Um, This Is How Often You Should Really Be Washing Down There

And how to get rid of ingrown hairs for good.

Girl with American flag on the beach

iStockphoto.

Here’s a terrifying newsflash: Memorial Day—as in the official start of bikini season—is just 18 days from today. If you’re like me, this realization is sending waves of dread throughout your body (totally normal reaction). If you’re looking to tighten and tone, I can’t help you, but this certainly can. However, if your main source of “Oh $%*#” stems from a bumpy bikini line, we’ve got you covered. 

You don’t need to avoid being in a bathing suit (like I somehow managed to pull off last summer) because of unsightly ingrown hairs. And, unlike what someone once told me, your only solution is not laser hair removal — you’re just not paying enough attention to your skin down there. Ashley Richardson, sugaring expert and founder of Green City Beauty, let us in on a little secret that just might save your bikini line.

Plain and simple, add your lady parts to your daily skincare routine. What’s the top culprit behind ingrowns? Dead skin cells trapping hair below the surface as it tries to regrow. “When you wash your face, you’re dissolving oils and dead skin cells on the surface of your skin,” says Richards. “The same thing applies to your bikini area—you want to make sure you’re helping that skin turnover because you don’t want the hair to get trapped under there.”

Step 1: Exfoliate
Once a day, hop in the shower and give your bikini area a wash. Richards uses her own Green City Beauty bar soap with green tea leaves and tea tree oil to cleanse and gently exfoliate, but a plain sugar scrub will do. Don’t feel like picking up another product? “Using a washcloth will apply that gentle friction on the skin to encourage cell turnover,” says Richards—just be sure to use a fresh one every day.

Step 2: Rejuvenate
After you cleanse, when your skin is still damp and warm, apply a healing serum to your bikini area. Richards uses the Annmarie Gianni Repair Serum ($59.95), which contains licorice root extract to treat hyper-pigmentation that ingrowns cause. When shopping for serums, look for something with alpha/beta hydroxy acids, like salicylic acid, lactic acid, or willow bark extract.

And that’s it, folks! Don’t fear the beach this Memorial Day Weekend because of some annoying ingrown hairs. Tack on this two-step cleansing and healing routine to your daily skincare regimen, and your bikini line will be blemish-free in no time at all.