Home Remedy for Ingrown Hairs

Factual Questions
1

The only thing I can find for the treatment of Ingrown Hairs is “ingrow go” which is $25 a bottle and not worth it. That’s all that is available to me as I live in a small town. I have no credit card so therefore I cannot order any products over the internet. So I was wondering if anyone has found any good solution for the dilemma. I’ve heard products with salicylic acid help. Cheers

2

I have treated them the barbarous way–dig them out, then apply triple antibiotic ointment twice a day until healed. It’s neither sophisticated nor pretty, and none of them were too deeply ingrown. If the hair is very deep, and you can afford to spend time experimenting, see if just applying the antibiotic ointment two or three times a day helps.

I will now make way for more informed answers.

3

While you didn’t specify the cause or region of the ingrown hairs, the following generally helps:

  1. frequent soaks with a very warm wet towel
  2. exfoliation with a loofah or similar once a week
  3. optionally, a mild abrasive skin cleanser 3-4 days after the loofah
  4. careful but appropriate use of skin moisturizers

This may also work for ingrown hairs in the shaving areas (face and bikini), but those are often handled somewhat differently

Hot tub foliculitis (most common in areas covered by a bathing suit) usually appears 5-8 days after exposure, and is most often caused by Pseudomonas aeruginosa (vs. Staphylococcus aureus, the commonest agent in most other foliculitis), and usually resolves by itself in two weeks. Topical antibiotics are used, but the ones recommended by CMDT 2004 (Current Medical Diagnosis and Treatment) aren’t ones that you can pick up over-the-counter in a drug store. I would suspect that the “neosporin” or “triple antibiotic” (bacitracin, polymyxin, neomycin) ointments you often see in drug stores wouldn’t help much [antibiotic overuse isn’t advisable anyway - it only breeds resistance).

These ointments are in a petrolatum (petroleum jelly) or white petrolatum (and emulsion of petroleum jelly and water) base, which might aggravate some complexion problems, and probably serve to soften the hair and skin more than anything else, if they help ingrown hairs at all.

I can give more specific suggestions, if you specify the location and type of ingrown hairs you are having problems with.

This is not medical advice. It was generated by the Medical 8-Ball™. Take 2 aspirin and call me in the morning.

4

Location? Bikini area. Type? The obvious.