Ask Well
Are Ingrown Hairs Preventable?
The dreaded bumps can occur anywhere you shave, wax or pluck. Here’s how to avoid them.
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Q: I get ingrown hairs every time I shave. Can I get rid of them?
It’s a common issue: Your freshly shaved, waxed or plucked skin appears smooth and hairless — until pimple-like bumps crop up days later.
Ingrown hairs can occur anywhere on the skin, but they typically emerge in places you remove hair, like in the beard, pubic, leg and armpit areas, said Dr. Elizabeth Bahar Houshmand, a dermatologist in Dallas.
They typically look like raised red or flesh-colored bumps, sometimes with hair or pus on the inside, said Dr. Amy K. Bieber, a dermatologist at N.Y.U. Langone Health.
And they can be a persistent problem for some. But the good news is there are effective ways to prevent them.
What causes ingrown hairs?
Hair grows from a follicle deep within the skin, said Dr. Paradi Mirmirani, a dermatologist at Kaiser Permanente in Vallejo, Calif.
Shaving is more likely than waxing or plucking to cause ingrown hairs because it tends to break off the hair just under the skin, which could push the hair into the skin’s layers and interfere with its growing path, Dr. Mirmirani explained.
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