17 Best Ingrown Hair Treatments to Heal and Prevent, Tested and Reviewed for 2024

"These ingrown hair pads are soaked with AHA and BHA, which makes it easy to exfoliate anywhere anywhere on your body," says Dr. Chiu. Swipe one pad on dry skin a few days before your go-to hair-removal method, then again two to three days afterward to keep your pores and follicles clear. Then, if your skin feels a little tight or dry, smooth on a body lotion afterward.

• Key Ingredients: Glycolic acid, salicylic acid (exfoliating)
• Application areas: Face and body

Glowing Customer Review: “I am happy something finally works for my ingrown hairs. It’s like a pad with all these amazing ingredients that cleanse, smooths, and help control pesky ingrown bumps! I no longer have to hide my bikini line!”

Overshare moment: I recently had an ingrown hair on my inner thigh that was so red and swollen that I didn’t even want to wear shorts—and it was an 80-degree day, y’all. But I remembered I had this soothing serum from Tower 28 in my closet, which uses hypochlorous acid, a gentle acid with major antibacterial properties that essentially “disinfects” your skin to help reduce inflammation. I dabbed a little bit of this on the bump in the morning and at night, and by the next day, I didn’t feel nearly as much pain and heat radiating from the spot.

Dr. Garshick also loves this product, explaining that although this serum is not specifically targeted for ingrown hairs, its anti-inflammatory properties can help reduce redness and irritation due to its star ingredient, hypochlorous acid.

• Key Ingredients: Hypochlorous acid (disinfecting and soothing)
• Application areas: Face* (*formulated for face, but safe to use on body)

Glowing Customer Review: “After having great results for some acne and redness using the Tower 28 Spray, I decided to try the serum. It worked to heal stubborn acne along my jawline while helping the rest of my face look even toned, reducing redness—especially around my cheeks)—and just helps my skin to look calm.”

This ingrown hair treatment is packed with a bunch of exfoliating ingredients (see: salicylic acid, glycolic acid, and willow bark extract) and anti-inflammatory ingredients (niacinamide, allantoin, and centella asciatica), making it great at both exfoliating follicle-clogging dead skin and soothing your inflamed ingrown hairs. The serum has an ultra-lightweight, thin consistency that absorbs quickly into your skin, so all you have to do is roll it onto freshly cleansed skin once a day, and you're good to go.

• Key Ingredients: Niacinamide, allantoin, centella asciatica (soothing); glycolic acid, salicylic acid, willow bark extract (exfoliating)
• Application areas: Face and body

Glowing Customer Review: “My skin is super sensitive, and after shaving my bikini line, I always get ingrown hairs. This has honestly saved my beach life! After shaving, I roll it on around my bikini line, and I have not had an ingrown hair or red bump since!”

Meet this ingrown hair treatment mist’s trifecta of chemical exfoliants: lactic acid, glycolic acid, and salicylic acid, all of which are legit excellent for chemically buffing away and dissolving dead skin that can cause ingrown hairs. Two to three days after shaving or waxing, I spritz this onto my skin in the morning and at night to help prevent and treat existing ingrown hairs. Dr Garshick loves how easy and convenient this mist is to use. "It also includes witch hazel to reduce inflammation and irritation—it's a great option for those who prefer a lightweight, spray-on treatment."

• Key Ingredients: Lactic acid, glycolic acid, salicylic acid (exfoliating)
• Application areas: Body

Glowing Customer Review: “Yes, the price does initially sting a little, but this ingrown spray really works. I can’t imagine myself without it now.”

So, I actually bought this hot/cold water pack to soothe period cramps, but it’s also come in handy when I’ve had a v-inflamed ingrown hair. I just fill it with hot water, then press it against my clean, dry, ingrown hair to help calm inflammation. Or, when it legit hurts, I’ll fill it with cold water, then stick it in the freezer for 10 minutes and hold it against the bump to reduce some swelling. It’s truly so easy to use and take with me everywhere I go, and because it’s made of silicone, I can easily wipe it down with rubbing alcohol after every use to avoid bacteria spreading.

• Key Ingredients: Water (warming and cooling)
• Application areas: Face and body

Glowing Customer Review: “This old-fashioned device is simply a great solution to providing warmth for achy tummies or sore backs. I appreciate that the pad is fairly large so it covers quite a bit of surface area. The warmth lasts quite a while.”

"This lotion is designed to treat keratosis pilaris, but its exfoliating properties can also help with ingrown hairs," says Dr. Garshick. It’s loaded with exfoliating AHAs (6 percent lactic acid and 4 percent glycolic acid) to help smooth bumps and uneven texture, but is also spiked with urea, which draws moisture into your skin to keep it hydrated. I smooth this on once or twice a week at night, and that’s it—a one-and-done step. "It's truly a versatile option for smooth skin," Dr. Garshick says.

• Key Ingredients: Urea (moisturizing); lactic acid, glycolic acid (exfoliating)
• Application areas: Body

Glowing Customer Review: “This product does the job so well. It treated the little bumps on my skin and smells incredible too.”

FYI: Retinol is a powerful ingredient for promoting cell turnover and preventing clogged pores, which can be a game-changer for ingrown hairs, says Dr. Garshick. This formula from Versed actually uses encapsulated retinol, which is a little easier to tolerate than traditional retinol, so it’s less likely to irritate my sensitive skin. Just know that I did have to start slow: I applied it once a week for one week, twice a week for two weeks, and now I smooth it on my ingrown hair-prone areas three times a week.

• Key Ingredients: Retinol (smooths and boosts collagen); cocoa butter, squalane (moisturizes); vitamin E (soothes)
• Application areas: Body

Glowing Customer Review: “I absolutely love this lotion. Retinol, but actually affordable enough that you can use it on your whole body! It leaves your skin super soft and absorbs immediately. I can get dressed when I'm done w/o that sticky feeling other lotions always leave.”

