There are a lot of falsehoods online about ingrown hairs. Time to consult an expert who knows what she’s talking about. What do you think you know about ingrown hairs? Look at the statements below and let me know how many of the 5 statements you assumed to be true.

1. Only people with curly or frizzy hair suffer from ingrown hair

Unfortunately, not true. Anyone can suffer from ingrown hairs. Both men and women. Both those with curly or frizzy hair and those with straight hair.

When you consider how an ingrown hair occurs (namely, because a shaved or new hair bends too early into the hair shaft as it grows), it actually also makes sense that it can occur to anyone. However, if you are blessed with a beautiful bunch of curls you are more likely to have ingrown hair, because your hair is naturally curly.

2. Ingrown hairs result from poor personal hygiene

An ingrown hair, especially when the skin becomes inflamed, looks somewhat unfashionable. In any case, it’s not pretty, which is probably why you quickly make the link to poor personal hygiene.

But, again, it can happen to anyone. Whether you shower or bathe daily or every few days. Our pores become clogged for a variety of reasons, such as a buildup of dead skin cells, sweat or sebum, and this increases the likelihood that a hair will grow back “incorrectly.

The exit is blocked, so to speak, causing the hair to get stuck under the skin. So good hygiene can help prevent ingrown hairs, but complete prevention is unfortunately not feasible. Not even if you wash daily.

3. Exfoliating as often as possible prevents ingrown hairs

“If a clogged pore is the cause of ingrown hairs then daily exfoliation is bound to help prevent them.” Unfortunately, it sounds logical, but this statement is also false. To some extent, exfoliating helps prevent ingrown hairs. In fact, with exfoliation you remove the dead skin cells lying on your skin.

But, when you exfoliate too often you force your skin to renew itself extra quickly. And the more skin, the more dead skin cells. Ultimately, you only increase the chances of ingrown hairs with daily exfoliation. The solution lies in a good balance.

If you want to cleanse your skin and pores, exfoliate two or at most three times a week and use an organic-based scrub. This keeps your skin well balanced and feeling wonderfully soft and clean.

4. Ingrown hairs are dangerous

Ingrown hairs are painful, annoying and unsightly, but they are not dangerous. However, it is important that when inflammation has developed you leave it alone. By touching the inflammation with your hands and nails, you have a chance of bacteria entering and causing a skin infection.

If you want to remove the hair because the inflammation does not go away then you can seek the help of a beautician. This one can skillfully remove the hair, quickly reducing the inflammation.

5. Only people who wax suffer from ingrown hairs

It is absolutely true that the risk of ingrown hairs increases when you regularly shave, wax, chemically depilate or epilate. Removed hairs simply grow back at some point. This is a natural process and happens even when you don’t depilate (for a while). In fact, all hairs shed at some point over time. A new hair grows in the same place, and even then an ingrown hair can occur. So this assertion, too, is not true.

Ingrown hair removal

Once ingrown hairs are there, you would prefer to get rid of them as soon as possible. If there is no inflammation then it is best to leave the hair in place and take good care of your skin. Moisturize your skin well with a nourishing cream and exfoliate 2 to 3 times a week to remove dead skin cells. This is how you keep your skin condition optimal.

Do you do suffer from significant inflammation? If so, contact a beautician or skin specialist. To avoid infection or scarring, I recommend that you do not try to remove the ingrown hair yourself.

Here’s how to prevent ingrown hairs

So once hairs are ingrown there is not a whole lot, other than taking good care of your skin, that you can do. However, you can help prevent ingrown hairs in the future.

I’ll give you 5 important tips:

• When you shave, always shave in the direction of your hair growth.
  Shaving against the direction of hair growth can change the direction of hair growth which increases the chances of ingrowth.
• Use a clean, safe and sharp razor that allows you to shave close to the skin.
• Scrub regularly and up to three times a week to remove dead skin cells and other debris and keep your pores open.
  This gives hairs more room to grow out neatly.
• Do not wear tight clothing or tight-fitting underwear.
  This can affect the direction of hair growth.
• Cleanse and care for your skin with a mild lotion such as the YIONN Raka lotion, which effectively removes dead skin cells thanks to its light exfoliating action while caring for the skin thanks to the addition of glycolic and rose water.