Ingrown hairs

[crimson]

Some of you might be “following” my positive experiences with laser hair removal on my face in that forum, but now I am posting here for advice about another problem.

I don’t shave my legs really at all. And yes, I have tons of dark coarse hair on them, but if I shave they itch and bump forever afterwards so I have basically told my boyfriend that I don’t care what he thinks, I just won’t do it. Of course he is a wonderful person and loves me either way and he’s rather I not be uncomfortable.

Anyway, even though I don’t shave, I get really bad ingrown hairs between my legs, the inner thighs. I’m overweight (PCOS) so of course my legs rub together all day when I walk.

I won’t get into specifics because I’m sure everyone here knows how ingrown hairs look and feel… but let’s just say they are really bad and the infections are quite deep (some of them can get up to nearly an inch in diameter), and my pant legs always get little dots of blood on them. Of course I pick and squeeze all the time. The skin here is darkened from this as well.

That being said, where do I go from here? I need to fix this problem and prevent it from coming back. Perhaps if there is a way to get the current sores to go away and return to normal hair growth I can get the area lasered, I don’t know.

[meanmugginu]

Something to help heal and prevent ingrown hair - go to www.greatnewskin.com and get the microdermabrasion cream. You can read all about it on their site … great stuff. You might also (after the exfoliation, and after allowing at least 15 minutes for your skin to ‘normalize’ after washing/exfoliating) apply a GOOD lotion … that same site has dermabutter which is a decent one … also hope in a jar by Philospohy is good … dermatologists sell some good ones also. If you can’t afford lotion - neosporin is a miracle worker and if you can find it there is this brown sauve called BOIL-EASE … you can wear that at night and wash it off (it stinks and stuff, but it heals and helps … it’s good to bring thorns and splinters out and stuff … but i find it helps heal up big cystic type skin infections, too. Also, either don’t shave, or if you want to shave, make sure you use a sharp, new, clean razor (I like ones like Venus … expensive, but closer shaving) and don’t bear down too hard … also go to www.philosophy.com and get razor sharp … helps soften hairs when shaving … and at sephora.com they have some called brave soldier code blue … never tried it … heard it’s great for that type shavers … also helps if you stay in warm/hot water for a few minutes, but not to the point your skin swells lots … this will weaken the hair and make it easier to shave.

Another good alternative are those hair trimmers that just trim the hair … conair has a pretty good one for the bikini area … got one at Wal-Mart for $20 or less … it takes some practice, and sure it’s not going to make you perfectly hairless … it’s only trimming, but it works pretty well without irritating as much as shaving … better than having a bush on each thigh, ya know?