25 Jan Removing pesky in grown hairs from the bikini line..
Ingrown hairs are very common in the bikini area. They are generally caused by incorrect waxing, or shaving. They are also caused by wearing very tight, synthetic underwear or tight jeans following a wax. When the skin isn’t allowed to breathe it sweats and bacteria gets trapped leading to zits and ingrown hairs. Exfoliating the area twice a week with a nice scrub, helps unclog the pores by removing the dead skin cells surrounding the follicle.
Get your bikini ready for the summer!!
Using a nice hot compress applied to the area for five minutes will help draw out the gunk making its exit strategy easier. Gently apply pressure either side of the bump where the ingrown hair is to see if this helps. If nothing seems to be coming out, apply your hot compress again and repeat the process.
If you still have no joy, then leave it alone. Too much squeezing can rupture the follicle underneath the skin resulting in an infection, bleeding or scarring.
If you do see the tip of the hair pop out when applying pressure to the area – using your clean, sanitized pointy tweezers remove the hair and then apply a Tea Tree astringent compress to help remove any bacteria. Tea Tree has wonderful properties as its natural agent cures fungus, bacteria and most viruses.
If it still looks slightly inflamed a touch of high frequency will help reduce the inflammation and help to kill any bacteria that may be present. Even better to help with reducing inflammation and the extraction of an ingrown hair is Epsom salts.
Epsom salts are named from a bitter, saline spring at Epsom in Surrey, England. It is not actually a salt but a natural occurring mineral with ‘amazing’ health benefits which contain magnesium and sulphites. These two powerful ingredients help remove ingrown hairs as they are both readily absorbed through the skin improving the absorption of nutrients and aid in flushing out the toxins. The salts when used as a compress alleviate pain and inflammation. It also exfoliates the dead skin cells without causing a stinging sensation. It is a great alternative from using just a regular compress of hot water. Epsom salts are very, very inexpensive and can be found in any pharmacy in the U.S.A and the U.K.
I have also spoken with Pete Smolowitz who seems to be very enthusiastic about the product and ‘hey’ why wouldn’t he be? Epsom salts can be used for a whole variety of ailments and not just for helping to flush out ingrown hairs. They mention on their website that Epsom can be added to your conditioner to give your hair some ‘bounce’. We all need some ‘bounce’ in the right areas from time to time!
Buy a large, medicine glass bottle and store your labelled salts in there, to use in your salon for cleaning, medicinal purposes or to just look ‘fancy’!
Mix 2 tablespoons of Epsom salt into a bowl with 8 oz of distilled water (tap water is ok, but it’s preferable to use distilled) Soak your cotton compress into the solution and leave on the infected or ingrown area for a minimum of ten minutes.
Epsom salts come in different textures...
Epsom salts rough texture makes it an ideal exfoliator which you can use on yourself at home. Massage handfuls of it over your body during your shower to rid the skin of any dead skin cells and to give you that healthy, happy glow! You can also buy the finer Epsom salts and mix in with a cleanser as a facial scrub. Tea Tree can be added to your mixture too, if you have oily skin.
You can tell your clients in your Spa about this wonderful alternative to an expensive scrub, but if retail is where you make most of your profits, maybe you can keep this secret to yourself, or better still make up some jars yourself and hand them out as thank you gifts!
looks so clean, it just has to have a bow!
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