In-grown body hair on a child

[PrettyCandles]

7yo dd is very hairy, and a lot of her body hairs are ingrown, making her skin feel very pimply. Occasionally one of the 'pimples' gets inflamed so I break the skin to release the hair, which deals with the inflamation. She doesn't like me doing this.

I used to have this problem on the backs of my upper arms and sometimes on my lower legs if I shaved or waxed. If it got bad I would get an exfoliating massage, either professionally or DIY with a rough flannel and some gritty cosmetic stuff. But is this sort of treatment suitable for a young girl?

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i used to get ingrowing hairs (i epilate) but since using a shower puff daily when I wash and moisturising regularly I don't get them any more. Hope this helps!

not sure if this is the same thing, but my DD has gets out breaks of "pimples" mainly on legs (sometimes on bottom) A couple of months ago she had a really bad flair up, to the point they were pus filled (sorry TMI) anyway took her to GP and he said she had folliculitis, which is inflamation of hair follicles and she was prescribed a course of anitbiotics which cleared it .

Hi PrettyCandles, I am a skincare therapist and it would be safe for your daughter to exfoliate to alleviate the problem. Use a scrub with natural bead, so a salt scrub and obviously only gently. Start off with once a week and see if it helps, if not increase to twice a week but I wouldn't do more than this.
You could also try some crushed aspirin in water and rub onto the inflamed hair follicle which will help it come free.

Thanks! I don't want to do aything unnecessarily rough or drying on such young skin.

I don't think it's folliculitis, because the pimples only become inflamed very occasionally, and then usually in an area that might get chaffed regularly, typically where the elasticated bit of her sock sits.

Notjustapuppymum - can you recommend a product? I can't find anything called a salt scrub. Is it something I would find in a large supermarket, or Boots, or do I have to go somewhere special to get it?

I'd add that lots of moisturising helps by softening the skin to let the hairs grow through as normal IYSWIM

there are some very easy recipes to make your own here

probably more gentle than most shop bought too