ingrowing hair and exfoliating

[lop]

Hiya, well i was wondering once you get an ingrown hair what do you do? i think i had one once it was on my leg and t went into a spot so i popped it and pulled the hair out, is this the right thing?? What is exfoliating and how do you do it?

[pathardie]

My girlfriend is a beautician and she says the best thing to do is not to squeeze it as it may get infected. use an exfoliating body scrub, bought from somewhere like boots. this takes the surface layer of dead skin cells away. moisturise after exfoliating to stop skin getting dry.

[CHOPS'R'US]

Basically LOP exfoliation gets rid of your dead skin cells that build up from cell regeneration, your skin generally has a 21 day cycle of renewing itself from the basal layer(where your skin cells are produced) to the top layer(epidermis), if you don't exfoliate you will get a build up of dead skin and this can trap hairs between the epidermis and the dead skin causing itching and sometimes spots which don't look the best, if you pick them this only makes them worse and you can scar from doing this also.

To actually exfoliate do each limb seperately and and use circular motions, working your way up the body as this will help promote healthy circualtion and push toxins to the lymph glands to be taken away.Spend about 1 minute on each limb if you want to do it properly and pay special attention to knees, ankles, elbows and other areas of hard skin like heels etc.

When you have exfoliated rinse all the scrub off in the shower or bath and dry yourself well, once you've done that use a nice rich body lotion, your skin will feel a hell of a lot smoother and will look more radiant and fresh. You benefit alot more from exfoliating about once to twice a week, if you put body lotion on without exfoliating your skin won't benefit so much beacuse the dead skin will soak alot of the cream up before it can get to the new skin. The best one's i have used are slat or sugar scrubs they are more abrasive but don't damage your skin(DO NOT USE ON YOUR FACE), I use to love doing salt scrubs on guests but they can be messy so stand in the bath or shower when you do this.

Hope this helps anyway

[Casey]

There is no harm in gently squeezing when you are in the bath or something. In fact, one of my friends was told to do this by her GP!

[CHOPS'R'US]

You can squeeze them if you want but as a beauty therapist we were taught not to and why so it's up to you, i know they can be the most annoying ugly looking things ever and i have to say i have had a pick in the past but you can scar so as long as you know that pick away to your hearts content.