Something else? Ask Aunt Vadge – bottom left of your screen!
Hi Aunt Vadge,
I was plucking my pubic hair yesterday, and today there are a ton of red bumps. Do I have ingrown hairs? I’ve plucked before and been fine. What’s going on?
Best,
Plucked
California, USA
Dear Plucked,
Yanking a hair out irritates the follicle, and the inflammation that follows is called folliculitis (‘-itis’ meaning inflammation). That’s what those red bumps are — not necessarily ingrown hairs, just freshly-annoyed follicles.
Why it happened this time and not before comes down to where each hair was in its growth cycle. A hair that’s still firmly anchored and mid-growth puts up a fight when you pull it, which causes more inflammation; one that’s near the end of its cycle slides out easily with barely a reaction.
Your pubic hairs are all on different cycles, so depending on which ones you happened to grab this time, you got a bumpier result than usual — and there’s no reliable way to tell a firmly-rooted hair from a nearly-done one just by looking, especially if you shave in between, when a full-grown stump and a brand-new hair look identical.
The inflammation settles over a few days on its own, but you can take the edge off with a cool pack, aloe vera gel or calamine lotion — keep the area clean and don’t pick at the bumps. To dodge it next time, do a small test patch first, and if it’s sore, leave it a week and try again.
The one thing to watch is that inflamed, open follicles are an entry point for bugs like staph, so see a doctor if the bumps don’t settle, start to weep or bleed, or the area turns hot, swollen or clearly infected. Otherwise this is just your follicles having a grumble, and it’ll pass.
Love,
Aunt Vadge
This is general information, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.
