What causes ingrown eyebrow hair? You can get ingrown eyebrow hair either after shaving, waxing, or tweezing eyebrows. The hairs can be deep with pain, a cyst, bump, and even an infection. In this case, we will learn some Ingrown Eyebrow Hair Home Remedies to remove, treat, and get rid of deep ingrown hair between eyebrows.
Ingrown eyebrow hair or trans-follicular penetration occurs when the hairs grow within the skin and do not resurface to the skin. This can result in skin irritation and the appearance of lumps that can even cause an infection if not treated in time.
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Ingrown Eyebrow Hair Causes
An ingrown eyebrow hair is common among women. Women are more subjected to the condition because they frequently apply hair removal methods to shape the eyebrows. When the eyebrow hair grows back, the follicles can grow inwards when it is not extracted from the root.
- The problem’s risk will increase when the eyebrow hair is cut at very sharp angles or even cut edge of hair is left underneath the skin.
- Hair is made of a protein known as keratin, which may pass through the hair follicles and then breaks through the skin.
- In other cases, the hair grows when slanted into the skin instead of the normal breaking through horizontally.
As this occurs, it is considered as ingrown hairs. Moreover, ingrown eyebrow hairs may develop when the hair curls backward instead of the way it is supposed to push out through the skin. As it gets trapped within the skin, it leads to inflammation, pain, and even irritation at the site.[Source]
For the ladies, ingrown hairs will usually occur in their public area, the armpits, or the legs. This problem might also appear in much less common places such as the eyebrow, chest, underarm, and groin area.
What to note?
- It is important to note that although black American males, who are between the ages of 18 to 25, have the highest risk for ingrown hairs, the condition may happen to anyone.
- There is always a normal risk of the hair growing inwards into the hair follicle if it is not extracted properly. The body then considers the reversed hair growth as the foreign object and then reacts, leading to inflammation and irritation, causing an ingrown eyebrow hair that appears as a boil.
- People with naturally curly hair are very likely to develop ingrown hairs than people with naturally straight hair. That is why ingrown hairs tend to arise in the pubic area since pubic hair is usually tightly coiled, even in individuals who have very straight scalp hair.
In other areas, ingrown hair usually develops when the tight clothing rubs the skin, leading to irritation and inflamed. When this happens, the hairs are prevented from breaking through the skin, leading to your skin’s ingrown hairs.
An ingrown eyebrow hair can occur as a result of shaving. Shaving can stretch the skin, causing the hair to curve, grow backward, or slant. Ingrown hairs can also happen if the individual uses more than a single blade, shaves very close to the skin, or shaves against the hair growth’s natural flow. The skin becomes inflamed when it believes that the ingrown hair is a foreign invader.
Symptoms
These may include bumps, sores, inflammation, pain, and sometimes blind pimples appearing on the skin. The most common symptom is a bum with a dark spot at the center, usually the hair follicle embedded beneath the skin.
More symptoms for ingrown eyebrow hair may include:
Ingrown hair bump
An ingrown eyebrow hair is usually a painful condition. It is usually seen as a bump that resolves once the ingrown hair has resurfaced manually by stimulating the follicle and then exfoliating the skin.
Ingrown hair cyst on eyebrows
A sebaceous cyst can form on the ingrown hairs as well. The ladies who get rid of the hair by waxing or even shaving are more susceptible to ingrown hairs.
- The vulva area is the most usual place that ingrown hairs form in women.
- In some cases, the trapped hairs may lead to infected cysts, sebaceous cysts, painless cysts brought about by the blocked hair follicles.
- Sebaceous cysts do go away without any medical treatment.
Pimple-like bumps above eyebrows
Razor pimples, also known as shaving bumps, are a mild form of folliculitis. It usually indicates infected or inflamed ingrown hairs. The condition happens when the hair starts to grow back into the skin, especially after being shaved.
These pimples can arise anywhere on the body where hair has been shaved, especially in places where the hair was shaved too close to the skin. Men who frequently shave the facial hair are the most at risk of them.
