Ingrown hairs are one of the most common complaints from men and women who shave. These sore and unsightly little bumps on the surface of the skin can be a real pain, especially for people who get them very regularly.

Ingrown hairs, often called razor bumps, are caused by hair that grows back into a hair follicle as it grows, or grows sideways. It’s something that happens more often to people with coarse, curly hair, but it can happen to anyone. Most often the result of shaving, there are things that you can do to avoid developing ingrown hairs.

Shaving is a daily chore for the vast majority of adults. Keeping on top of hair growth takes effort and time. However, shaving in a rush can be a one way street to ingrown hairs, razor burn and sore, stinging cuts. It’s best to manage your unwanted hair so that you avoid these things, and the skin infections they can cause.

Whether you’re a man who shaves his facial hair every morning before getting dressed for work, or a women who likes to give her underarms a once over every time you’re in the shower, the chances are you’ve had ingrown hairs.

By using the right shaving technique, the regularity of ingrown hairs can be significantly reduced. There will, unfortunately, always be a chance of getting one or two every once in a blue moon though. But by adapting clever hair removal methods, you can reduce this and make regular ingrown hairs a thing of the past.

How to Avoid Ingrown Hairs

By taking these 5 simple steps, you can prevent ingrown hairs when you shave.

Proper Shaving Cream: Using a shaving cream is absolutely essential to achieving a smooth shave that doesn’t leave any ingrown hairs in its wake. Shaving without a cream or foam, also known as dry shaving, causes huge irritation to the skin and can lead to painful rashes and cuts. Using a good quality shaving cream will go a long way to avoid this.

Pick the Right Razor: The right razor can make a significant different to your shave. Cheap disposable razors have certainly come a long way in recent years, but they are still the last resort. When shopping for a good razor there are a few things you can look out for, a pivoting head that can glide effortlessly over the curves of your skin, at least three blades and a spongy, gel filled cushion on either side of the blades will lubricate the razor even more

Exfoliation: Exfoliating is really important when it comes to avoiding ingrown hairs. Removing dead skin cells will encourage hairs to regrow in the right direction, and avoid the painful and sometimes pus filled bumps that they can cause.

However, this doesn’t mean that you should exfoliate vigorously before you shave. Doing this will only irritate your skin pre-shave and guarantee razor rash afterwards. Gently exfoliating the skin three or four times a week is a much more effective strategy.

Shave at the Right Time: You might not have considered this before, but when you shave is just as important as how you shave. The skin and hairs need time to soften before you take to them with your razor. So, shaving at the end of your shower is a better option.

Laser Treatment: In addition to try to improve your shaving technique, you can also think about opting for laser hair removal. This relatively new treatment works best on people with darker hair and removes hair for them in the long term.

Laser therapy works by focusing laser bright lights at the hair. The pigment in the hair absorbs the light, and this does enough damage to the follicle to ensure that it doesn’t grow again. However, results do vary pretty hugely from one person to the next.

How Could CBD Help?

CBD is an anti-inflammatory and can help to soothe and deeply moisturize the skin. There are CBD infused creams and lotions that you can directly apply to your skin that could help to prevent ingrown hairs from occurring. Certain oils can be found that are anti-bacterial and anti-inflammatory too, which could help stop razor bumps and the dreaded burning sensation after shaving.

However, if you are thinking of using any CBD product to help, please contact your dermatologist to determine if this is the right option for you.

Most of us begin shaving in our teenage years expecting it to be super easy. We think that all we have to do is shave and we’ll have the silky smooth skin we see on t.v. advertisements. Unfortunately, most of us realize pretty quickly that the reality is different.

However, shaving carefully and correctly can go a long way towards saving your skin the damage, and you the embarrassment, of ingrown hairs. With just a few small changes to your usual routine, you can have the silky smooth healthy skin you’ve always wanted without compromising your skin’s condition!