An ingrown hair is a hair that, after shaving or waxing, did not come out but curled back and grew under the skin. Laser hair removal does nothing for hairs that are already ingrown, but it works on the cause: it destroys the follicle the hair grows from, and new hairs simply have nothing to grow in from. After a course, ingrown hairs disappear together with the hair itself. Here is why they appear, how to get rid of the ones you have and how to switch from the razor to laser properly.
Where ingrown hairs come from
After shaving the hair has a sharp cut end. It grows, meets the skin and, if the skin is thick or clogged, turns sideways or back down. After wax and sugaring it is different: the hair is pulled out with its root, the new one grows weak and thin, it does not have the strength to break through the skin, and it curls up underneath. In both cases the skin responds with inflammation: a red bump, sometimes with pus, pain to the touch, and then a dark mark where it all healed.
Coarse and curly hair ingrows most often, so the bikini area, underarms and lower legs suffer more than the rest. Tight clothing and friction add to it: the underwear line and inner thighs ingrow in people who shave every two days. For men it is the same story on the neck and cheeks after a razor. How to shave without irritating the skin: razor burn and bumps. Pustules around the hairs after a session or shaving are a separate topic: folliculitis after laser hair removal and shaving. How a full bikini differs from Hollywood and where the borders run: Brazilian vs Hollywood laser hair removal.
Sources: NHS (UK), ingrown hairs
Why laser solves the problem
An ingrown hair is not a skin disease but the consequence of hair growing back after every removal. Laser removes the cause itself. Light heats the pigment in the root, the follicle is destroyed, and no new hair comes out of it. No hair, nothing to ingrow.
The first changes show after two or three sessions: the hair becomes thinner and sparser, and thin hair comes out easily instead of curling under the skin. By the end of the course ingrown hairs disappear together with the rest. Our experience has shown that clients who come for bikini precisely because of ingrown hairs notice the difference first, before the skin is even smooth.
Sources: NHS (UK), ingrown hairs
What laser does not do
Laser will not pull out a hair that is already ingrown. It sits under the skin, often inside an inflamed bump, and a flash will not help it: the hair either comes out by itself within a couple of weeks or needs to be gently freed. Laser does not remove the dark marks left by old ingrown hairs either, that is skin pigment, not hair. They fade by themselves over a few months if you keep the area out of the sun.
What to do with the ones you already have
Do not squeeze and do not dig with a needle. That lets infection under the skin, the bump gets bigger, and the mark after it is darker and lasts longer. What helps: a warm compress for 5-10 minutes to soften the skin, and a gentle scrub or washcloth every other day to lift the top layer and let the hair out. Once the tip shows above the skin, you can catch it with clean tweezers, but do not pull it out: lift it out and leave it so the skin heals.
If the bump is hot, growing and painful, or there are several next to each other, that is inflammation, and it needs a dermatologist. An antibacterial ointment and a day or two of rest usually solve it, but a doctor prescribes it.
Sources: NHS (UK), ingrown hairs
Can I have laser if my hairs are ingrown right now
Single ingrown hairs without inflammation do not get in the way: the specialist goes around the bump or works over it at lower power. Inflamed areas with pus and redness must not be treated, they are skipped until next time or the visit is moved a week until the skin calms down.
The main thing before the first session: stop wax, sugaring and plucking 3-4 weeks in advance. The laser needs a hair with its root. Shaving is fine and needed, the day before or a few hours before (how to prepare for laser hair removal). This is where many people stumble: after wax the skin ingrows more, so the switch to laser is best started with a razor, not with one last wax appointment.
Do ingrown hairs happen after laser hair removal
Laser itself does not cause ingrowing: it neither cuts the hair nor pulls it out, it destroys the root. But at the start of the course the odd ingrown hair still appears. After the first sessions the treated hairs shed within one to three weeks, and some of them do not come out but stay under the skin as a tiny dark dot. That is not new ingrowing but an old hair the skin is pushing out. It comes out by itself, a scrub helps it along.
By the third or fourth session there are almost no such dots: the remaining hairs are thin and weak, with nothing to ingrow with. If ingrown hairs came back after the course, the cause is usually elsewhere: hormones woke up new hairs, and shaving or waxing started again.
How to care for the skin during the course
Between sessions the same things help: gentle exfoliation twice a week, loose underwear, no wax. Shaving between sessions is fine, it does not spoil the laser.
After a session, two or three days without scrubs or hot baths: the skin is irritated and needs to cool down. Then the usual skin care after laser hair removal. With every session there is less ingrowing, and by mid-course many people forget about the scrub because they no longer need it.
How we handle it
Ingrown hairs and razor irritation are the most common reason people come to us for bikini and underarms. At the consultation the specialist looks at the skin, notes the inflamed spots and says where to start: sometimes with a week of rest, sometimes straight with a session. We work on a hybrid laser with contact cooling, so even skin irritated by shaving handles a session comfortably. We guide the course from the first visit to the last, and the ingrowing is gone in the first half of the course!
Reviewed by: MEDULLA team