Swollen eye
Inflammation is one of the earliest and the common symptoms that occur with infected ingrown eyebrow hair.
- It is the body’s way of reacting to the presence of the irritant.
- It is essential to note that the inflammation is not the same as the infection, but the immune system’s way of protecting the body from a foreign invader like ingrown hair.
- An inflamed ingrown eyebrow hair can lead to pustules.
- Once the area surrounding the ingrown hair becomes inflamed, it can lead to a pustule to form around the hair.
After this happens, the pustule then ruptures, leaking pus and blood from the site. After the rupture, an open wound might increase a person’s risk of serious infections like Staphylococcus.
Pain above the eyebrow
An ingrown eyebrow hair can lead to pain, especially if it is inflamed or infected. The trapped hair might lead to whiteheads and swelling in the surrounding area. Pain then alerts the body that something in the body is wrong. An infected ingrown eyebrow hair not only damages the skin but also leads to tenderness and discomfort.
Ingrown Eyebrow Hair Cyst
An ingrown eyebrow hair cyst can be deep and painful. When infected, they can grow to become abscesses or boils. Here are pictures, removal, treatment for infected cysts, and naturally eliminating ingrown hair follicle cysts.
What is an ingrown hair cyst?
This is a hair follicle cyst. It can also be referred to as a trichilemmal cyst, although most people confuse it with a pilonidal cyst (a cyst that develops at the tailbone). Other names for hair follicle cysts include pillar, wen, or isthmus-catagen cyst.
A sebaceous cyst can also be confused with ingrown hair follicle cysts because of the lack of infection. However, sebaceous cysts are often described as small lumps that feel trapped under the skin. Ingrown eyebrow hair cysts affect the eyebrow area’s face and may appear as a red boil or bump. Cysts that form above the buttocks or near the anus, or at the spine base are mostly pilonidal.
Difference between ingrown hair and cyst
The two have many similarities and can easily be confused because they may both result in fluid-filled pockets under the skin. Both cysts and ingrown hairs, and even sebaceous cysts form lumps that may be visible on the skin and can also be felt as hard lumps. Here are a few differences between ingrown hairs and cysts:
- Ingrown hairs form when hair curves and grows downward into the skin. The reason why it is confused with a cyst is the fluid that forms around the hair follicle that looks like a pimple or a blister, sometimes referred to as a hair bump.
- For cysts, they may have no relationship with shaving or hair growing back into the skin. Tumors, inflammation, and infections may cause them, according to research findings.
- An ingrown hair cyst is comparatively smaller as compared to the large cysts that develop on the skin.
Infected Eyebrow Hair Follicle
An inflamed and infected hair follicles are the defining features of a medical condition known as folliculitis. Hair follicles become irritated when something damages them. Factors that can damage hair follicles on your eyebrows include shaving, having an inflammatory skin disease like acne, or wearing tight clothes that rub against the skin.
Once an ingrown eyebrow hair is damaged, bacteria, fungi, and viruses can infect it and worsen inflammation. For mild folliculitis, it usually clears up without intervention, and more severe cases require medical assistance. Certain practices can still reduce inflammation and prevent recurrences.
Tips on treatment
If the inflamed hair follicles persist and are due to hair removal, stop removing hair, and not remove hair again for approximately three months after inflammation improves. However, if you must continue removing hair, shaving with an electric razor instead of a manual razor will be better. This is because electric razors are gentle as they leave the hair end blurred and, therefore, unable to re-penetrate the skin.
How to Treat Infected Ingrown Eyebrow Hair?
As discussed earlier, a trans-follicular penetration maybe when hairs grow within the skin and do not resurface to the exterior. This condition can trigger skin irritation and the appearance of lumps, which can even provoke infection if not treated in time. An ingrown eyebrow hair should be treated with care; this is why we would like to show you how to treat ingrown eyebrow hair with home remedies.
