Help red bumps on legs from epilators (warning pasty leg pic)

[OutofDepth1000]

Am tearing my hair out (!). Trying to remove hair for longer than a few hours and only even epilators or waxing do that. However I end up with red bumps and ingrown hairs as per picture.

Any tips or advice on what I can do to prevent this, bikini line even worse but I’ve spared you pictures of that

Sorry not much in the way of advice other than, don’t bother lol
Took me years to finally realise it wasn’t worth all the pain. I now shave as little as often (my husband doesn’t mind )
Years of waxing etc, made no difference just painful ingrown hairs. I actually think as I am getting older they are naturally growing finer now. Bikini line is another story!

Omg, I've been epilating for years and that's never happened.

Ouch. That does look sore.
Are you sure the epilator is removing the whole hair, not just snapping it off?
Depending on the design of the epilator, it is also possible to catch the skin instead of just hair which would also make it sore.
How quickly are the bumps coming up? I used to find mine would be irritated immediately after but calm down in a few hours, similar to waxing I suppose.

I feel your pain. I epilated regularly for about 3 years with no real issues .... redness immediately after as you'd expect, which went within 24 hours. But in the last year I've noticed a huge increase in nasty bumpy ingrown hairs which look disgusting. I probably haven't helped by digging them out and thus breaking the skin but what else can you do? You can't leave them to fester away under the skin. I've now stopped epilating to give my legs a chance to recover though shaving is a pain as I'm short sighted and can't see what I'm doing without glasses which isn't ideal in a steamy bathroom. I'm hoping the growth cycle might get back to normal with a few months rest, and I'm also exfoliating with one of those scratchy gloves so we'll see .... but it's all very frustrating when it used to work so well. Am wondering if my skin and/or hair has somehow changed as I'm early 50s and menopausal

Hi OP, sorry this happened to you . Exactly the same thing happened to me when I used an epilator on my legs and I never used one again after that. I've got very sensitive skin, maybe you do too? The spots eventually went away, a bit slower than I would have liked but they did go. I've been waxing ever since but I'm looking into laser hair removal now.

Exfoliate before and after epilating and daily then as the hair grows back. Now I remember why I stopped epilating.

I epilate although I hardly have leg hair
I use the Korean wash cloth to exfoliate and prevent ingrowing hairs and I put sudocrem on after I've epilated
No rash or ingrowing hairs

Ouch! Poor you.

This happened to me until I exfoliated and moisturised (with fragrance-free, hypoallergenic moisturiser) all the time.

It's important to do it in the days leading up to epilation too because if your skin is soft I think it helps stop the hairs snapping off. Also maybe using an epilator you can use in the shower, because the water will also soften the skin and open the pores.

In the end I haven't kept up with all that faff but it worked when I did it!

I know in Spain you can buy a specific moisturiser to use after waxing or depilating. I’m sure I saw a similar product in Boots.

Yes, exfoliate before but do not moisturise before or straight after. Let it calm down a bit first

Or just shave instead?

I used to get these (also when waxing). I ended up having laser removal and now have hair free smooth legs, no bumps or scars. Was expensive but I wish I’d done it years ago!