It’s a know fact that epilators can cause ingrown hairs. That’s why we need to know which are the best products to prevent ingrown hairs from epilating and, most particularly, which are the best exfoliator for ingrown hairs on legs.
Why on legs? Because that’s where most of us get those unfortunate and very annoying ingrown hairs. You can read more about how to exfoliate your legs here.
From time to time, we might get one or two on the underarms but those are rarer. Some will also suffer from ingrown hairs after removing hair from the bikini area. The products that I’ll review here as the best to prevent ingrown hairs from epilators will work on legs, underarms, bikini area, and the chest.
Contents
What Is the Relationship Between Epilators and Ingrown Hairs?
The relationship is simple. If we were to ask the question do epilators cause ingrown hairs the simple answer would be yes.
Why is it so important to know how to prevent ingrown hairs when removing unwanted hair, whether we epilate, wax or shave?
That’s simple. Because anyone can get one or more at some point in their lives. Hair removal methods definitely make those chances to increase exponentially.
According to MedicalNewsToday, ingrown hairs are more likely to form when the hairs are very short, meaning after they have been removed either by shaving, waxing, or epilating.
They also occur more frequently in the areas that experience a lot of friction thus their frequency on legs and bikini area.
And when the hairs are coarse or curly. Again, that explains the likelihood for men to get them on their face and for women especially in the bikini area.
Among all hair removal methods, epilators are the most notorious when it comes to causing ingrown hairs. It’s one of their biggest con.
The great thing is that you can take a few simple and easy measures to prevent ingrown hairs and continue to use our epilator. Or to wax or shave.
Best Ingrown Hair Products after Epilation
1. Tweezers for Ingrown Hairs: Majestic Bombay
These are special tweezers with pointy heads like needles, if you want to remove an ingrown hair and bring it to the surface of the skin, use these type of tweezers not something else.
2. Cheap Exfoliator for Ingrown Hairs on Legs: EvridWear Exfoliating Gloves
Exfoliating gloves are awesome for daily use, they’re cheap, you can use them before a shower on dry skin or after a shower on wet skin or even both times because they’re gentle enough that they work for all skin types and efficiently remove dead skin cells.
3. Best Body Scrub: Tree Hut Sugar Scrub
There are a lot of body sugar scrubs from Tree Hut, basically differentiated by how they smell but whatever type you pick, be assured that you’ll get one of the best body scrubs that comes in a really big container for a really cheap price, it’s an awesome deal.
4. Best Exfoliator for Ingrown Hairs on Legs: Pfb Vanish
This is an awesome chemical exfoliator that’s popular for its prevention and removal of ingrown hairs, even deep ones, but it doesn’t come cheap.
5. Cheapest Chemical Exfoliator for Body and Face: Tend Skin Care Solution
This affordable chemical exfoliator is amazingly good and men praise it for its prevention of razor bumps when applied after shaving but it works perfectly for preventing ingrown hairs and for helping you get rid of them.
How To Prevent Ingrown Hairs after Using an Epilator
- Tip 1.) Get a Pair of Tweezers
- Tip 2.) Exfoliate
- Tip 3.) Physical Exfoliation
- Tip 4.) DIY Exfoliation
- Tip 5.) Chemical Exfoliation
- Tip 6.) Useful Tips to Know When Shaving
- Tip 7.) Epilating Tips To Prevent hairs growing under the skin
- Bonus Tip: How ingrown hairs appear in the first place and what you need to know
Before talking more in detail about all of the above, I just want to mention something. Just like Verywellhealth lets us know, the best prevention is to stop hair removal completely.
For many of us that’s not something we’re comfortable with so I would say that those who don’t like the sound of that definitely need a way to prevent ingrown hairs.
Stop all hair removal when the ingrown hairs are painful. In that case, consider seeing a dermatologist. Mayo Clinic lets you know how to prepare and what you can expect from visiting a dermatologist.
Tip 1.) Get a Pair of Tweezers to Remove Ingrown Hairs
You can take a pair of sterile tweezers like the ones from Majestic Bombay and lift out the ingrown hairs cause by an epilator or other hair removal methods.
After you bring them at the surface, it’s best to leave them like that instead of plucking them with the tweezers.
You need to let the hair in so that the follicle can heal back. You will remove them together with all the other hairs by using your preferred hair removal method, be it epilation, waxing or shaving.
Using a pair of tweezers for ingrown hairs only works if they are almost at the surface, they’re basically kept captive by a superficial skin layer.
Just remember: it’s best to use a pair of tweezers like this specifically designed, if the hairs are already really close to the surface.
If you are reluctant to do so, exfoliating should bring them at the surface, it will just take a bit longer.
Nevertheless, if you have sensitive skin it might be best to stay away from this method.