Instructions on treatment
The first thing to note is that the formation of ingrown hair on your eyebrows may be due to several causes such as excessive eyebrow shaping, plucking eyebrows too hard, or irritation in the follicle. We should also note that if you notice that the ingrown hair is infected, the safest way to remove it is by seeing your doctor. Here are steps you can follow when it comes to the treatment of ingrown eyebrow hair:
Step 1 – Stop participation in certain practices.
Stop participating in practices that cause or increase follicle damage, such as removing hair on your body by tweezing or waxing, pursuing activities that make you sweat excessively, and soaking in hot water like that found in hot tubs[Source]
Step 2 – Use appropriate products.
Attend to any underlying condition that contributes to your folliculitis. Use appropriate topical acne products to your skin to eliminate pimples if you have acne, for example.
Step 3 – Use a warm compress.
Press a moist warm cloth against inflamed areas at least three times a day to reduce irritation and promote drainage if follicles contain fluid. Add white vinegar to the cloth for additional relief, if desired.
Step 4 – Wash the Ingrow eyebrow hair.
Wash the inflamed ingrown eyebrow hair twice a day with a clean cloth and antibacterial soap. Dry your skin afterward with a clean towel. Rub a non-prescription antibiotic product, such as a lotion or ointment, into the skin after washing for extra relief, if needed.
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Step 5 – Apply a non-prescription product.
Apply a non-prescription product with hydrocortisone or a lotion containing oatmeal to inflamed areas to alleviate itching, if necessary.
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Step 6 – Do thorough washing.
Clean all clothing, towels, and washcloths after every occasion; they come into contact with inflamed areas. Use warm water and detergent to clean the items properly.
Straight after you have plucked the hair, you should apply an antiseptic cream or apply aloe vera gel to the area to avoid any infections.
Remember that if the hair is very deep or very red, a professional should take care of it.
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- Nipple care - Gently rub in a thin layer after each feed. Wash nipples to remove cream prior to feeding.
- For the purpose of hygiene a separate tube should be used for nipple care.
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How to Pluck Ingrown Eyebrow Hair?
Ingrown hairs are ones that have grown back into the skin instead of poking out the other end. Often they’re the results of removing hair, like with shaving and waxing. Sometimes they need some help pulling out the end of the hair that is supposed to be pointing up. If it doesn’t point up, it will continue to grow into the skin.
Removing ingrown hairs may not be hard but does require prepping the skin and the right steps before and after for the best possible results. If the hair is infected or severely inflamed, physically removing the hair can irritate the skin further as it is still in a fragile state.[Source]
How to pluck an Ingrown Hair?
1. Apply heat
Apply a hot washcloth over the area of skin for about five minutes. The heat helps to soften skin, relax the hair follicle, and aid hair to the surface.
2. Exfoliate area if not infected
After a warm compress, use a mild exfoliator, a sugar or salt scrub for the body, or one especially for the face if it’s a facial ingrown hair.
Work product with fingertips in small circles around ingrown eyebrow hair to loosen debris and dead skin. Then completely rinse the area.
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3. Remove hair
Find the side of the ingrown hair, not where the hair is growing from. On the side, try to gently remove hair out by holding the skin taut and scrapping a cotton swab in the opposite direction the hair is growing. If the hair comes out, then skip the next step and move on to step 6.
4. Try tweezers
If the cotton swab doesn’t work, try something stronger. Use tweezers especially made for ingrown hairs with a pointed tip. First, sanitize the tweezers with alcohol to kill any germs. Gently grab onto hair and only remove the hair growing into the skin but don’t take hair out from the root because this will further irritate the hair follicle.
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5. Shave hair
Once hair is out of the ingrown skin, then shave it down if it’s much longer than surrounding hair. Shave with a clean blade using shaving cream or gel.
6. Disinfect the area
Apply a small amount of hydrogen peroxide with a clean cotton ball or square to the ingrown eyebrow hair and then Neosporin to ward off infection.
