Saunas have been in use for thousands of years in some cultures, but researchers are just now beginning to understand the wide array of health benefits they offer to people.
In addition to being able to increase blood flow to the body’s outer extremities, open the skin’s pores, and expel harmful toxins from the body, saunas can actually be beneficial in treating ingrown hairs.
Experts explain that saunas actually provide the ideal environment for ingrown hairs to become freed from the skin’s pores through the heat that they utilize.
There are a number of different concerns that go along with using saunas to improve the skin’s overall appearance. An overindulgence in saunas can easily lead to damaging the body, as well as the skin itself.
So just how does a sauna help individuals free themselves of ingrown hairs? In this article, we’ll explore that and other aspects of sauna use that can be highly beneficial in improving the skin’s overall health.
Can Saunas Improve Ingrown Hair?
The short answer is yes, but there’s much more to know about saunas before you use them.
Historical Use of Sauna to Improve Skin
Sauna use has long been known to improve the skin’s overall health. Many hundreds of years ago, Nordic people from the regions of Scandinavia built specialized cabin-like structures that featured a large water pot situated over a fire pit.
Archaeologists determined that these structures were part of the earliest saunas and bath houses used by Nordic people in a tradition that dates back over a thousand years.
While technology and various other innovations have changed the way people utilize and enjoy saunas, the overall effect that saunas have on the skin has largely remained the same since it was first invented by the Norse more than a thousand years ago.
Now, scientists have a better understanding regarding why saunas are able to provide the significant levels of health benefits they are known to give people that use them regularly.
Sauna Use’s Effects on the Skin
Regular sauna use has major implications of the health and well being of the user’s skin. Whether one is using a traditional steam sauna or the newest infrared sauna technology, the effects are largely the same when it comes to the positive aspects of sauna use.
Some researchers equate the overall positive effects that saunas have on your skin to an actual exercise regimen for the skin’s pores.
The main benefit that saunas offer to the skin’s pores is that it causes pore dilation. This dilation helps the skin’s pores open up and expel harmful toxins as the body releases large amounts of sweat.
While sweat would naturally otherwise evaporate from the body’s surface, being inside a hot, steamy sauna prevents the sweat from evaporating.
The body’s natural response to this is to sweat more, which acts to pull out toxins and other harmful elements that are being stored deep in the recesses of your muscle and other tissue.
How Sauna Use is Able to Free Ingrown Hairs
As the skin continues to sweat and the pores remain open for extended periods of time, your pores begin to become accustomed to being dilated for long periods of time.
This makes them able to loosen any ingrown hairs that might be nagging at the pores of your skin, which in turn releases the hairs and typically frees them from the skin in an easy, pain-free method that involves a high amount of other benefits along with it.
As your pores become more accustomed to being opened for longer periods of time and sweating out harmful toxins, it’s only natural that any hairs that happen to have found their way into these pores are loosened and freed from what would otherwise be a very painful, nagging sensation that plagues people.
Ingrown hairs can be especially problematic for women who regularly shave large areas of their bodies. Shaving these hairs along the arms, legs, bikini line, and other areas can lead to a consistent problem involving ingrown hairs that are all-too-often a nightmare for women to deal with.
Even worse, removing these hairs are either impossible, or require a trip to the dermatologist for removal and treatment in the worst cases of ingrown hairs.
Regular Sauna Use and Ingrown Hairs
The best possible defense against the recurring problem of ingrown hairs is regular utilization of saunas. This works to open the body’s pores and allow the sweat to help loosen any ingrown hairs that might have found their way into the skin’s pores.
Regular sauna use also helps one to avoid ingrown hairs all together.
Those who regularly utilize saunas for the variety of health benefits they offer will also help to tighten their skin by removing unwanted fat storage.
Sauna use can also tighten the skin by improving the outer layer’s elasticity, which further works to help prevent hairs from going in the wrong direction as they grow.
Should you happen to encounter ingrown hairs after using a sauna for an extended period of time, you can easily help remove those hairs by continuing to use the sauna.
This works to help further open the pore and provide an opportunity for the ingrown hair to loosen from its position and possibly free itself without any other intrusive measures.
Final Measures
Once you’ve been through a long, steamy sauna session and you’re ready to remove any irritating ingrown hair, it’s best to follow up by washing the area with a warm cloth.
Do this gently in order to avoid further irritating the ingrown hair and the area around it.
Finally, you should be able to free the ingrown hair from the skin by using a pair of tweezers (if you’re able to do so).
Ingrown hairs can sometimes become overly irritated and worsen to the point of needing a dermatologist to take a closer look and recommend any other measures to alleviate the situation.
For those who find themselves in a constant battle with ingrown hairs, sticking to a regular sauna regimen may help to alleviate much of the issues that tend to cause this problem.