facial hair issue
Discussion
I have got a problem with my facial hair that is causing me to get lumps or boils under my skin.
The hair is dying as normal but instead of falling out or being pushed out by a new hair, the hair is remaining in place. After shaving the root of the hair is staying under the skin.
The remains of the hair is now stuck and becomes infected and surrounded by liquid which causes the bump. The only way to get the bump to go away is to physically remove the remains of the hair.
Up until my last shave I have been using an electric shaver which I don’t think is helping. My last shave was with a safety razor after reading through the wiki on here.
Has anyone come across this before or got any advice?
The hair is dying as normal but instead of falling out or being pushed out by a new hair, the hair is remaining in place. After shaving the root of the hair is staying under the skin.
The remains of the hair is now stuck and becomes infected and surrounded by liquid which causes the bump. The only way to get the bump to go away is to physically remove the remains of the hair.
Up until my last shave I have been using an electric shaver which I don’t think is helping. My last shave was with a safety razor after reading through the wiki on here.
Has anyone come across this before or got any advice?
This sounds like ingrowing hairs which I get occasionally, not sure how much of the following has a grounding in science but seems to have improved things...
1/ Don't use an electric razor
2/ Don't use a blunt razor
3/ Use a roll on deodorant. If you spray around a cloud of 24 hour deodorant it may block your pores
4/ Get a good facial scrub and use this every few days
5/ Get facial cleansing wipes and use every day
6/ Identify anything that may rub on your face, e.g. I tend to get mine where the chin strap from my crash helmet rubs dust/dirt into my face, wearing a tube/scarf stops this
7/ When the hair has grown for a few days look for any thick/dead hairs and pull out
8/ After you have a shave if there are any feathery slightly longer hairs that normally means they are dead and too weedy for the razor to cut, pull these out
9/ I believe the lump is your face reacting to an "intruder", like a bite. Usually the swelling will mean the hair is not able to be pulled out as it is below the surface, do not let this develop into an The Old Man and the Sea style encounter involving mole grips and a bread knife, you will lose and end up looking look like you are growing a second chin.
10/ A few weeks/months after the swelling has gone down there will be a second coming but without the swelling when the hair can be removed.
As Vince says, letting the hair grow every now and then, e.g. a Bank Holiday weekend, will help.
Right, time to go and write something on the Engines & Drivetrain thread to try and offset this post. Pistonheads, pores matter...
1/ Don't use an electric razor
2/ Don't use a blunt razor
3/ Use a roll on deodorant. If you spray around a cloud of 24 hour deodorant it may block your pores
4/ Get a good facial scrub and use this every few days
5/ Get facial cleansing wipes and use every day
6/ Identify anything that may rub on your face, e.g. I tend to get mine where the chin strap from my crash helmet rubs dust/dirt into my face, wearing a tube/scarf stops this
7/ When the hair has grown for a few days look for any thick/dead hairs and pull out
8/ After you have a shave if there are any feathery slightly longer hairs that normally means they are dead and too weedy for the razor to cut, pull these out
9/ I believe the lump is your face reacting to an "intruder", like a bite. Usually the swelling will mean the hair is not able to be pulled out as it is below the surface, do not let this develop into an The Old Man and the Sea style encounter involving mole grips and a bread knife, you will lose and end up looking look like you are growing a second chin.
10/ A few weeks/months after the swelling has gone down there will be a second coming but without the swelling when the hair can be removed.
As Vince says, letting the hair grow every now and then, e.g. a Bank Holiday weekend, will help.
Right, time to go and write something on the Engines & Drivetrain thread to try and offset this post. Pistonheads, pores matter...
Kiehl's Blue Astringent Herbal Lotion, swabbed on with a cotton pad after shaving, followed by Kiehl's Blue Herbal Moisturiser.
Yes, moisturiser.
These products are hideously expensive, but they do work. Reason being the lotion contains triclosan to kill skin bacteria, and allantoin to calm irritation.