- Antiseptic hydrogen peroxide is ideal for use on minor cuts and abrasions (do not use on deep wounds, animal bites or serious burns)
- 3% hydrogen peroxide solution; hydrogen peroxide releases oxygen when applied to the affected area
- The release of oxygen causes foaming which helps to remove dead skin and clean the area
- Mixed with water, hydrogen peroxide is suitable as a gargle or mouth rinse; it may freshen breath
- A bottle contains 16 oz of hydrogen peroxide
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7. Fight them off
While this works well for an ingrown hair and that is really bothering you, using a product specifically made for this challenge can help remove ingrown hairs or avoid them altogether.
8. Tips:
- Don’t dig tweezers hard into the skin to scrape skin or get it infected.
- Looking for other ways to prevent and rid ingrown hair with ingredients at home and save money? These are the best ways for you.
Ingrown Eyebrow Hair under Skin
Whether you trim, wax or tweeze your eyebrows, as the hair grows back in, ingrown hair may cause an unsightly, irritated bump. You may develop a blind pimple that may not have a more painful head than the normal one.
When the ingrown eyebrow hair is under the skin, you may try using some of the ways we have discussed above to remove it, and if they don’t help, seek your doctor’s help. The hair follicle becomes swollen if the hair is growing in the wrong direction, leading to ingrown hairs.
Prevent ingrown hairs by removing them properly, and then learn how to coax an ingrown hair to your skin’s surface to make unsightly bumps on your eyebrows a thing of the past.
Cystic Pimple Eyebrow
Cystic acne lesions in adults can occur anywhere on the face, the chin and cheeks being the most common areas. However, some adults, both men, and women are also known to develop cystic acne between their eyes and eyebrows. The reason why these cysts develop is the clogged pores.
Cysts between the eyebrows Causes
As stated above, acne cysts between eyebrows arise from clogged pores. People with an oily T-zone are also more prone to developing red pimples between their eyes owing to the trapped sebum in their pores and the P.acnes bacterium that inflames the skin.
Lifestyle habits could also be responsible for acne cysts between the eyes. These include the use of wrong cosmetics-either eye shadow or foundation, which could be acnegenic or comedogenic.
Women who get their eyebrows waxed or threaded are more likely to develop hard acne cysts between the eyes, either from the saliva of the person doing the threading or from the wax product used in between the eyebrows. All this can cause the pores to get ingrown eyebrow hair.
The use of dirty pillowcases, scarves, sunglasses, and spectacles could also cause acne cysts between the eyes.
Symptoms of cystic acne between the eyes
Different individuals may experience different types of adult acne lesions between the eyebrows:
- Some tend to get multiple acne lesions in the form of red or white bumps that are or not be pus-filled.
- You may also experience a single hard bump like cyst between the eyebrows that is extremely tender and painful to touch.
- Some experience small papules that are either red or red with a white center.
Self-care for preventing acne cysts on the eyebrow area
Numerous self-care measures can be taken to reduce the formation of acne cysts between the eyebrows.
Follow a cleansing-toning-moisturizing routine paying special attention to the region between the eyes. Use mild creamy cleansers.
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Use Bronner’s soap with tea tree oil , which has been highly effective for treating cystic acne on the face. Alternatively, bentonite clay masks are also great, especially for regular acne sufferers. These masks help to clear the pores by removing blackheads that cause the acne cysts.
Over-the-counter acne creams are also known to dry up the acne lesion and prevent permanent scars. Make your own cleanser at home using pure extra virgin olive oil and Lavender essential oil. This is an especially useful remedy for adult acne sufferers with dry skin. Mix a few drops of both the oils and apply all over the face. Wash off after 10 minutes using warm water and your regular cleanser
Prevent new cysts from forming between the eyes by limiting the usage of cosmetics and makeup. If required, opt for non-acnegenic or non-comedogenic products only.
Wash your pillowcases, sunglasses and spectacles regularly.
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Ingrown Eyebrow Hair Picture
What does an ingrown eyebrow hair cyst look like? Below is a photo of cysts from ingrowing hairs to help you understand how they look or appear.
An ingrown hair not only occurs in your eyebrow, but it can also pop up in other parts of your body such as an ingrown eyelash.
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