Awful ingrown hairs on legs - help!

[bananarama3]

NC for this. I have awful awful legs that never see the light of day because of ingrown hairs, red marks from picking and scars. I used to wax, tried epilating and stopped because the ingrown hairs were getting worse and now I can't even shave. So they're spotty, scabby and hairy! I need help please! I'd love to have smooth legs and be able to wear skirts. it's a while before the weather has a chance of improving enough to even want to wear a skirt so what can I do?

Thanks in advance.

I'm cautiously becoming impressed: skin feels very smooth in between the bad bits. And the bio oil is working a treat on the dryness. I'll keep going!

Well done

If you keep this up, hopefully you will have lovely, non scabby legs by summer.

Remember, that those hairs can lurk under the surface for ages doing no harm. There is no rush to gorge them out

Bear with me, this might be long winded. Bigbiscuits - that is a very good very valid point but something in me rebels against it. It's something about needing to get everything bad out of my skin so that it will be smooth. Obviously my approach has not worked but there is a compulsion in me to do this thing which is clearly harming me. Like a previous poster said, it's like a trance. And I know I do it when I'm completely stressed and overwhelmed: it takes me out of myself in this pursuit of perfection. So yes, I agree with you. The hairs are not doing any harm and are actually 100% less visible than the bleeding holes I leave in my skin. But there's a satisfaction I get from picking that I need to resolve. I don't want to do this to myself and yet in times of stress I give into the temptation. I have had a peaceful few days and I'm really impressed with the progress I've made but I'm scared that I'll ruin this progress with one picking session as soon as I have a bad day at work/the kids drive me crazy/whatever else rubbish might happen.

Perhaps I ought to have posted this in mental health rather than style and beauty!

Has anyone who has managed to stop picking got any tips?

Thank you all for you support: I really think that I'm going to get to the bottom of this and get it sorted

Ahhhh this is me. So nice to hear I'm not the only one. My legs are riddles with horrible brown marks where I have gouged hairs out of them. It makes me feel sick to look at them and yet i can't stop until the bloody things are out.

I have just purchased a Lumea and used it yesterday for the first time. I could only do one of my legs though as I need to wait for some marks on the other one to heal a bit more. I am pinning so much on this that it will get rid of my Ingrowing hairs so I can stop damaging myself like this!

And yes it's exactly like being in a trance.

I know what you mean about the trance.

I was a picker for about 15 years.

My legs were always hidden from view, tights, trousers, maxi skirts and dresses

It was only when I moved in with DH that I stopped as it was my dirty little secret and I didn't want him to see me do it. And as I was alone so infrequently, I never managed to find the time to do it. That's how I stopped.

How old are you children? Do they see you doing it? Do you have a partner?

My children are young, I'm not in a relationship and I think if I was, I wouldn't do it. No one knows. I'd be mortified if the kids saw me and am so ashamed despite being a regular poster on here, I changed my user name.

Part of it is the fact that I'm not with anyone. It feels like I'm not worth treating well - which is insane because I do my hair and make up and dress nicely! It is like a dirty little secret. I wonder if part of it is to protect myself from a relationship? I've been hurt and if I have horrible legs I can't get into a position where anyone could hurt me again.

Cloudy - I really hope the lumea works for you. It must be really exciting!

Banana,

I can so relate to those feelings of shame. And I know it's easy for me to say as this is all behind me, but if I were you .....

I would stop all hair removal methods for the next 3 months. during feb, March and April, no one will bat an eye lid if your legs are always covered. This will give your legs time to heal, you won't get any new ingrown ones and it will give you the chance to just break the habit and the never ending cycle.

Then when summer begins, start a sensible hair removal method with lots of moisturing and exfoliating. And no picking and inspecting.

And then think about giving your legs a rest over the winter again.

Good luck

That's a very good plan big biscuits. I'm amazed at the progress in a few days and ta dah!! Had a stressy couple of days and i didn't pick !!

The ingrow go is powerful stuff. I think its action must be to exfoliate and loosen the dry skin but I definitely think additional exfoliation is needed: when I've been dry brushing my legs an unbelievable amount of dry skin has come away. My skin on my legs is much much softer and smoother and those big angry red spots under the plasters - they're practically gone. I wish I'd taken a before photo!

I'm going to keep on with the routine. In case anyone has similar problems, what I've done is:

Stopped picking
Used the ingrow go once or twice a day
Used a dry skin brush to brush my legs
Used bio oil afterwards.

It's been eight days and I'm so pleased with the changes I've seen.

Hi I’m the OP, resurrecting this thread as it’s two years since I last posted and I wanted to update on my progress. It’s all good news: my legs are free from scars, no ingrown hair, really soft and smooth on the days that I shave them.

I wanted to offer some hope for people who might still be locked in the picking cycle that it CAN be stopped. I’d be happy to share what’s worked for me if anyone is interested.

And a massive massive thank you to the posters who helped me two years ago. I’m very grateful

I had this when younger and it was awful !! I stopped epilating and started shaving so hair tip was always at the same level as the skin so didn't have to try to break through the skin if you see what I mean AND (very important !!) started moisturising after every bath or shave. It has worked for me ! .

Please do update us on what made the biggest difference and how you kept it up OP
I get ingrown hairs despite religious Moisture regime, body butter every day after showering. I exfoliate daily with a loofah, weekly with body scrub and try and minimise shaves but summer is looming 😢

DH tells me off if he sees me picking which helps and he's not remotely bothered about some fuzz in my legs when I'm having a rest from shaving.
Waxing is disastrous and I gave it up for that reason as I could guarantee lots of ingrown bumps at regrowth stage

I'll investigate the lotion and a Lumea too...really annoying having ingrown leg hairs. Rest of skin is fine and underarms never get it which is sooo weird (but I have very sparse underarm hair which means I don't need to shave there often).
I always put it down to having curly hair LOL! Thought maybe I also had curly hair follicles in legs which couldn't push through
I'm not a compulsive picker as I know it always ends in scarring and angry marks but it is difficult to resist! I have to stop myself.