So, I have access to about a bajillion body scrubs as a beauty editor…and yet I’ve used nothing but this scrub on repeat for the last month. It leaves my whole body so soft and smooth (thanks, shea butter) while also helping to prevent ingrown hairs with a mix of sea salt and acids (see: glycolic, lactic, and salicylic) to both chemically and physically buff away dead skin and bumps.

• Key Ingredients: Shea butter (moisturizing); glycolic acid, lactic acid, salicylic acid (exfoliating)
• Application areas: Body

Glowing Customer Review: “I'm stunned that they nailed the multitasking factor YET AGAIN! It's a wonderful exfoliant on dry skin and a luscious body wash on wet skin. The salt just melts. My skin feels hydrated and supple.”

The lactic acid in this gel from Soft Services is the GOAT for gently exfoliating my bikini line without leaving me irritated and dry. It helps get rid of pore-clogging dead skin that gets trapped in my hair follicles and causes ingrowns, as well as helps lighten the dark spots left behind. And because my bikini line is majorly sensitive, I love that this is also filled with some soothing aloe vera and cica.

• Key Ingredients: Lactic acid (exfoliating); aloe vera, cica (soothing)
• Application areas: Body

Glowing Customer Review: “I had bumps on my legs from ingrown hairs, and after three applications they are gone! My skin is thinner and more crepey, but this gel is THE BEST! In my 70 years, my skin has never felt better. It feels smooth and soft now—not tight.”

Yup, your pimple patches are actually a genius trick for helping to flatten and hide your ingrown hairs. These patches from Starface are made of hydrocolloid (an MVP material that soaks up excess oils and fluids) and are also formulated with 1 percent salicylic acid (to exfoliate dead skin from your ingrown), so you can treat your bumps while protecting them. Not to mention, but the opaque blue color helps hide your swollen, inflamed bump, making you less likely to try to pick at it.

• Key Ingredients: Salicylic acid (exfoliates); hydrocolloid (absorbs oils)
• Application areas: Face and body

Glowing Customer Review: “These are adorable! They stick well and help to speed up the pimple healing process. I highly recommend these and pretty much any other products from this brand.”

After lots of trial and error, I’ve discovered that no hair-removal method can completely prevent ingrown hairs, but hair-removal creams are by far the least likely to give me bumps and inflammation. As a refresher, hair-removal creams “break down the tight bonds in our hair proteins, making them weak enough to break off,” as dermatologist Karan Lal, MD, has previously told Cosmo, which results in fewer jagged edges from waxing or shaving that can lead to ingrowns and irritation. Fwiw, I love this one because it’s so gentle on my skin—shout out to aloe vera and vitamin E—and the gel texture easily comes off in the shower.

• Key Ingredients: Aloe vera, vitamin E (soothing and moisturizing)
• Application areas: Body

Glowing Customer Review: "I shaved previously the night before, but I went ahead and applied this on both pits and waited the allotted amount of time. The hair was very very small, but this product got it done! Using the included plastic scraper, I was able to remove all the teeny tiny hairs that were left over from the shave the night before.”

Basically, this toner is the best defense against dead skin and oil that can clog your pores and lead to ingrowns. How? It’s absolutely chock-full of BHAs (like salicylic acid) and AHAs (glycolic acid, lactic acid, trichloroacetic acid—TCA—and phytic acid), all of which help chemically exfoliate the top layer of your skin to prevent ingrowns. But with all of these acids comes potential irritation and over-exfoliation, so stick to swiping this on with a cotton round only once a week in ingrown-prone areas.

• Key Ingredients: glycolic acid, lactic acid, trichloroacetic acid, phytic acids, salicylic acid (exfoliating)
• Application areas: Body

Glowing Customer Review: “This is such a great peel. It leaves my skin soft, smooth, and glowy, and it’s so easy to apply. Wouldn’t be without it again.”

The Fur ingrown concentrate "utilizes hair and skin-softening ingredients like coconut oil and grapeseed oil to moisturize and calm your hair and skin," says dermatologist Annie Chiu, MD. "It is also blended with antimicrobial tea tree oil to help ‘disinfect’ your skin and reduce inflammation," she says. Smooth this oil wherever your hair grows (i.e., pubic area, underarms, chest, legs, and even the face) daily or right after shaving, waxing, or laser hair removal to calm irritated skin.

• Key Ingredients: Tea tree oil (antibacterial and anti-inflammatory); coconut oil, grapeseed oil (moisturizers)
• Application areas: Face and body

Glowing Customer Review: “This stuff is a miracle. Used it after my laser hair removal on my armpits and got rid of my ingrowns within two days. UGH, life-saver!”

You should definitely consult with a doctor before picking at your ingrown hair. But if your doctor gives you the go-ahead to pull out an exposed hair, do so with these steel, pointed tweezers. Sterilize your skin and tweezers with rubbing alcohol. Then, with extreme caution, if the hair is visible and poking out above the skin, gently grab hold of the exposed hair with the tweezers, avoiding touching your skin.

But if the hair isn’t budging, make an appointment with your dermatologist and soothe your bump with some 1 percent hydrocortisone cream instead, as trying to prod or pop your ingrown can potentially cause an infection and scarring.

• Key Ingredients: Stainless steel (can sterilize and wipe down with alcohol easily)
• Areas to use on: Face and body

Glowing Customer Review: “These babies do the job, consistently. They really grab those hard-to-hold fine and short sprouts that others can't handle. Even ingrown hairs. I just won't bother with any other brands anymore.”