed! The problem is that sometimes we can’t make the most of the silky smoothness promised by hair removal, because body hairs are replaced by red and painful ingrown hairs. You can thus find yourself irritated (both literally and figuratively), and this is why we have 5 techniques to share with you today, for how to treat ingrown hairs.
1) Remove the hairs quickly and easily
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There are times that we don’t want to have to go to too much trouble! All we want is for the pesky ingrown hairs to disappear. We strongly advise against trying to get them out by squeezing with your nails. If you can’t see the hair, you’ll have to be crafty to remove it, using sterilised tools. Here is what you can do:
What you need:
- Sugar and olive oil
- A facecloth
- A tweezers (the sharper the tip of it, the easier it will be to remove the hair)
- Rubbing alcohol
- Hot water
- Optional: coconut oil
Method:
1) Soak the tweezers in the alcohol for a few seconds, and rinse it to sterilise it.
2) Mix the sugar with some oil to make a thick, grainy exfoliant. Scrub the skin in circular movements and rinse.
3) Soak the facecloth in hot water (but not hot enough to burn you) and place it on the ingrown hair for 10 minutes. (Soak it again in hot water if necessary). This step is important for making the skin and the hair softer, and if the hair is not visible, this step will make it easier to see.
4) Pluck the hair with your sterilised tweezers. Rinse it and add a little coconut oil to calm the irritation in the area.
2) Bicarbonate of soda paste
Plucking out ingrown hairs isn’t to everyone’s taste. So while you are waiting for the hair to finally decide to come out, you can look after the area using a bicarbonate of soda scrub. This solution is gentle, easy to make and will help prevent the follicle from becoming blocked, all the while soothing the irritation.
What you need:
- Bicarbonate of soda
- Cool water
- Coconut oil or moisturiser
Method:
1) Mix the water and the bicarbonate of soda so as to form a thick paste.
2) With clean hands, massage the area, making circular movements.
3) Rinse with hot water and apply a little coconut oil or moisturiser. Repeat for a few days until the hair comes out.