Ingrown Hair on Face- how to get Rid, Removal & Prevent

Ingrown hair on face  is a skin condition that everyone would love to avoid at all costs. On the face, it occurs where there is facial hair or beard that is on your chin or cheek. Read on to find out the common  causes, pictures, symptoms, how to get rid, remove and treatment options. pictures. In addition, watch a video of the longest ingrown facial ever recorded in history.

Causes & Symptoms-Male & Female

What causes ingrown hair on chin, cheeks or beard area of your face? Both men  and women suffer from the  annoyance of backward growing  hair. Though some of the causes are different in  men and women, it is a condition that is common in both. According to  medical doctors, following causes often play a significant role behind the  growth of hair follicles in  the  backward direction.

General Causes-Poor Hair Removal Methods

• Shaving- Improper shaving is often considered as the  root cause of ingrown hair.  Sometimes, the  hairs are shaved too close,  which  often  makes them take a backward turn, twist and grow into the skin.
• Waxing– So is true with waxing. It is known  to remove the  hair from the  root,  but sometimes, the hair follicle does not get removed completely. Neither does it get out of the skin.  Eventually it changes its growth in the reverse direction.
• Threading- It is a method of plucking the hair at the follicle level. If it is not done correctly, it will lead to facial ingrown hair.
• Electric razors- The usage of electric razors also results in the similar effect.
• Plucking – Plucking eyebrows results in twisting of the original hairs of the eyebrows, which can  start growing  backwards anytime after.

Other factors that are related to hair removal techniques

• Using old and blunt razors
• Shaving against the direction of hair growth
• Repeated shaving on affected area
• Not exfoliating before shaving

If you have naturally curly and thick facial hair, there high chances that you will suffer from ingrown hairs.

Dirt as result of clogged follicles  can also cause ingrowing hair.

Ingrown Facial Hair and PCOS – Women

According to NIH PCOS (Polyciystic Ovarian Syndrome) is is an array of symptoms due to increased male hormone -androgen. Androgen  also called androgenic hormone or testoid, primarily  controls the development and maintenance of male characteristics. One of the characteristics is facial hair. Therefore, women with polycystic ovary suffer from the  ingrown  facial  hair due to the fact they will be forced to remove it on a regular basis. Note, as mentioned above repeated hair removal is a habit that will result to ingrown hair on your face.which leads to infectious skin disease most of the time.

 Symptoms

Facial ingrown hair comes with a  series  of identifiable symptoms.  The  most significant of the symptoms are as follows:•

1. Redness– The reddish bumps are called razor bumps, which  are caused as the hair grows inside. The redness increases as the pus  fill the  bumps.
2. Spots- Like all other   abnormal growth  in the  skin,  the  ingrown  hair also created  red spots on to the skin.  These are either like pus filled boils  or rashes  across the  area where the hair has grown  inside
3. Scabs– The scabs are formed when the  ingrown hair stretches unhindered across an extended area. The affected zone develops scabs and  boils
4. Swelling– The swelling is the first noticeable  symptom of an  abnormal growth on  the skin. However, the swelling of the area affected with ingrown  hair is  also caused by the  bacterial infection  in and  around.
5. Itchiness– Itchiness is essentially triggered by the pus-filled bacterial infection.  However , any abnormal growth onto the  skin can  feel itchy.
6. Hard lumps/bumps– These are caused by the  ingrown  hairs when left untreated. As the hair follicle grows  back  into the skin, it pushes back  the  epithelial cell, thus leading to the growth  of a hard lump or bump onto the  skin.

How to get rid , Remove & Treatment

Removing or getting rid of   ingrown hair on your face, that is on your chin, cheeks, or beard may not be not be as easy as it sounds. While clinical or the surgical excision is the only curative option, you can also try out several alternative medicines to get rid of it.  Here are some of the ways to help you get rid of the pain of ingrown hair.

• Ingrown facial hair antibiotics- A plenty of antibiotics are available in the market nowadays. You can apply it locally, but before you apply it make sure, it’s in proper condition. These antibiotics are quite helpful  in  reducing the swelling and the pain.  Regular application will soften the  area, thus  facilitating the  process of removing the  hair effortlessly.

• 

  Electrolysis ingrown facial hair- Removal by Electrolysis is  considered as the most effective solution of the  ingrown facial hair. They not only remove the hairs permanently, but also gives you a serene , smooth finish. In order to accomplish the electrolysis on the skin, one usually has to undergo several procedure. The wire probe is used to transmit radio waves to tissues near the probe. Now the molecules within the tissue are caused the electrolysis tool to  vibrate , which further lead to a rapid increase of the temperature, causing coagulation. It forms an  egg white coagulating factor when heated). You also need to get rid of the  blood clotting over the wound.

