Think Before Tweezing These 4 Places

If you are pluck happy person like myself, it’s important to get wake up calls like this one to let you know when to say no! Seeing random hair in random places on your body is certainly the perfect time to pull out those fancy tweezers you have. I mean you bought them for this very reason right!? Well, according to many dermatologists it is not always the smartest idea to start pulling out hair just because it seems like a strange place for it to grow.

Tweezing hair pulls not only the hair shaft out from the skin, but the root as well. According to dermatologist Josua Zeichner, M.D., “While there may be some degree of inflammation in the hair follicle from tweezing, generally tweezing is not considered a form of permanent hair removal and a new hair will be produced. You can traumatize or scar your skin, causing permanent damage in the area.” So be careful. You don’t want a little bit of hair gone to leave you with a permanent big scar.

It’s particularly important to proceed with caution when you start removing hairs from particular areas that are just simply more sensitive than others.

It is actually recommended to trim or wax your eyebrows, as it isn’t as traumatizing as tweezing and threading. Do you ever notice how much more painful it is, and how red your skin looks? This is because this form or removal is much more damaging. According to medical director of dermatology at Mount Sinai Gary Goldenberg, M.D., “Eyebrow hair is very sensitive to trauma and repeated tweezing can produce permanent damage to the hair follicle.”

Hair on your nipples can make you feel not only weird, but not so….well, feminine. The problem with this is the hairs on your breasts, particularly your nipples, tend to be pretty short. Dr. Zeichner says, “The tweezer itself may cause trauma to the skin in your attempt at grasping at a very short hair. There is a chance you could cause an infection, so proceed with caution. Trimming is a better option here.”3. Moles

As if the mole itself isn’t the most desirable looking thing, having hair protruding out of it is even worse! Trimming or laser hair removal are much safer and can produce more permanent results, explained Dr. Goldenberg. Otherwise you run the risk of scarring and/or infection.

It’s not uncommon to get ingrown hairs. The problem isn’t that you can’t remove the hair; it’s more about how you do it. Zeichner says, “While plucking the hair, which removes pus along with it, can help clear up the infection, you should apply an antibiotic appointment as well, such as over-the-counter bacitracin ointment.” It’s likely that opening up the skin around this hair will cause an infection if it isn’t cleaned appropriately afterwards. Be careful to make sure that it is an ingrown hair and not just a pimple, as this could cause permanent scarring to the skin.

Beauty and hair maven Naomi Mackenzie is a freelance writer and business consultant. Her passion is to continuously keep up with the ever evolving techniques and topics as it relates to skin and hair, while helping others to embrace their own definition of beauty in a healthy way. Her blog, KissTheChaos (www.KissTheChaos.com) shares both an educated and personal perspective, sought to spark ongoing discussion. Follow her on Instagram at @oOolala_laa and on Facebook here (https://www.facebook.com/KissTheChaos/).