The Best Ingrown Hair Treatments (to Banish Bumps for Good)

[Extreme side-eye]… that’s how we feel about ingrown hairs. The tiny, omnipresent banes of our existence lurk just under the surface, taunting us to go “Here’s Johnny” on them with our tweezers. Well, the self-mutilation over rogue hairs ends today. In case you need a little refresher: Ingrowns usually form after hair removal, be it waxing or shaving, when regrowth gets trapped under the surface of the skin and starts growing inward, creating painful and unsightly red bumps.

When it comes to ingrown hair treatment, it all really depends on what stage in the vicious cycle you’re within. For starters, you want to stay exfoliating to prevent the development of ingrowns in the first place. You can’t just use a scrub once a month and expect results, and for some people with sensitive skin, a scrub won’t do at all. There are both chemical and physical exfoliants to keep your skin soft and get rid of the dead skin that increases the risk of trapping hair beneath the surface. But even with diligent exfoliating and moisturizing, ingrown hairs are inevitable, which is why there are so many products on the market to help tackle and heal them. These are the best ingrown hair treatments for getting rid of existing ingrowns and preventing new ones. 

Exfoliants

There’s more than one type of exfoliant, as more and more people are learning during the current boom in skincare—sadly, everyone in the 90s was using St. Ives Apricot Scrub, and they were clueless. (Scrubs with harsh physical exfoliants are now considered a major no-no, especially for areas with sensitive skin.) Hey, if that’s been working for you, don’t let us yuck your yum, but the majority of us have skin far too dry and sensitive to be rubbing it raw with large chunks of apricot pits or coarse granules of salt, sugar, etc. Our faces, armpits, and pubic areas tend to need a lot more TLC, which is where gentle exfoliants like Japanese washcloths and chemical exfoliants like AHA and fruit extracts swoop in to save the day. 

Fur is the surprisingly chic pubic hair product brand at the forefront of the post-shave skincare industry, so it comes as no surprise that its Ingrown Concentrate gets rave reviews across the board. (Read our full review here.) Not only do you get the concentrate, packed with tamanu and coconut oil, but also a mitt to gently buff the product into the skin to help eradicate existing bumps and prevent future ones. 

First Aid Beauty makes two clutch products for unsightly bumps—both the KP Bump Eraser body scrub and the Ingrown Hair Pads contain AHA (alpha hydroxy acids) to soften and smooth, gently buffing away dead skin without causing irritation. 

Dr. Dennis Gross also makes miracle wipes for the body that not only help with ingrowns, but also can help to treat and reduce the appearance of ketosis pilaris, dry skin, and body acne. It contains glycolic, salicylic, and lactic acids to reduce pore blockage. 

If your skin is super sensitive but you still need to slough off dead skin, we highly suggest a Japanese washcloth, which is a gentler woven nylon version of your regular-degular loofah and is big enough to cover large areas like legs and arms, but is also sensitive enough for your bikini area or underarms.  

Last but not least, Topicals’ roll-on ingrown hair tonic is great for travel, easy to apply, and doesn’t contain any alcohol for those with dry, sensitive skin. Sure, it fights ingrowns with one sweep of a roller ball, but it also helps reduce overall skin irritation and discoloration, so you can tackle all those problem areas at once. Not convinced it can do all that? One satisfied reviewer commented, “I am blown away! I've used this product for a couple days now on both my legs and bikini area and it has eliminated any red bumps and drastically reduced my sensitivity.” We're gonna call that a win. 

Toners and serums

If you regularly get ingrown hairs and you’re not taking regular precautions to prevent them in the first place, then you’re fighting a losing battle. But sometimes it’s not enough to exfoliate a few times a week, and some of us get red and irritated just at the mere sight of a razor. In those cases, it’s crucial to use a serum or aftershave (formulated for the pubic/bikini area) regularly, immediately after hair removal. In addition to the aforementioned Fur Oil, we also like the Soothe oil from sexual wellness brand Maude. This super-clean formula is not only vegan and cruelty-free, it also contains jojoba oil to moisturize and chamomile and tea tree to soothe and act as an antimicrobial.  

For a tried-and-true OG solution that reduces inflammation and irritation on the spot, try Tend Skin. This decades-old formula, mainly comprised of alcohol to disinfect, shrink bumps, and offer an instant “micro-peel,” is also unisex and gentle enough to use as an aftershave or toner on a daily basis. With more than 51,000 reviews on Amazon and an average rating of 4.5 stars, it’s an essential in medicine cabinets for good reason.

Under-skin treatments and dark spot cures

If you’ve yet to reap all the benefits allowed to us by the invention of zit stickers, allow us to introduce you to the wonders that are Fur’s Microdart patches for deep-rooted bumps (that will also keep you from picking). If you’re wondering, ‘what the hell is a microdart?’, you’re probably not alone. It’s a relatively new skincare advancement that helps deliver the treatment deeper into your skin, in this case using 170 ultra-tiny, painless darts to penetrate the top layer (think microscopic microneedling), infusing the area with licorice root to even out skin tone, so you’re not left with any spots after ingrowns are dealt with.

Finally, Peace Out Skincare answered our many prayers for a dark spot patch to heal old blemishes, scars, and ingrown marks overnight (or during the day) just by applying a sticker. 

Now back, to our regularly scheduled, very hairy fall. 

The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals? Sign up for our newsletter.