• Use Ingrown facial hair removal products such as specialized needles & creams. Apart from electrolysis and antibiotics, there are several  creams and needles available for the  effective removal of the  ingrowing hair. Talking about creams, consider non-acnegenic shaving creams specifically formulated skin that is  sensitive. These creams also come with lots of lubricating agents that are very beneficial to your skin. At the same time, consider creams that come with Salicylic acid as one of the  active ingredient. As Menscience puts it,  salicylic acid is a dermatological-grade ingredient that exfoliates, moisturizes, clears pores and can help prevent infection.   Though quite painful, these needles can give effective solution when used properly. You can easily grab them from  your  local chemist shop. However, when  you are using the needles make sure that the needles have  sterilized  as they can  develop small infectious bumps in and across  the area.
• Use a pair of tweezers- Before you start  threading or waxing your skin, use a pair of sterilized tweezers, so that you can  effective pull out the ingrown hairs out of the skin. However, in the extreme situation, if the ingrown hair has delved much deeper under the skin and a tweezer does not provide much help, use a needle. 
• For women  with PCOS, NIH  recommends Insulin-sensitizing Agents: they help in reducing hair growth on face and other parts of the body
  

Home remedies

Common home remedies include;

• Apple Cider Vinegar
• Using Aspirin
• Sugaring for Ingrown Hair Removal
• Tea Tree Oil
• Aloe vera
• Cucumber
• Baking powder
• Honey
• Salt

Follow the links to find out how each can be used.

Tips to prevent/Stop

With  a growing trend of keeping skins exposed , a lot of people, irrespective of their age and sex are falling for threading, waxing and epilating. It further results to the abnormal growth of the hairs inside, thus causing them to create serious skin hazards. However, there are easy ways to prevent its growth and here’s some easiest hacks .

1. Exfoliate your skin thoroughly Exfoliation gives you rid of dead cells, dirt and grime that are likely to accumulate on the  region of the ingrown hair. Make sure that after each session of hair removal process, exfoliation is must. Keep in mind that the ingrown hairs can be triggered by the existence of a thick layer of dead skin which makes the skin condition pretty unhygienic. This time, the hair follicle is unable to break out onto the surface and its normal  growth is hindered. Quite obviously, it  curls back under.
2. Epilation Tips. Epilation is the easiest method used for the hair removal process, but, if you follow the right way to use it, the growth of ingrown hairs can be prevented. This is true that the type of epilator you use can influence the growth of the backward growing hair follicle. The best way is to use a device with many tweezers as they are powerful and can effortlessly remove all hairs right from the root. There’s no risk of  cutting the short thin ones. Thus, there will be no hair on your skin that can be curled back in the reverse direction. You can also choose to get an epilator with ceramic tweezers, as they are strong, hypoallergenic and completely safe.
3. Keep everything clean.  High standards of hygiene must be maintained while removing ingrown hairs. Ensure the tools are clean or sterilized to avoid spread of infections. Ensure your skin is also clean and clear.
   
4. Do not use foam-based shaving creams as they can dry and irritate your skin.
5. Avoid product that list alcohol as an ingredient. Alcohol can aggravate ingrown hairs by drying the skin and hence closing the pores.
6. Avoid repeated shaving on the affected area.

Have you had problems with ingrown hair on your face recently? How did you go about fixing them? Do share you tips in the commenting section below. Or at least hit the share buttons below to let others learn about facial ingrown hair symptoms, causes and how to fix and prevent them.

Longest Ingrown  Hair on Face

What is the longest ingrown hair ever recorded in history on the face area?

In the year 2012 a youtuber by the name Joe Gross published a video of a man  pulling out an ingrown hair that is thought to be longest. The video has been viewed over 11,000,000 times .

In the video, Mr Gross takes a pair of pink tweezers to a clump of ingrown hair on his neck which he names a giant black mark that has been on his face for a number of months. The long black strands of hair he pulls turns out to be the longest ingrown ever seen on the planet. Unfortunately, the folks from the Guinness Book of World Records did not catch up with Mr Gross. Watch the longest ingrown hair in history video below…

Ingrown Beard Hair on Chin & Cheeks

How does it form? Is it usually thick curly & does it form a hard lump?

In this area, the ingrown hair is mostly caused as an effect of improper ways of shaving. Most of the time, problematic shaving leaves the ingrown hair turned and twisted. As a result, it often grows backwards and delves deep into the skin or the epithelial layer causing a serious dermatological  condition. If left untreated they get infected with bacteria and  virus,  thus  causing a  serious  level of swelling and pus filled boils and bruises.

Mostly the beard hair is relatively strong and curly. As a  result, any problem  in  the  shaving leads them grow backward and develop into an ingrown hair penetrating deeply into the skin. However, the symptoms are more identifiable with pus-filled bacterial infection. Soon it may grow  into a  lump and  other kinds of health hazards.

Long Ingrown Hair Under the Skin of face area Problems

How does a deep and really long ingrown hair come about on face?

The ingrown  hair is usually penetrating.  Though in the  primary stage they revel on  the  primary level of the epithelial  cells,  they tend to grow longer and delve deep inside. The situation is further triggered by the  bacterial  infection. The depth and the  length of the  hair also depends on  the  original texture and nature of the  hair.  If the  hair  follicle is  not removed  properly  at the  time  of shaving,  they tend to grow  reverse and develops into its original  shape.  If the  length is triggered by any bacterial  infection, it’s  important to address the  infection  first of all, as  it’s  the root cause of the  disease. If the infection  can  be brought under control,  the  length and the depth can  also be  checked.

What are the complications associated with extremely long ingrown hairs on face?

Extremely big bumps with an abnormally grown hair inside the  skin entails  several complications.  While being a dermatological disorder on its own,  the ingrown  hair can  result to an infection, extreme pain and other skin  ailments including;

• Cyst
• Boil
• Abscess
• Pus
• Hard Lumps
• Acne
• Scars

With the bacterial infection (especially staphylococcus aureus) the situation may even worsen. Though cysts and hard lumps do not cause any serious health hazards, simple medication can treat these. However,  most of these ailments develop into serious or fatal ones  in the long run.