Epilators can cause ingrown hairs, and they’re one of the more common side effects of epilation. Any hair removal method that pulls hair from the root, including waxing and tweezing, carries this risk. The good news is that proper technique and a simple skincare routine can significantly reduce how often ingrown hairs appear after epilating.
Why Epilation Leads to Ingrown Hairs
When an epilator pulls a hair from its follicle, the new hair that grows back is finer and has a tapered tip. That softer tip can curl back toward the skin as it emerges, especially if the follicle opening is blocked by dead skin cells. Your body then treats that trapped hair like a foreign object, triggering redness, a small bump, and sometimes a painful, swollen spot.
The other major cause is hair breakage. If the epilator snaps the hair at the skin’s surface instead of pulling it from the root, the broken end sits just below the surface with a rough edge, much like a shaved hair. That stub is more likely to grow sideways into the surrounding skin. Hair that breaks rather than gets fully plucked also regrows the next day, just like a shave, so you lose the weeks-long smoothness that epilation is supposed to provide.
Who Gets Ingrown Hairs Most Often
People with curly or coarse hair are significantly more prone to ingrown hairs after any type of hair removal. Curved hair follicles naturally produce hair that spirals as it grows, making it far more likely to re-enter the skin after being pulled. This is the same reason ingrown hairs (sometimes called pseudofolliculitis) disproportionately affect people with tightly curled hair on any part of the body.
Body area matters too. Zones where hair is thicker and skin is more prone to friction, like the bikini line, underarms, and upper thighs, tend to produce more ingrown hairs than the lower legs, where hair is generally finer and skin stays drier.
Epilation vs. Waxing for Ingrown Hairs
Both epilation and waxing pull hair from the root, so both carry a similar risk of ingrown hairs. However, epilation actually poses fewer overall side effects than waxing. Waxing adds risks like burns, allergic reactions to the wax itself, scarring, and skin infections, none of which apply to a mechanical epilator. When it comes specifically to ingrown hairs, the rates are comparable between the two methods. The deciding factor is less about which device you use and more about how you prepare and care for your skin.
Technique That Reduces Breakage
Most epilator-related ingrown hairs come down to speed. Moving the device too quickly across your skin snaps hairs at the surface instead of gripping them at the root. As a general benchmark, dragging the epilator from ankle to knee should take about 15 seconds. Rushing that same distance in a few seconds almost guarantees more breakage, more ingrown hairs, and more passes over the same area.
Hold the epilator at a 90-degree angle to your skin. Use your free hand to gently pull the skin taut so the device can glide smoothly and grab hairs closer to the base. Don’t press the epilator down hard. A light touch lets the tweezers do the work without pushing them into the skin, which increases irritation and breakage. Moving against the direction of hair growth (upward on the legs, for example) helps the tweezers catch hairs more efficiently.
Hair length also plays a role. Epilators work best on hair that’s about 3 to 5 millimeters long, roughly the length of a grain of rice. Shorter hairs slip through the tweezers and break. Longer hairs bend and snap before the device can grip them at the root.
Exfoliation Before and After
Exfoliating is the single most effective thing you can do to prevent ingrown hairs from epilation. Dead skin cells accumulate over the follicle opening and trap new hairs beneath the surface. Clearing that layer gives regrowing hairs a clean path out.
Exfoliate two days before you epilate. This loosens dead skin and lifts any hairs that are lying flat against the surface, making them easier for the epilator to grab cleanly. After epilating, wait 24 to 48 hours for any irritation to calm down, then begin exfoliating the area two to three times per week. A simple washcloth, a gentle scrub, or a loofah works for physical exfoliation. For chemical exfoliation, look for products containing glycolic acid, which dissolves the bonds between dead skin cells and has an added benefit: it helps reduce the natural curvature of regrowing hair, making it less likely to curl back into the skin.
Products That Help After Epilating
If you’re prone to ingrown hairs despite good technique and regular exfoliation, certain ingredients can give your skin extra help. Glycolic acid lotions reduce hair curvature and keep pores clear. Retinoid creams (vitamin A derivatives available over the counter or by prescription) speed up skin cell turnover so new hairs don’t get trapped. They can also help fade the dark spots that lingering ingrown hairs sometimes leave behind.
Benzoyl peroxide is useful if your ingrown hairs tend to get red and inflamed, since it kills bacteria that can settle into irritated follicles. A thin layer of hydrocortisone cream (1%) calms itching and swelling in the first day or two after epilating, but avoid using it for more than a few weeks at a time.
Dealing With an Ingrown Hair That’s Already There
Most ingrown hairs resolve on their own within a week or two as the skin naturally sheds and the trapped hair finds its way out. Resist the urge to dig at it or squeeze it. Scratching or picking introduces bacteria and can turn a minor bump into an infection or leave a scar.
If you can see the hair loop curling beneath the surface, you can use a sterilized needle to gently slide under the loop and lift the tip free. Don’t pluck the hair out entirely, as that restarts the cycle. Just free the tip so it can continue growing outward. Applying a warm, damp cloth to the area for a few minutes beforehand softens the skin and makes the hair easier to access.
An ingrown hair that becomes very swollen, fills with pus, or stays painful for more than a couple of weeks may have developed into a deeper infection. At that point, a topical antibiotic cream can handle mild cases, but a more serious infection may need oral antibiotics. Repeated infections in the same area can also cause permanent darkening of the skin, so persistent problems are worth addressing rather than ignoring.