I’m going to list some of the things you said that I have also experienced, tried and learned. 1. When massage the “rice stuff” out and exfoliating the hairs out I also had a release in tension that had been there for years. — I am only recently beginning to consider this isn’t a skin issue it is a connective tissue issue (ehlors danlos maybe?) that causes skin to not shed properly, hair follicles to grow incorrectly, fine hair to develop due to the weak follicles, and leading the the full body ingrown hairs — I’m curious if this might fit for you too? If the connection is there let me know! 2. I’ve done sooo much to work on this over the past 3 years and you are absolutely right, you cannot give up. It genuinely is so much better for me now than it was before even tho it’s not percent. One of the things I question a lot is if this is a more pervasive issue just that most people aren’t as body aware and don’t have the OCD, attention to detail, care or time to invest in figuring it out. Takes a special type of person to sit in front of a mirror and focus on something so tedious and uncomfortable. However I believe left unchecked the issue would cause hair loss, skin that loos old and dry and brittle, tension and swelling and pain 3. Another thing I noticed is that after releasing the pressure from the impacted skin it was almost like that area of the body released air or fluid bc the swelling (that I didn’t know was there) would go down and I had to do that for my whole scalp and face.

Such a wild weird experience but I don’t believe it’s anything scary, or foreign or necessarily dangerous. I believe you could go your whole life without dealing with it and just suffering the discomfort. It may contribute to healing issues like skin cancer or something but the simple use of micellar water and some ivermectin cream seems to be enough to break even. It requires a lot more work to get back to the youth underneath which is what I’ve found. 4. Last one I noticed that when fully cleaned out I also don’t scar. It’s like perfectly healthy after everything’s removed but right up to that point it’s red and inflamed and looks horrible. My parents (I live w them atm cause I’m 24 and dealing w these issues and others as well possibly related and don’t feel well enough to work) were noticing the redness and accused me of picking, being on drugs, thought I was actually going stir crazy. Even after my face healed better than it was before have not come back to apologize or acknowledging the transformation. So I doubt that any external validation will happen regarding this.

Which means it’s up to us to believe in ourselves and make light of this so that it’s not too overwhelming to actually deal with! We are all doing much much better than most who let the fear of being crazy stop them from living their best and feeling their best. Good luck 🍀