Jo and Sarah answer real questions from readers: to put your query, go to beautybible.com
Q When my legs were waxed recently, the beautician said I had ingrown hairs on the insides. What can I do to prevent these?
A Ingrown hairs occur when a hair gets trapped under the skin before it leaves the follicle. It’s a little known fact that the inside lower leg is a common place for ingrown hairs, perhaps because we tend to skip that bit when we’re exfoliating – if we exfoliate, that is. So the first step is to do just that!
Tracey Smith, director of Ashmira Botanica (ashmirabotanica.com), a small company that has turned waxing into a fine art, recommends using a body scrub, brush or mitt to gently exfoliate your skin three or four times a week. But don’t exfoliate for a few days after your legs have been waxed, she warns, as your skin may be a bit sensitive. (She advises avoiding heat and friction for 24 to 48 hours after waxing. So only take cool baths and showers during that time.)
Ashmira Botanica offers Purifying Skin Spritz, £15 for 100ml, to help release ingrown hairs. Comfort Balm may also help and both should slow hair regrowth, too. (Ashmira is shortly launching a Multi-Action Ingrown Serum, so watch that space.)
A thought for men suffering ingrown hairs: do read the blog on ‘Ingrown hairs’ on Ashmira Botanica’s website (https://www.ashmirabotanica.com/ingrown-hairs/). There’s a wealth of information and suggested products there.
Our favourite mitt is Ameliorate Exfoliating Body Mitt, £9.50, which they describe (refreshingly bluntly) as ‘a scrubbing tool’. It sweeps away the dead surface skin cells, which make your legs look rough, and helps unblock hair follicles. Ameliorate also offers Smoothing Body Exfoliant, £17.50 for 150ml, which is designed to help dry skin conditions including keratosis pilaris (little tiny white bumps all over the skin). Find Ameliorate products at victoriahealth.com.
Finally, it’s worth tackling any ingrown hairs, wherever they may occur, as they can sometimes become infected if left alone and – in the worst case scenario (which is rare) – turn into painful, pus-filled sores, according to NHS.UK.
Beauty Bible loves… Optiat Scrubs, £6.99 for 90g. As long-term recyclers, upcyclers, advocates of thrift (um, counterbalanced by occasional splurges), we love, love, love this brand, which we encountered at the recent Natural & Organic Products Expo.
We love, love, love this brand, which we encountered at the recent Natural & Organic Products Expo
Optiat is a brother-and-sister venture founded by William and Anna Brightman, which uses coffee grounds for ultra-effective body exfoliation. The products were inspired by Will being given a cafetière for Christmas, and pondering on the fact that the grounds were thrown away. As he comments: ‘With over 500,000 tons of coffee grounds sent to landfill every year, I saw an opportunity to change this.’
So Optiat – which gets its (slightly weird-sounding) name from ‘One Man’s Trash is Another’s Treasure’ – formulated a collection of truly great-smelling, effective body scrubs.
Be guided by your nose, here; there are four scents – Mouthwatering Mandarin (the Feel Great Coffee Scrub), Vanilla Velvet (Hit The Sheets Coffee Scrub), Lemongrass Lifter (Pick Me Up Coffee Scrub), and our favourite, sense-awakening Potent Peppermint. They call it The Hungover Coffee Scrub, but we don’t get hangovers and it’s still a brilliant wake-up call.
The fine grounds are an excellent, microbead-free way to smooth skin when buffed into rough body bits – and get a caffeine hit, without the usual coffee come-down.