Thanks for your help to achieve smooth ingrown hair free legs for the summer

Yes please share your regime!! I can spend hours picking! Well now ive had laser which has meant theres not much left to pick but i am so addicted that i seem to go looking for bumps and any tiny thing i find i pick and make worse.

Yes! Please update with what really worked for you ...
Well done 🌸

Hi all, sorry it’s taken me some time to get back. So... this might be a long post!

I’ve picked my skin on and off for years but it really seemed to peak in awfulness maybe 6 years ago. I seemed to get into a cycle I just couldn’t get out of and ended up with skin on my legs as described in the OP. I wish I’d done before and after pictures because I find it hard to believe now how bad it was.

What helped in the beginning was the very firm decision that this habit was doing me no good. That it was in fact harming me and I wanted to stop.

I put plasters over the very worst, deepest wounds - and they were wounds. I had picked and poked at my skin so much I had holes in my legs. I had multiple scars and wounds all over from my knees to my ankles. So the worst ones got covered up so I couldn’t see them and pick more.

Not picking is the single biggest factor in my skin recovering. I can’t emphasise that enough - no product can heal your skin. Your body has to heal itself and you have to let it heal

It wasn’t exactly a linear course - I had times when I picked but I tried to be compassionate with myself and go back to my don’t harm myself place.

I exfoliated with a variety of products - a body brush initially, but I’m quite lazy so I didn’t use it as much as I’d planned! I like nip and fab’s glycolic fix as well as tend skin which both use salicylic/glycolic acid. I used a dermaflannel (anyone still got one of those after the craze a few years ago?!) and found that LOADS of dry dead skin came off. Gentle regular exfoliation has been the other key feature of recovery.

Whilst on the subject of body lotions, eucerin 10% urea cream has been like a miracle. It’s a lot more moisturising than the nip and fab lotion and I’ve found it to be very helpful with healing.

I can’t epilate any more. I tried a few months ago and got loads of ingrowns almost straight away. I’ve had to let go of the thought of hair free legs all the time: I’m happy enough that I can take two minutes to shave my legs when I want to and they look fine.

So in summary,

Stop picking
Treat your skin gently and yourself with compassion
Exfoliate and moisturise
Be gentle with yourself. This is a hard thing to do but honestly, I’m so proud of myself for overcoming this. It felt so painful and shameful and I don’t need to feel that pain or shame any more. And I can wear little skirts or dresses in the summer

Thank You

SoYo you’re welcome, I hope something I wrote helps! Maybe a chemical exfoliant might be the way to go if body brushing and scrubs aren’t helping? I’d like to know how you get on.

SoyYo sorry I spelt your name wrong!

Thanks OP for coming back to update! The original post popped up on my desperate google search to rid myself of my own ingrown hairs. I’m glad you have got to a good place with your legs

I am away to resurrect my underused body brush, a half used tube of Flexitol (for the urea) and persevere with it all in the hope to make some difference.

Good luck going forward OP!

@u32ng how are you? Did the flexitol work?

I’m back just to post more good news: legs still fab, not a single scar. I’ve been wearing shorts and dresses all summer and feeling really positive about my skin. I just don’t pick any more and it’s like a miracle.

I still regularly exfoliate and have to put moisturiser on every day otherwise my skin gets very dry. I shave my legs every few days and that suits me fine.

Hope this helps anyone stuck in the awful place I was a few years ago. It’s possible to heal

Oh wow great thread OP and well done! While I don't think I was ever at the almost self-harm levels you describe, I can definitely relate to the sense of satisfaction from compulsively extracting ingrown hairs.

i used to get a lot of ingrown hairs from shaving with a razor. When I was on blood thinner medication, I had to switch from a blade razor to an electric one (that I used just with regular shaving gel). The electric razor doesn't give quite as smooth a shave as a real razor but it definitely gave a real improvement to my razor rash and ingrown hairs. And it meant I could shave much more frequently if I wanted to without aggravating my skin. So perhaps worth a try for other sufferers also.

@bananarama3 that is great news! I’m so pleased for you.

I’m still battling mine - grr! I’m body brushing, exfoliating and moisturising and still not 100% clear. I’ll admit I sometimes get lazy in the exfoliation/moisturisation so need to work on that.

I have an electric razor actually which is ironically a head option on the epilator I was away to bin (not used in years and apparently awful for ingrown hairs anyway) but I think I’ll start using that and see if it helps. Thanks @sycamore54321

To help me feel a bit more confident about my legs (as I’m also pale and veiny - combo from hell) I’ve been using Sally Hansen leg spray which I had avoided for being a hideous orange colour but actually when thoroughly rubbed in somehow works on me! Only reason I’m happy wearing a playsuit today!

@u32ng I used to use sally Hansen too! Not a stealth boast, honestly, but I don’t need to now - I’m pretty pale myself but my skin has been exposed to the sun enough that I’ve got a bit of a tan! Just a gentle glow, which is what the SH gave me years ago. I’m glad you’ve found something to enable you to wear the play suit - it’s liberating isn’t it? To wear “normal” summer clothes?

I use to get the same. I stopped epilating and started shaving instead . And moisturise religiously after each shower or bath. Smooth legs now.