Thread: How do you prevent Ingrown hairs?

Hello everyone, I have been finding that if I try for a close shave I will get ingrown hairs around my neck. How can this be prevented while still getting a close shave? I have heard a lot of mention about exfoliation but have not found threads with much advice or guidance about it. Could it be that I am doing something wrong with this stage?

Many thanks, Dylan

I have suffered in the past & still do when i'm not on the ball. I simply don't go for bbs & must be one of the few here who are not trying to achieve that! A very light touch is the way forward. A search should reveal a few other threads from the past that may help.

Yepp, the #1 cause of ingrown hairs is trying to shave close. The art of getting away with close shaves is to figure out just how close you can go before disaster strikes and to learn to stop. I never shoot for BBS all over, there are spots on my face that just won't let me do it... that does not mean I look unshaven, only that to the skilled hand (mine, most people around my shy away from feeling my face, requested or otherwise. ) can the slight stubble be felt. I can however, remain quite respectable looking for work 36hrs after my shave. Still, depending on the razor of the day and how careful I am, an ingrown does rear it's ugly head 2 or 3 times a year which, for me, is far far better than it used to be when I shaved with DE and cartridge razors. Ingrown hairs are simply hairs that are cut obliquely like the tip of a hypodermic needle and below the surface of the skin and that have a tendancy to grow less than perfectly straight (curly hair), thus allowing the tip to dig in and do a u-turn...... Short of abrading the skin so it drops back below the tips of those hairs (which would make it feel stubbly again) means that exfoliating scrubs and the like will not do any good. Besides, a sharp straight razor edge is the perfect tool for removing those dead skin cells while shaving so there you go.

Now as for your neck area, most gents have a reversal of grain in the beard at the base of the neck, you may find you have to shave the opposite way there and possibly use a cross grain instead of against the grain cleanup pass in that area. It will take some experimentation to figure out just how close you can go.


Regards

Christian

Its ALL to do with shave technique and skin care. Prepare your skin thoroughly for your shave. Make the skin warm and relaxed- think hot shower or hot towel treatment. If your skin is sensitive stick to WTG only until you lose the ingrowns and bumps. Pull the skin tight in a direction away from that which you are shaving. Use a very sharp razor with a very light touch. Get the correct 30 degree angle. Finish your shave by rinsing with cold water, towel dry and moisturise with a low alcohol content moisturizer.

Done.

Really? I haven't had a single ingrown hair since I went straight..straight razor that is.
But what I use to do before was to use a facial scrub after the shave..if you shave everyday remember too use a very mild scrub like the a dayly scrub. The more exfoliating scrubs shouldn't be used more than 2 times per week.

Now the scrub is not a guarantee against ingrowns but it does often work. Otherwise there are products made for this purpose..just check with your nearest skincare store.

I cannot avoid ingrowns no matter how hard I try. The hair on my neck grows far too flat to avoid it even when I don't shave so close.
One idea that I haven't tried is to scrub with some kind of exfoliant a while before shaving to release the hairs that are stuck under the skin. I'm not sure if it would be too irritating though.

Using an Alum block is said to help but though I use one, I've never suffered from this either so can't personally say whether it does or not.

The reason for ingrown hairs is that dead skin cells clogges up the passage for the newly shaved hairs to grow out. When the hairs starts to grow it can't get passed the layer of dead skin cells ant therefore starts growing under the skin. To remove these dead skin cells you thesefore need som kind of exfoliant so the hairs can grow freely.

As I understand it straight shaving also has a exfoliating effect and thats why, at least in my case, I haven't had any troubbles with ingrowns since I started with straight razors. I read somewhere that ingrowns are also more common with people who have curly beard, most common among black people, you might have a little curly beard..even if you aren't black. What you also can do is not to shave too closely..but then you won't get the smoothness of BBS.

Originally Posted by Rawaz

The reason for ingrown hairs is that dead skin cells clogges up the passage for the newly shaved hairs to grow out. When the hairs starts to grow it can't get passed the layer of dead skin cells ant therefore starts growing under the skin.

I'm not sure thats correct. Wiki appears to disagree with this...

Ingrown hair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Originally Posted by sidneykidney

I'm not sure thats correct. Wiki appears to disagree with this...

Ingrown hair - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That's at least what I know..but also i cant see where Wiki disagrees with my statement it does not explain whet causes the hair to "curl back or grow sideways into the skin"

Correct me if i'm wrong