I've spent a lot of time and money, all the way up to laser hair removal. None of it really works, in my experience anyway. My best advice is to just use a trimmer (NOT a razor). That causes the least amount of flares for me, although since it doesn't make my skin smooth it's a poor replacement. Good luck, friend.

Trimmer has been the best solution for me as well. If you’re having issues because of rubbing and pulling on the hair you can try compression clothing. That has solved a lot of groin problems for me and because of my HS scarring I can’t grow hair in my arm pits.

I've heard others with HS say that they take bleach baths and it helps immensely, according to them. I don't know what the ratio of bleach to water would be though, I would talk to my dermatologist about it first. Just another thought I had, could be worth a shot. Oh...I also use Mario Badescu Drying Lotion on my flares once they start to get painful, a day or two of that seems to help get them down and healing faster than they normally would. I just got a new dermatologist and she recommended that I shower with the 10% peroxide version of PanOxyl. The haven't been using it long enough to know how well it works, but I wanted to throw it out there, 🙂

Thanks guys!! I usually use an electric trimmer but wanted to hear others ideas

Just to be clear, I have heard a few people say that the laser hair removal worked well for them. Who knows, everyone is different. And it's always possible (I don't really think so, but maybe) the lady who was doing my treatments just wasn't very good at it or maybe too new to the profession. Anyway, they say it works best on dark hair. You would probably wind up going to 6-12 treatments before it made a big difference, if you're someone that would work for. And also, I'm a snoker so this exacerbates the flares.

I did laser hair removal in my armpits which almost completely eliminated flares in that area. Now I have significantly less hair and haven't shaved anywhere in 8 years lol. Works great for hairy areas!