From my experience, sensitive skin heals over a long period of time so you might get some scars if you’re using the tweezers.
I know from my own experience that leg scars can take longer to heal than even facial scars. I’ve had both and I’ve used the same products on both but the results were totally different.
So, give a lot of thought to this first step. You can skip directly to the next step on how to prevent ingrown hairs, which is entirely safe and pleasant.
Where to Buy?
Check Price & User Reviews Here
Tip 2.) Exfoliate to Prevent Epilator Ingrown Hairs
Exfoliation means getting rid of dead skin cells.
Why is it so important?
Dead skin cells are one of the main causes for ingrown hairs. The hairs are trapped underneath the skin. Because they cannot penetrate to the surface, they curl back under.
Since they cannot stop from growing as soon as they hit that wall of dead skin cells, they continue their growth underneath.
You should always do it before each epilation, waxing or shaving session and then daily or once every two days.
There are two exfoliation methods:
- physical
- chemical
Physical exfoliators: gloves, scrubs, brushes
Physical exfoliation means removing the dead skin cells with the help of an exfoliation brush or by using gloves or body scrubs.
You can even make your own body scrub at home, there are a lot of DIY recipes and they’re really simple.
I prefer using exfoliating gloves, I’ve started with them and I’ve really gotten used to them but I realized that in the future I should be trying an exfoliation brush for body, as well.
I also use a body scrub daily. It gives such an amazing feeling and it leaves the skin feeling really soft. I rinse and then moisturize to keep the skin soft, which may also help to prevent ingrown hairs.
Chemical exfoliators: AHAs or BHA products
Chemical exfoliation means buying over-the-counter products that contain alpha-hydroxy acids or salicylic acid.
Obviously, this type is the most effective.
If you have nasty ingrown hairs and you’ve had them for years then this is the type that you need to focus on for getting rid of the exiting ones and for preventing ingrown hairs in the future.
You can combine the two types because chemical exfoliation products seriously dry out the skin in order to get rid of those layers of skin that keep the hairs under.
If you don’t like the look of your legs, you can remove the dried skin with a scrub or a pair of gloves and then apply a moisturizer. They should look just like they way they used to.
Further down, I’ll also talk a little about body lotions and moisturizers.
Tip 3.) Best Exfoliator for Ingrown Hairs on Legs: Gloves & Scrubs
I would suggest starting with exfoliating gloves to prevent epilator ingrown hairs. It’s really cheap and it gets you rid of dead skin without being too harsh . It’s also my favorite.
The EvridWear Exfoliating Gloves are great for exfoliating your skin.
Using them is easy.
This method can be used daily because it doesn’t damage the skin, it cleans it gently.
Where to Buy?
Check Price & User Reviews Here
After rinsing the skin with lukewarm water you can apply a body lotion. I have to because I have dry skin but you can skip it if you don’t have sensitive skin.
Another physical exfoliation option is getting exfoliation soaps that contain many oils plus oatmeal, sugar or salt. The oils should help keep the skin hydrated.
These soaps can be used on a daily basis.
Facial or body scrubs are also doing a great job. At least in my case.
For facial exfoliation, you could also try a facial cleansing brush. It’s really amazing.
Tip 4.) DIY Exfoliation (Scrubs)
One of the simplest recipes is to put a little kosher salt in the shower gel and then rub it on your skin.
The shower gel instantly becomes a scrub, pretty simple right?
There are many recipes that you can try, just type “DIY exfoliation” into your search engine and take your pick.
Where to Buy?
Check Price & User Reviews Here
Tip 5.) Chemical Exfoliation
The PFB Vanish is one of the best products from this category at the moment.
When talking about chemical exfoliation, it simply means using products that contain alpha-hydroxy acids or salicylic acid.
These should be used less frequently because they can irritate the skin but they are extremely efficient exfoliation methods.
Each product comes with its own set of instructions so it’s very possible that some products should be used daily or twice a day, especially for a period of time until most of the ingrown hairs are gone.
Hair removal methods like shaving, epilation and waxing can cause ingrown hairs for most women.
Just as I am sure that most men have experienced ingrown hairs on their face after shaving.
Where to Buy?
Check Price & User Reviews Here
The Tend Skin Care Solution is another perfect chemical exfoliator if you want to prevent ingrown hairs from appearing once your stubble starts growing back.
On the face they can look a lot like pimples. That’s because the most common signs are redness and inflammation.
Just like pimples, don’t squeeze them. It can lead to infection and scarring.
Where to Buy?
