I have been shaving for sometime with Cartridges, DE & SE razors. I don't recall ever getting a ingrown and it is a irritating experience to say the least. I ordered a tweezer kit that has not shown up yet and I wanted this painful hair out because it makes my shaves not very enjoyable at all. So I had some tools to find the little rascal, it is so small that even with good eye site would be a challenge for anyone if not impossible. I have one of those USB microscopes 500X that are just amazing for hobbies of any kind, great for inspections or assemblies. I went on line and there is limited information on how to treat ingrown hairs- I liked a few on Youtube videos(thanks Mantic 59 and a few others). Some of the youtubes videos gave suggestions on how to use a soft tooth brush and gently scrub the affected area if a red lesion shows up to help the hair pop through the skin and use aspirin crushed adding some water to make paste to apply to the affected area to knock down swelling. My ingrown was left to long for massaging it through the skin ( it already had curved and had entered back into the flesh.). The aspirin did work very well in a paste form, I used witch Hazel instead of straight water because it's better for the skin and does have some Alcohol to prevent infection with distilled water. This is not a easy task because the target is maybe .003 thousands of a inch Diameter and orienting the needle with the USB microscope took a lot of practice. I also made a special needle modified to slip under that microscope plastic lens attachment that came with this particular model. This is the ingrown hair I found and you can see it had already curved and drove it self back into the flesh. I would of had to guessed were it was if I did not have the microscope. This is a small target and I tried guessing were it was from the pain afflicted area with different tweezers to try and grab it with out success. As you can see it is below the surface in a little trench of the skin. As you can see the hair is quite small, I placed a grain of table salt to show it. The needle that is my special tool that had to be twisted to get under the plastic attachment that came with the microscope with and the other angle was used for holding and manipulating the special needle. I found you have to heat the needle with a Bic lighter and use 2 needle nose pliers to heat & bend the needle ( the needle will just snap if you do not heat them when bending). The objective is to get under the hair and gently lift upwards out of its wrong directional path. They suggest when hair is freed to leave it and shave it next time, I did not and pulled the miserable thing out. Before prodding around I used alcohol swaps to sterilize the affected area and to clean the needle to prevent infection. This is what my needle looks like with the Andonstar 500x magnification USB microscope( what you are looking at is around 300+ magnification is my guess) using my 15 inch laptop. I really like this little Microscope and did some research before purchasing it. I put the box it came with in front of the screen if some one is interested. Two inexpensive products that are just a great combination in paste form and apply to the affected area. I usually just left paste on for 15 minutes until it was good and dry and washed off with water. It does help for revealing swelling when used topically. (strongly recommend if no allergies to aspirin.) 1/2 to 1 pill is all I needed to make paste and I applied it with a Q-tip, used this treatment around 4 times until I go the little rascal out of my facial skin. Conclusion it worked and it is amazing the next day how good I feel and my skin is almost back to normal. Hope this helps someone who is not sure how to correct the issue. Hospitals can be expensive for a doctor to remove a ingrown hair depending on were you live so you might be able to remove it your self! Have some great shaves!
First, let me say, your close-ups are a little much. Now, what myself, and many others have done, over the years, is to just take the sterilized needle, lift the ingrown hair out, and yank it with a set of tweezers. Very simple. I then put a dab of aftershave over the area. Since I started using Straight Razors, I have had almost no issues with ingrown hairs.
There are always different methods and simpler no doubt, I tried the needle first with no success and remembered my hobby microscope and it still was not easy. I believe this is my first ingrown hair of all years of shaving, more than likely had some didn't know better and they corrected when I was younger and did not care as much in those days. This one got infected a little, I did order some some different tools for skin care. Have some great shaves!
Dang, you don't mess around with ingrown hairs, do you? You can now be Dr Pimple Poppers assistant, with that set-up.
When I tried out a new type of 2, 3 or 5 blade Cartridge razor I got ingrows, I got rid o them with an angled pointed tweezer. My best cure was , don't try any new types of Carts.
Good advice, I have seen some pics of the misery some folks go through when they use the wrong razor for their skin type.