The moisturiser contains salicylic acid to stop the build-up of dead skin cells which clog pores and hair follicles.
If you're an inveterate label reader, you could look for other products which contain these ingredients. They must exist.
Yes, moisturiser.
These products are hideously expensive, but they do work. Reason being the lotion contains triclosan to kill skin bacteria, and allantoin to calm irritation.
The moisturiser contains salicylic acid to stop the build-up of dead skin cells which clog pores and hair follicles.
If you're an inveterate label reader, you could look for other products which contain these ingredients. They must exist.
stneville said:
I have got a problem with my facial hair that is causing me to get lumps or boils under my skin.
The hair is dying as normal but instead of falling out or being pushed out by a new hair, the hair is remaining in place. After shaving the root of the hair is staying under the skin.
The remains of the hair is now stuck and becomes infected and surrounded by liquid which causes the bump. The only way to get the bump to go away is to physically remove the remains of the hair.
Up until my last shave I have been using an electric shaver which I don’t think is helping. My last shave was with a safety razor after reading through the wiki on here.
Has anyone come across this before or got any advice?
Get yourself over to mankind.co.uk and treat yourself to some of the products suggested. They often do trial packs so you could try some to see how you get on without spending a small fortune. I use the Mrs' GLamglow Thirsty Mud after a shave to put moisture back into the skin. Smells amazing Followed by Kiehls wrinkle cream -) But don't tell anyone. The hair is dying as normal but instead of falling out or being pushed out by a new hair, the hair is remaining in place. After shaving the root of the hair is staying under the skin.
The remains of the hair is now stuck and becomes infected and surrounded by liquid which causes the bump. The only way to get the bump to go away is to physically remove the remains of the hair.
Up until my last shave I have been using an electric shaver which I don’t think is helping. My last shave was with a safety razor after reading through the wiki on here.
Has anyone come across this before or got any advice?
The Tendskin stuff does work if you dab a drop on a cotton wool ball but stings like mad straight after a shave and left me looking red, sore and worse. Their "air" shaving gel is pretty good though.
Take a read of this http://www.mankind.co.uk/articles/the-ultimate-gui... and http://www.mankind.co.uk/articles/the-ultimate-gui... Hope that's ok and not seen as an advert, its purely a guide
Edited by oldaudi on Wednesday 25th February 18:41
shave downwards ONLY, for a month or so, with a sharp razer and do it slowly
you have folliculitis and once the hairs line up again, plus all the good advice above you will see an improvement.
Downwards, slowly
ETA: all hairs are 'dead' keratin, shaving them just mows the lawn. the follicle/root is alive and gives you these abcesses
you have folliculitis and once the hairs line up again, plus all the good advice above you will see an improvement.
Downwards, slowly
ETA: all hairs are 'dead' keratin, shaving them just mows the lawn. the follicle/root is alive and gives you these abcesses
Edited by The_Doc on Wednesday 25th February 20:56
Art0ir said:
My electric razor does this to me, particularly that awkward bit where under the chin meets the neck.
Same here, usually right under the jawbone for me. I find it helps a bit if you remove any stubs of hairs with tweezers, it seems to stop the skin growing over the top. Unfortunately sometimes the shaver will have cut it so close to the skin you can't get a grip on it.
thanks for all the great advice.
I have completely stopped using facial wash of any sort and now just using hot water and face scrub every couple of days in the shower. It seems to have done the trick i haven't had any further hairs to pull out or stuck under my skin.
The boil on my neck has finally gone down but there is still a visible mark. I ended up pulling out three dead hairs from the lump and squeezing out a load of fluid.
I was already using moisturiser, have been using it for a long while but will try something new.
I have completely stopped using facial wash of any sort and now just using hot water and face scrub every couple of days in the shower. It seems to have done the trick i haven't had any further hairs to pull out or stuck under my skin.
The boil on my neck has finally gone down but there is still a visible mark. I ended up pulling out three dead hairs from the lump and squeezing out a load of fluid.
I was already using moisturiser, have been using it for a long while but will try something new.
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