Ingrown hair pads are a kind of beauty product used to prevent and manage ingrown hairs. The pads are usually round and are pre-soaked in a topical solution that helps to keep hairs from becoming ingrown, while also helping hairs that are presently ingrown to either come out of the follicle or come up through the skin in which they have become embedded. The solution in which ingrown hair pads are soaked may include alphahydroxy acids, betahydroxy acids, or a combination of the two. These two kinds of acids are also used in chemical skin peel treatments, which is why ingrown hair pads are sometimes referred to as ingrown hair peeling pads. The solution helps to slough away dead skin cells and anything else that has built up on or in the skin that may be causing ingrown hairs.
People often use ingrown hair pads on areas of the skin that respond well to exfoliation. Ingrown hairs on the legs, for example, can often be treated with exfoliation treatments. Using a scrub made with salt, sugar, jojoba beads, or crushed pumice can help to polish the skin and tease ingrown hairs out from under the skin. For women who shave their legs on a regular basis, have sensitive skin on their legs, or fall into both categories, exfoliation may be too abrasive. They may do better using ingrown hair pads to treat the areas on their legs affected by ingrown hairs.
Many people also use ingrown hair pads to deal with areas on their bodies that they wax on a regular basis. Many women use ingrown hair pads to treat their bikini area in order to keep ingrown hairs from occurring after a wax. Ingrown hair pads can also be used on areas that are waxed or shaved, such as the under arms. Some men suffer from ingrown hairs on their faces, chins, and necks as a result of shaving. These ingrown hairs can also be treated with ingrown hair pads.
Some products are marketed towards women and some are marketed towards men, but most of them do effectively the same thing. Ingrown hairs can also be treated with topical solutions that are bottled instead of soaked into pads. In many cases, applying a topical solution with a cotton pad or a thin wash cloth will yield the same result as using the pre-soaked pads.
