Ingrown Beard Hair: How Does It Happen and What Can You Do About It?

Beard care
Sander van de BaardmanVon Sander - The Beardmen
Updated on 02 Aug 2023

There are certain ailments I would rather have than ingrown beard hair. Your skin gets red, irritated, possibly inflamed and hurts a lot with every facial movement. The Beard Man knows it better than anyone having dealt with ingrown beard hair once in the past. Now that you have discovered ingrown beard hair yourself, do you want to know why this happens and what you can do about it? The Beard Man explains it all and has some tips to ease the pain.

2 types of ingrown beard hair: how does it happen?

Ingrown beard hair can happen in two ways: as razor bumps and ingrown hair. You can read about what the difference is below:

  1. Ingrown beard hair

The most common type is ingrown beard hair where the hair grows under the skin. This is often caused by shaving. Shaving puts your skin under high tension. The hair is shaved deep under the skin in an angled tip, creating sharp edges that press against the hair follicles. Initially, this can cause a tingling and itchy sensation, but if you are unlucky, the beard hair will grow further below the skin surface, causing a lot of pain and skin irritation.

You are more likely to have ingrown beard hair when you are:

  • Shaving off hair short
  • Shaving against the growth direction of the hair
  • Using an old or blunt razor
  • If you have a lot of dead skin cells or flakes on your skin
  1. Razor bumps

Razor bumps are when the beard hair grows outwards, but then grows back into the skin. Men with curly beard hair or frizzy hair tend to suffer from this. Razor bumps have the same causes and symptoms as ingrown beard hair.

Pseudofolliculitis Barbae

Pseudofolliculitis barbae, also known as razor bumps, is an annoying skin condition in which pimples and bumps form. It results from ingrown beard hair. It occurs in the beard area, especially the neck. Lumps develop with or without pus heads and inflammation can develop, which then becomes extremely itchy. Scarring may occur in men who suffer from pseudofolliculitis barbae for a prolonged period.

Ingrown beard hair inflammation

There is a risk of inflammation due to ingrown beard hair and it occurs in most men with ingrown beard hair. Inflammation can be recognised by red irritated skin that is warm to the touch.

The solution: What to do about ingrown beard hair?

Ingrown beard hair is annoying: to avoid pain, you try to steer clear of any facial expression but this is impossible. There are some things you can do yourself to reduce the pain.

What you can do yourself

There are a number of things you can do by yourself to reduce the pain of ingrown beard hair and prevent inflammation:

  • Treat with active ingredients like Glycolic Acid: there are a lot of miracle remedies on the market. Look for a product with natural ingredients and glycolic acid as the active ingredient. Importantly, the product should not contain alcohol. Ingrown beard hair treatment in Britain is available in online shops and your local chemist’s.
  • Use cotton swab: press your skin together and gently go over the hair with a cotton swab. In most cases, the hair will come off by itself. Make your skin warm first by keeping a semi-hot and clean towel on your face for 5 minutes.
  • Use tweezers: can’t get the hair loose with a cotton swab? Try using disinfected tweezers. But be careful and do it only when the hair comes out easily. As with using a cotton swab, warm your face first.
  • Chemical hair removal: a better alternative to shaving is chemical hair removal. Chemical hair removal products can be purchased in online UK stores or your nearby drug store. However, it is important to be careful with these. Using chemical ingredients can irritate the skin. It is important not to use depilatory products when the skin is inflamed.

Remove ingrown beard hair

If you don’t feel like removing ingrown beard hair yourself or if you can’t manage to do so, you can always get help. You then have the following options:

  • Treatment by a skin therapist or beautician: these professionals have several methods to remove the hair. This is a good option when you are not confident in yourself or when you cannot get the ingrown hair out on your own.
  • Laser hair removal: when there is a lot of pain and inflammation on the skin, you can consider hair removal by laser. The hair can sometimes be very deep so you need a powerful laser. Scarring and colour differences can also occur. Laser treatment is a last resort and not the first best recommendation. Unfortunately, laser treatment is often no longer covered by insurance companies.

Use Of Medication

The Beardman is the last person who is going to give you advice on which medications to take. It is best to visit your GP, especially if you experience inflammation.

How to prevent ingrown beard hair

After getting ingrown beard hair, you know one thing for sure: you want to prevent it at all costs so that it doesn’t happen again. The pain is unbearable and you don’t want to further damage the underlying skin. When caring for and touching up your beard hair, it is important to keep the following points in mind:

  • Keep your skin clean: wash your beard hair and the skin underneath regularly with a beard soap or shampoo and/or conditioner and remove dead skin cells with an exfoliator. It is important to get rid of dead skin cells in time.
  • Wet your skin before shaving: never shave on dry skin to avoid skin irritations and wounds.
  • Shave in the direction of growth: to avoid shaving hair at an angle, it is important to always shave in the direction of growth. Especially if you have frizzy or curly hair.
  • Always use a new blade: always avoid using an old and dirty blade or one that is blunt. Rather wait a day than shave with an old blade. A safety razor often works better than a razor blade and is cheaper to use.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you suffer from ingrown beard hair, I can well imagine you have questions. Few ailments are as annoying and painful as ingrown beard hair:

What does an inflamed ingrown hair look like?

The skin is red and irritated. Bumps or pimples appear and with razor bumps, you can sometimes see the hair coming out of the bump or pimple. At a later stage, the tips turn yellow and a scab forms. It is important not to touch these, although this can be tempting.

How do you get rid of ingrown hair?

You obviously want to ease the pain and remove the ingrown hair as soon as possible. If there are no inflammations yet, you could do this yourself with a chemical depilatory, a clean pencil or a cotton swab. With inflammation or when the hair is deep under the skin, it is often better to call in a skin therapist or a beautician. In severe cases, it is sometimes necessary to have the beard hair lasered away.