Hi

I have to say I like this idea.

I wax my lower legs but use an epilator from knees up and on both arms.  I suffer a lot of ugly red blotches and dots that I feel are from ingrown hairs.  I would love to find someway of reducing or eliminating these.   

I already use a scrubbrush to exfoliate before I use the epilator.  My epilator can be used in the shower and that seems to help.

Any other ideas?

Hi Maggie, this is a very good question. In-growing hairs are a real problem for us all we try to tweeze them but this can cause infection. The best way forwards is to try to avoid them in the first place but with most methods of hair removal it is sometimes unavoidable.

Removing body hair by laser is the most effective way of avoiding this problem but if you have them a laser hair removal treatment will remove them.

Let me explain how:- the chromophone we are targeting is melanin which is the pigment found in the which gives hair it's colour.

The light is attracted to the melanin, converts from light energy to heat energy, travels down the follicle where it will heat the follicle to 70c and ultimately damage and destroy the follicle. This will only occur when hair is on the "anlagen" or growth stage ( there are three main stages to hair growth).

So an in growing hair can be targeted by the laser and effectively killed, it will then be pushed back up to the skin surface. The hair will be dead and either fall away or can be plucked out as a dead hair and therefore will not return.

There was a study done 14 years ago by a US naval doctor called Doctor E Vic Ross that proved this as he came across many service men with this problem.

I hope this answer helps. Please feel free to contact me for a more in depth explanation.

Caroline

Have any members tried laser hair removal and if so how did they find it?

I have tried using creams on my legs which seemed to work pretty well but of course, the results are not permanent.  Also, depilatory cream just doesn't seem to work on facial hair at all.  I don't know why.  Maybe you do?  

Thanks,

April

Hi April, facial hair is quite different to the hair on the rest of the body, in young people hormones can also play a part up to around your 30s. certain types of medication can also have an effect. Creams and shaving only really reach the surface, with creams entering the top layer of skin the epidermis. They are not permanent as they do not reach the lower layer of skin the dermis and therefore the hair root or follicle.

The hair has three main stages of growth the anlagen stage is the active growth stage and on the face the resting period is much shorter ( hence the need to shave every day). The chin/beard grow .32 MM. per day. The cheek .32 compared to for example the trunk at .3 MM. per day.

Regards

Caroline
Ladygreysaesthetics

Thank you for the explanation Caroline.  I'm not usre I entirely understand the finer points but I hear you saying that facial hair is different to other body hair and so doesn't respond to creams.  I think I should start a different thread to ask you more about this because this thread is supposed to be about ingrowing hairs.  I'll do that now.

Thanks,
April