The Ordinary Guy | 5 Tips To Get Rid Of Hair Bumps

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Ingrown hair or bumps are not your friends. To say the least, they can be very embarrassing. One day you are feeling fly with a new hair cut and the next, you wake up with huge bumps all over the back of your head or around your neck. They usually are provoked by skin irritation -mostly but not all the time- when the skin is having a bad razor day.

Bumps don’t pop up on everyone but if they find you attractive enough to be with, then you really must pay close attention to what I have to say. You see, right from the very minute I hit adolescence, I had the first set land at the back of my head. I was always careless with them and listened to people who most likely didn’t have skin prone to bumps that told me it would dry up itself. Well, let’s just say that didn’t happen. I lived with it for a long time, until I decided it was time for it to get packing and so I started taking better care of myself and giving them the attention they sought. Facts, they never totally leave and they only get larger if you don’t take care of them. Want to know how I kept them in the barest minimum? Stick along.

Save the Learning for the Workshop

I know we all want to wake up in the morning and have a clean shave or clean-cut. But seriously, if you don’t know how to use a razor or clippers on your face and head, then don’t. Trust me, you don’t want to. It might seem like an easy job to just get a mirror and shave the damn thing off your face, but that can have very serious ripple effects. Not to go into too many details, I’ll just leave it at I’m speaking from experience. Walk into a barber’s shop and let the professionals do it for you or you risk waking up the next morning with lots of bumps. Gush no, you don’t want to look that way.

Shut the Doors to Disposable Razors

This is another tempting one. Rush to the department store down the road, get a disposable razor and shave your facial hair or shape your hairline. Ehn, you don’t want to do that. Yes, people do it and look just fine, but, if your skin is prone to bumps, don’t even try it, else your neck and edges become their breeding ground. They will gazillion before the day ends. This is what happens when you try the disposable razors. Unlike the cartridge razor that is much heavier, the disposable razor is really light and scrapes your hair from the roots and that actually irritates the facial skin which will provoke more bumps.

Mentholated Cream is your Friend

Yes, you don’t like the smell of mentholated cream. Come on, we’ve all been there. But if your skin is prone to bumps, say hello to your new best friend. The mentholated cream, when you have the original, actually works like magic. When I was in one of my bumps combat phases, it came in very handy to me. I applied it morning and night and when I started seeing results three days after, I reduced it to just during the day, every single day and in no time my hair follicles were soothed. If your skin is prone to bumps, then you must always have a stash of mentholated cream with you.

Invest in Good Medicated Soaps

Yup, this is also very compulsory if your skin is prone to bumps. Medicated soaps are very essential. For me, it’s all I use but if you also use beauty soaps for pimples or other skin related problems, then I suggest you use this one during the day and revert to the beauty soap for the night wash. Medicated soaps are actually useful and rest assured if you use them your bumps will always be in check.

It’s Barest Minimum For Edges

You have to always keep your edges as low as possible. It has to be. This is to enable the treatment actually reach the roots of your hair because bumps never really go. I know you want to wear an afro and have very sharp hairlines, that can still happen, you just have to always opt for fades with whatever haircut that tickles your fancy. And fades are very trendy by the way, so you are in luck. I remember one time I didn’t trim my edges and my hair grew more than the regular inch. When I eventually visited the barber’s shop, I was met with huge bumps that I didn’t know how they got there.

I can’t overstress how all of these tips are important but you be the judge. Why don’t you try them out for a week or more and see if you notice any changes? Trust me, you definitely will.

Photo credit: @thefull_windsor