Man, that’ll be the last time I shave in the shower. That sure is a painfully close shave. I now have not one, but a bunch of ingrown mustache hairs. It’s pretty painful and unsightly. I’ve just been kind of rubbing it with a very hot wet wash cloth and picking at it. I know there’s a right way to do this, and I don’t want to get any permanent damage above my lip by clawing at it. How do i take care of this?
Thanks.
The prefered method around here it to let it get infected and REALLY irrritated, pop the resulting zit, and tell us all about it in the MPSIMS pimple thread.
Well I’m not a man so I don’t know about the moustache area but I have had them in other areas usually after waxing. I have never had them occur from shaving.
Gently rubbing with some type of exfoliating pad should do the trick but I have sometimes had to use a sewing needle and tweezers for those deep nasty little suckers. Just like taking out a splinter.
jatsu is correct – needle and tweezers may be necessary.
WHat is happening is the hair has made a U-turn and is growing back into the skin, so it’s not going to clear up until you straighten each hair again so that it grows out rather than in.
Complicating matters is the fact that the skin in the immediate area is irritated and inflamed, swelling up around the hair so that you can’t get to it.
So get yourself one of those magnifying mirrors, a bright light, and sit down and pick out each one of the hairs that is ingrown. If you’re lucky/tough enough, you can just grope around with the tweesers and pull hoping that you get the hair. Or you can poke around with a needle or exacto knife and find the hair first, then pull it out with the tweezers.
I usually have my wife take care of them for me.
Another hint… always shave with the grain. Never shave against the grain.
The problem is most common around the neck area. This is because of the temptation to stretch the skin to a taut flat area before shaving. Of course, this brings hairs further up than they normally are, and so the cut remains slide below the surface. Keeping an extra milimetre on the neck can’t do any harm, and it’s what any true barber will do.
Ultimately, the only sure-fire way to shave properly is with a cut-throat razor. But I’ve never had the nerve. The next best thing is an old-style razor with individual separate blades - just be careful :eek:
Hmm, I shave everything against the grain. For my jaw, I shave from my ear and move towards my chin. And for my neck, I shave down. For my mustache, I shave from my lip to my nose. ALL against the grain!!
Slightly related to the topic: I have had an ingrown hair where my back meets my cleft. I figured it was just an aggrivated pimple, so I let it go for about 6 months (it would appear, get inflamed, dissipate, and appear again). The discomfort level rised to annoying, so I had it checked out and it was a piloneidal cyst (sp?). A hair plugged one of my glands. I had it surgically removed (piloneidal cystectomy) and needed to have the wound packed w/ gauze daily by a nurse for a month or two. There was no pain when packing or dressing the wound, but it was a nuisance to say the least. I found out pilo… cysts were quite common, even in women (e.g. softball catchers).