Sounds like you have really sensitive skin! The chemicals in the cream remover must be burning you.

Do you use shaving cream when you shave that area? If you do, maybe that's what is irritating you, and if you don't, maybe you need to.

I say just get it waxed. There are waxes for sensitive skin, spas have different kinds for different types of skin. Then you'll be irritated for a day but have almost a month of smooth skin with no irritation. And if you use something like Tend Skin, it stops razor burn and ingrowns and things like that. A dentist invented it by accident. I love it, but it smells something fierce.

I never heard about the open-follicle thing. I've had infected ingrowns and razor burn or whatever, but its never spread. I'm not sure that that's true.