I don’t understand why I get ingrowns from trimming areas such as my forearms, and upper parts of my legs. I’m a real hairy guy so I usually trim my legs and forearms to make it appear as less hair. Usually I bleach my forearm hair as well and trim it to make it less noticeable. I have not bleached my forearm hair in about 2-3 months, but I trimmed them about 1.5 months ago. For some reason, NOW I am getting ingrowns from the trimming. Why on earth am I getting ingrowns from just trimming hair, it doesn’t make sense to me. When I trim my calves I don’t EVER get any ingrowns, but yet on my forearms I do.
technically speaking, ingrowns happen when the top part of the hair doesn’t push through the skin and grows under the skin instead. trimming is cutting the hair ABOVE the skin’s surface, leaving a part of it above the skin. So, I’m not sure what you are talking about. How would the hair grow INTO the skin if it was already above the skin’s surface? Are you saying you cut it really short and it went BACK into the skin?
Exactly, that is what I don’t understand. They are in growns tho, because I can see the hair growing after it pokes through. I don’t know what the deal is, and it’s only on my forearms from trimming. I’m thinking maybe the clipper pulls on the hair pulling some out, but like I said, doesn’t happen on my calves. Just kind of in the dark on what is goin on. Oh well, not a big deal
Hair has some elasticity. Perhaps when you clip it, it snaps back close enough to the surface and that is just enough to start the ingrown process. Can you be sure that it is not a neighbor hair that is just starting to see the light of day?
Dee
especially with triple and quintuple blade shavers the hair gets pulled and sliced, and snaps back below the skin’s surface. It then has a sharp edge, and can get ingrowns. Another thing that happens is the hair is cut, clipped, or shaved, is above the skin’s surface, but the pressure from clothing, or sitting down pushes the hair against the skin as it grows, and it re-enters the skin via the sharp edge on the side. of the cut shaft.
Another reason to avoid all clothing (and most sitting) for 3 days after shaving! 
(But seriously, ingrowns happen anyway since many male faces have this problem and neither clothing nor sitting are factors)
facial hair ingrown hairs are either a case where the hair doesn’t successfully dig its way out of the skin (skin is not actually formed with a neat little tube always open for the hair to slide through) or the ingrown comes from the combination of the close shave sharpe end, and the stretch and snap back leaving the hair to have to re-exit the body from beneath the surface and has yet another chance to not slide out neatly without digging sideways frist.
I have encountered this prob and have gotten to the bottom of it. So your saying that the hair is far above the skin so shouldn’/can’t be ingrown, right? When you trim it it will get rather sharp and when it starts to grow it will curl a bit and start to poke into your skin’s surface. It seems like this wouldn’t happen. I have found that simply rubbing the area with your hand several times a day just giving it a once over will stop more from developing but won’t get rid of ones you already have. I want to be clear that this isn’t exfoliating. All you are doing is displacing the hair because growing is a slow process.
Hi, I am pretty much a lurker here and don’t have time to post much at this point (in the future I’ll report on my whole experience), but this does happen. I am a biological female, and have had to explain to my electrologist why I will not trim. Even if I trim above the skin, it gets SHARP. The hair feels like needles for awhile, at which time many of them curl back into the skin. Yeow. No razor is used, and no pulling occurs. I just use a pair of nail scissors.
Thought I’d concur with Chuck that this does happen, though I can’t explain why either. Grrr.
I will just say that, although it is true that if one were to do circles over the entire area with a toothbrush purchased special for this purpose, and cleaned and dried after every use, one could avoid these ingrown hairs, however, it is impracticle for most people to actually take time out 3 or 4 times a day to brush their faces.