It is becoming more and more common, for me at least, to see African American women with facial hair. And because it’s not a particularly attractive trait to display all over town, these women tend to regularly shave their faces. As if having facial hair isn’t bad enough, these women end up having the extra problem of getting ingrown hairs, neck bumps, and razor bumps.
Not to downplay men’s skin issues with shaving, but for a woman, such bumps can be especially horrible to look at – let alone deal with. Another aspect is that these bumps can cause significant scarring and discoloration of your skin, which is why I came up with a few tips and tricks on preventing or reducing your bumps and ingrown hairs:
For Your Face
Step 1: STOP using a razor. I know, I know – this is the last thing you wanted to be on this list, but the only 100% way to effectively remove ingrown hairs and razor bumps is to stop shaving altogether.
Step 2: INSTEAD, try having your targeted facial area waxed to remove those unwanted hairs. Make sure to see a professional licensed cosmetologist and or skin care specialist and have them wax your face for you. Trust me, you don’t want to try this at home and end up with layers of your skin missing.
Also make sure to check out if they offer natural waxing procedures such as using honey or beeswax. These natural ingredients are always a better alternative while helping reduce the chance for irritated skin after getting your waxing treatment.
Step 3: Try switching to a depilatory cream. Even though using these creams are better than shaving, it still isn’t my top choice for hair removal options due to the different chemical components. But it should still be taken into consideration because it’s an available option.
For Your Body
Step 4: Try taking flax seed oil daily to flush your system and also look into taking a daily vitamin C supplement to help boost your immune system.
Step 5: Shave the right way (literally). Shaving the wrong way will only cause more unwanted bumps. Therefore you should shave the same way that your hair grows. Make sure to clean the area that you are about to shave beforehand using some type of anti-bacterial soap.
Step 6: Befriend fruits and vegetables. Dark berries and light colored melons such as the cantaloupe are your friends they have an abundance of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. Dark leafy greens such as turnips and collard greens are your best friends they have an even more abundance of vitamins and minerals plus antioxidants
Step 7: Do not pick your skin if you have spots or pimples, the germs and bacteria on your fingers may infect the area and it may get worse and leave unsightly marks and scars.
Step 8: Try using natural oils such as olive oil or coconut oil on your skin. The less ingredients you can’t pronounce, the better. Once you try a new cream or oil, only use that one for awhile to see how your skin reacts to it. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, you know to move on.
Step 9: Stop Stressing. No, seriously. Stress can show up on your face, your skin and your body. Singer and sister to Beyonce’, Solange, is proof of this when hives started to break out on her wedding day. Talk about wedding nerves!
Try to find time to calm down each and every night so your skin will do the same.
By Juliette Samuel, BDO Contributing Writer
Juliette Samuel is a person who definitely knows beautiful when she sees it. Juliette has had a very eclectic career working in and around the beauty industry.
She has worked as an instructor at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She has also been a Professional Image Consultant.
Currently, Juliette works as a Skin Care Therapist, acting President and Chief Nose for NYRAJU Skin Care. As such she is in charge of product formulation and development of all scents produced for the line. Juliette is also a member of NAHA-The National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy, The Society of Cosmetic Chemist and is the Fragrance Editor for BellaOnline.
What does all that mean for you? It means Juliette is ever-on-her-toes when it comes to the type of information that you want and need to know!
