People might lose hair due to various causes and folliculitis is one of them. This is an infection of the hair follicles from bacteria like staphylococcus aureus.

There are many variations like barber’s itch or hot tub folliculitis. The general appearance of the disease is white headed pimples around the hair follicles, which if superficial can clear by itself while in the severe and deep cases need medical attention.

If you carefully study the symptoms you can easily distinguish the type of folliculitis. Mainly the infections are superficial or deep. The superficial folliculitis is a simple type of attack which sometimes gets eliminated by itself or mild medication. It generally affects the upper part of the hair and may cause small red bumps around the hair follicles. These are often accompanied with pus filled blisters, inflammation of the skin and itchiness.

Staphylococcal folliculitis is quite common and when it occurs in the beard follicles, it is called Barbers’ Itch. Though the bacteria causing this disease live in our body all the time, only when they enter the body through wounds can they cause the problems.

Thus the infection can come through shaving or any injury to the skin. Similarly the pseudomonas bacteria can cause the hot tub folliculitis. These bacteria can thrive in a variety of environments and the signs of its infection are rash and red circular itchy bumps that can develop into small pus filled blisters.

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Tinea barbae is another type of superficial folliculitis where the cause is fungal rather than bacterial. It develops around the beard area of men and is identifiable from the itchy, white bumps which may develop into pus filled blisters and eventually develop a crust.

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Another form is the pseudo folliculitis barbae which also develops in men after shaving when the hair grows back into the skin and causing inflammation and dark raised scars.

The other forms of superficial folliculitis are pityrosporum folliculitis and herpetic folliculitis. The former is caused by yeast like fungus and is more common in the teens and the grown up men.

The signs are itchy red pustules that can appear generally on the back and chest. But sometimes it can appear on the neck, face and upper arms. Blister caused by herpes simplex virus can spread the infection to the nearby hair follicles and cause herpetic folliculitis.