How to remove ingrown hair IN penis?

November 28, 2006 11:53 AM

How to get rid of ingrown hair IN penis?

I have one of those ingrown hairs that has grown to full-length under the skin. Normally you can scratch the skin off above the hair and release it, but this one is on the underside of the shaft of my penis and the idea of scratching the skin off there makes me cringe. Any suggestions for getting it out? In case you don't know what I'm talking about, and since I can't later reply to people's questions anonymously, just picture an inch-long hair growing right below the surface on the most sensitive part of your body.

posted by anonymous to Health & Fitness (8 answers total)

This sounds like you need to to do some gentle exfoliation, perhaps with a loofa sponge, or even better, that grainy Saint Ive's Apricot Scrub. Good luck, who knows, maybe you'll even enjoy this.
posted by Sara Anne at 11:58 AM on November 28, 2006 [1 favorite]

I would suggest maybe applying a warm, wet cloth to it, to ease open the pore a bit. Then squeeze? At least that's what I do when I get an ingrown hair in my nether-regions... If it doesn't work at first, try a warmer cloth/lenghten the spot's exposure to it. If you have any creams with a small % of benzoyl peroxide, it may also help.
posted by sunshinesky at 12:21 PM on November 28, 2006

Very warm salt soak on the area for ~10 minutes should soften things up a bit. Get some POINTY tweezers and have at it.

You should do this with any ingrown hair.
posted by misanthropicsarah at 12:52 PM on November 28, 2006

Be careful that it's not a vein that's only looks like a hair growing beneath the surface.

And, give us feedback and advice once you're finished with it.
posted by cmiller at 2:52 PM on November 28, 2006

if the point of tweezers is too big try a needle/pin. i can normally get under any ingrown hairs like that - once the point is under the hair you can just gently pull the ingrown part out without breaking the skin...
posted by koahiatamadl at 3:01 PM on November 28, 2006

Duh...I never heard of a hairy penis or hair growing near the head or stalk of one. Perhaps you should see a doctor before you proceed?
posted by GhislainTwo at 6:33 PM on November 28, 2006

Duh...I never heard of a hairy penis or hair growing near the head or stalk of one. Perhaps you should see a doctor before you proceed?

From what I've seen *cough*, it's quite normal. Some guys just have pubic hair that extends to the base of the shaft. I'm not sure how many penises you've looked at that closely, but they are certainly out there. And there's probably people who have it extend even further, though I haven't seen that myself.

And I second the pin thing. I have unfortunately got rather extensive experience in this technique, since I am grotesquely prone to ingrown hairs in several regions of my body. Whenever I stray from the proper path and bust out the tweezers, almost invariably I damage the area a lot worse than I would have with a pin, and live to regret it.

I'd also recommend not pulling the hair out. Trim it if it suits you, but yanking it out might cause another ingrown to be more likely to occur there. I find that when I "liberate" a hair, that leaving it alone is the best way to get it back to a healthy growth pattern. Any superficial skin damage can heal around the hair shaft, rather than forming a sealed mini-scab over the follicle (which would almost ensure a second ingrown if your skin reacts similarly to mine).
posted by beth at 1:20 AM on November 29, 2006

You might consider going to a dermatologist to get it professionally removed. If you should go the needle/tweezers route, make sure to sterilize them with rubbing alcohol beforehand, and then apply antibacterial cream to the area once finished.
posted by Frankieist at 10:46 AM on November 29, 2006