To shave or grow it out: a real choice for textured hair

For people with very tightly coiled hair and relentless razor bumps, one of the most effective and underrated solutions is also the simplest: stop shaving, and grow the hair out.

The reasoning follows directly from the cause. Ingrowns and razor bumps in textured hair come from cutting the hair at a sharp angle so it re-enters the skin. If the hair is not cut short, there is no sharp tip to ingrow, the hair grows long enough to clear and curl away from the skin rather than back into it. For many, growing a beard or letting body hair grow eliminates the bumps almost entirely, which is why dermatologists sometimes recommend it as a legitimate medical strategy for severe pseudofolliculitis barbae, not merely a style choice.

Obviously this is not always practical or desired, and it is one option among several. But it deserves to be on the table, especially for those whose skin and hair simply will not tolerate shaving without bumps and scarring. The alternative definitive fix is reducing the hair with laser. Between growing it out and laser reduction, people with the most ingrown-prone textured hair have two genuinely effective paths that do not require continuing to fight a losing battle with a razor.