Check Price & User Reviews Here
According to the Cleveland Clinic, the symptoms for ingrown hairs are:
- irritation
- bumps with hairs in the middle on the face and neck
- bumps filled with pus on the face and neck
- itching – don’t scratch them because it can lead to infection
- and pain in some unfortunate cases
There are only two methods that won’t cause them: laser hair removal and electrolysis.
Tip 6.) Shaving Tips to Prevent Ingrown Hairs
For men, the right way to shave is with the grain. Women can shave their legs in the opposite direction in which the hair is growing.
An electrical razor is also a good alternative because it doesn’t cut the hair as close to the skin. The hair will grow at the surface without much risk of curling and growing under the skin.
Another thing that might cause hairs to grow under the skin is shaving with a dull blade. It’s best to change your razor or the cartridge frequently. It’s also a good shaving tip that saves you from nicks.
Always use shaving gel/cream so that the blade glides easily.
Don’t forget about exfoliation. It’s just as important as it’s in the case of waxing and epilation.
Tip 7.) Tips to Prevent Epilator Ingrown Hair
There is the belief that the type of epilator that one uses can influence the number of ingrown hairs it might get.
I’m not entirely convinced that there is a relation between the epilator model and the number of ingrown hairs that are going to occur.
An example would be that if you get a device with many tweezers, like one with 72 tweezers, the number of passes needed is reduced and, being that powerful, it removes all hairs from the root instead of cutting the short thin ones.
Or getting an epilator with ceramic tweezers that are strong and hypoallergenic.
Moisturizing after is something you should never forget to do.
Those are some few tips on how to prevent ingrown hairs but you may still get them, no matter what you do.
The idea is to keep everything under control and to have as little of them as possible.
How Ingrown Hairs Appear
Understanding what ingrown hairs are is easy. The name practically suggests its meaning.
The hair simply decides that it’s not going to grow to the surface of the skin. Instead, it’s going to curl back inside its follicle and grow under the skin.
The other situation is when it grows sideways into the skin. It is as unpleasant as it sounds. It’s not aesthetically pretty at all because red bumps appear. They are also called razor bumps. If you look at it closely you can see the hair underneath the skin.
The common affected places are: face, legs, underarms, and bikini area.
I use an epilator. Obviously, I’ve had my fair share of ingrown hairs during all these years.
I’ve always been fortunate because I had no red bumps and no irritation. In my case, they are simply small black dots that can’t be seen from a distance, only when you get closer to the legs.
Legs are the only area of the body where I have them.
After years of shaving my legs and then epilating I’ve found myself wondering how to prevent ingrown hairs.
I didn’t get them in the beginning but after a few years they started to show up. At first they appeared as some tiny black dots right above my ankles, all around.
I just didn’t know what those were and in fact it was my roommate that explained all about that dots.
So you might think that it’s not actually a big deal, it causes me no discomfort at all. And all that is true but for me the problem is more of a psychological nature.
The skin is not irritated but my brain is.
There are some nasty side-effects of hair growing under the skin, like becoming infected, causing itching and scratching which can leave scars, or darkened skin.
That is valid for both men and women.
The fortunate cases happen when the hairs go away on their own without you doing anything.
Prevent Ingrown Hairs: Use a Non-Comedogenic Body Lotion
For most of my life, I’ve had dry skin that got worse as I started getting older. My skin needs permanent daily care, no matter the season.
It’s really tiring and it costs a lot to maintain a normal look that other people just have naturally.
Well, considering all this, I thought that the most important thing when choosing a body lotion or a moisturizer was to have natural ingredients and to be able to perfectly hydrate my skin.
That was until someone left me a comment and told me all about non-comedogenic body lotions.
It seems that comedogenic lotions and creams may block the pores and that can lead to even more ingrown hairs or acne or blackheads.
I never took that aspect into consideration so I did a little research on it.
For example, argan oil has a zero comedogenic rating, while coconut oil is a level 4. It means that if you have blackheads or acne (just like me) it may be best to use argan oil instead of coconut oil.
Nevertheless, if until now, you haven’t had any problems with your current lotion there’s no point in trying something different.
For the moment, that’s all I know on how to prevent epilator ingrown hairs or those caused by other hair removal methods. I hope these tips will be helpful to you.
What’s The Bottom Line?
Exfoliation remains the most effective weapon. It’s also cheap, you can do a body scrub all by yourself at home. It’s also incredibly relaxing.
There are two types: physical exfoliation and chemical exfoliation. Stick to the physical one if your ingrown hairs are nothing serious and they’re not threatening your skin’s health.
When shaving, don’t use a dull blade.
When epilating choose the right epilator for you and keep things under control.
And, with that, you pretty much know everything you need about how to prevent epilator ingrown hairs and which are the best exfoliators for ingrown hairs on legs, whether you choose a scrub, a pair of exfoliating gloves or chemical exfoliators.
