Update: I've been using this ingrown hair treatment for a couple weeks now and it is tied with my homemade dry shampoo for the best homemade beauty product I've ever made. I can't say enough how much I love it! :D

Ingrown hairs are the worst. There are a couple products on the market I've used to combat them: Tend Skin and The Cool Fix (my personal favorite). Both work great, but I wondered if there was a slightly cheaper alternative. I did a little googling and the awesome people at Makeup Alley were all over it. You should click through and read all the happy reviews - this ingrown hair treatment really does work!

So far I can say that this treatment works just as well as Tend Skin, but I still think The Cool Fix works slightly better due to the extra exfoliating ingredients - but you can DIY the exfoliating bit, too!

And this isn't only for ingrown hairs - you can also use it on acne and irritation from shaving, waxing and tweezing.

Though do be cautious when using it on skin that will be in direct sunlight - the acetylsalicylic acid from the aspirin can cause sun sensitivity. That means you may be more likely to burn! Wear sunscreen and take it easy the first time you use it.

Step 1: Ingredients + Tools

ingredients:

26 325mg uncoated aspirin tablets
1/3 cup witch hazel
2/3 cup 70% isopropyl rubbing alcohol

tools:

two jars for mixing/shaking the solutions
jar for storing the solution
something to use to crush the aspirin

We're going to mix the witch hazel and rubbing alcohol separately and then combine them - that's why we need multiple containers!

Step 2: Separate and Crush the Aspirin

Place 18 of the aspirin tablets in one jar and 8 tablets in the other.

Using a heavy wooden spoon or something similar, roughly crush the aspirin. It doesn't have to be a fine powder, you just don't want any huge pieces.

Step 3: Add the Rubbing Alcohol and Witch Hazel

Add 2/3 of a cup of rubbing alcohol to the jar with 18 crushed aspirin.

Add 1/3 of a cup of witch hazel to the jar with 8 crushed aspirin.

Put on the lids firmly and shake shake shake until there are no big chunks of aspirin left. The aspirin will settle after shaking, so you can check to see if you have any big pieces left. If you do, keep on shaking.

Step 4: Combine the Two Solutions

Once the aspirin tablets are dissolved in both jars, pour one jar into the other and shake well to combine.

And there you go! It's done now. You can pour it into whatever container you like - Im using a dropper bottle. I kept the excess in the canning jar. :)

Head to the next step for advice on storing and using it.

Step 5: Storing and Using the Ingrown Hair Treatment

You want to make sure you keep this in a clean well sealed jar. Alcohol evaporates fairly quickly, and it would suck to make it and come back later to half of it being gone. ;)

The aspirin will settle between each use - so make sure to shake it well and then use right away.

How to use the ingrown hair treatment:

Apply morning and night at first to take care of any ingrown hair you may already have - it can take up to two weeks to see a difference if you have quite a few. Just wet a cotton ball or swab and apply. It will sting a bit! That's normal.
After the initial treatment, make sure to apply it right after you wax, tweeze, shave, etc. You can honestly rub it all over your legs if you have issues with bumps there!
As soon as your skin is dry you can apply a moisturizer or deodorant - I highly recommend using jojoba oil after. Jojoba oil also has anti-inflammatory properties and can help soothe the skin further.

Other tips for controlling ingrown hairs:

Make sure to exfoliate often! I normally make up an olive oil and sugar scrub when I need to - once every week or so. Exfoliating removes excess dead skin and keeps it from clogging hair follicles. It can also help expose any current ingrown hairs for removal.
Wash affected areas with a face wash or body wash containing salicylic acid in the shower.
Make sure friction isn't causing the ingrown hairs and irritation! If you always get ingrown hairs at the same places - say your bikini line or on your calves - make sure your underwear and/or pants are not too tight. If they're constantly rubbing your skin it will increase your risk of irritation and ingrown hairs.
Never pick at an ingrown hair with dirty hands! You'll just end up with an infected ingrown hair, which is even worse. If I ever need to pull out an ingrown hair I use tweezers or a pimple extraction tool that I sanitize with boiling water or alcohol.

If you have any other tips for controlling ingrown hairs and irritation, leave them in the comments!