Real Bearded Women
Female Hirsutism Causes
Preface: Before we pay attention to today’s topic Female Hirsutism causes let me first point out, that the lady on the title image is not a woman who suffers from hirsutism, this is Conchita Wurst, an Austrian pop recording artist and drag queen who came to international attention after winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. I truly admire her/his talent and his concentrated efforts in creating a future that can function without discrimination and is based on tolerance and respect. Wurst became an icon for Europe’s LGBT community. Conchita Wurst is not female, not transgender and does most certainly not suffer from hirsutism in women!
Respecting the copyrights I could not find a single photo of real bearded women, that would have been allowed to use. Pretty remarkable, you find all kind of images for free use, but not one free stock photo of real bearded women. Speaks for itself, therefore it is even more important to broadcast women like Rose Geil and make her message go viral. Read on and meet Rose, one of the very few real bearded women who doesn’t want to hide and suffer any longer. After Rose has stopped shaving the beard she feels sexier and happier than ever before, she says.
Rose has stopped shaving the beard and she’s never felt sexier!
If you’re a woman and you have a lot of hair growing in places where it normally shouldn’t grow, like face, chest, stomach or even on your back, that condition is called Hirsutism in women. Estimated 5% of the female population have Hirsutism. Currently, Rose’s (a 39-year-old female from Eugene, Oregon, USA) story is doing the round. Rose was diagnosed when she was 13 with Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome/Disease (also known by its acronym PCOD or PCOS), an endocrine disorder that causes women of middle age to grow excess hair on the body and face. Rose had been shaving her face over years after medication didn’t help control the symptoms of hirsutism. The result of more than 20 years of shaving was horribly irritated skin. Geil finally decided last year to stop shaving the beard.
If you Google-search Rose Geil you will get 679.000 search results, and that is only on Google! Rose’s story is going viral, I have found websites from all over the globe in so many different languages about Rose. Rose is rocking the boat!
You can find Rose also on FaceBook
Female Hirsutism Causes
Women typically have little hair on their faces, apart from eyebrows and lashes. However, a few women have noticeable facial hair growth. Excessive facial hair growth in women is known as Hirsutism and is usually an indication of an excessive androgen production. Sometimes hirsutism is a genetic phenomenon. If your mother has it, you’re more likely to get it. It’s also more common in people from the Middle East, the Mediterranean or South Asia.
Facial hair is a secondary sex characteristic in human males. Most men grow facial hair during puberty. Many women also have some facial hair, especially after their menopause, though typically much less than men, that phenomenon has got nothing to do with Hirsutism as in real bearded women.
In nowadays western culture, almost all women shave, tweeze or otherwise remove facial hair which does appear, as there is a considerable social stigma associated with excessive body- and facial hair in women.
Freak shows and circuses once displayed bearded women.
Everyone has facial hair, men and women of all ethnic backgrounds. Actually, most people have hair over most of their body. The only differences between women’s facial hair and men’s involve thickness and quantity. In most cultures, it is perfectly acceptable to have thick and large amounts of facial hair if you are male.
In fact, many cultures highly praise facial hair for men and thick beards are seen as a symbol of male virility and power. Conversely, most cultures do not likewise value facial hair growth on women, and usually stigmatize it quite harshly. A woman with an abnormally large amount of facial hair is often made to feel embarrassed and is looked at as somehow less feminine than other women.
There are a number of different treatments that can remove the excess hair in women with hirsutism, and help stop the female hirsutism causes coming back. Your GP can advise you about the hair removal options available. You may need to try a number of methods to find one you prefer. Learn more here.
Thank you very much for reading!
Klaudia
Auch ich bin eine Frau mit erheblicher Gesichtsbehaarung, mache aber kein Drama daraus.
Seit einiger Zeit trage ich einen Vollbart im Gesicht. Mein Mann und und unsere Tochter haben sich daran gewöhnt und es akzeptiert, dass ich die bärtige und gleichzeitig weibliche Person im Hause bin. Mein Mann könnte sich nie so ein Bart wachsen lassen wie ich ihn habe. Anfangs war er neidisch, jetzt nicht mehr. Und das ist gut so. Wir haben uns arrangiert. Übrigens, meine Großmutter hatte ebenfalls einen starken Bartwuchs. Und bei unserer 14 jährigen Tochter fängt es auch langsam an, im Gesicht zu sprießen.
I don’t know that such women exist, wow
I knew a woman with facial hair who lived next door to my friend. I had to double take because I was not sure what I was looking at. But it was then that I learned that some women, though rare, can grow beards if they have that much facial hair. This woman had a husband and he also had a beard. Her beard and mustache was thin compared to his but she was woman everywhere else far as I could see though I did not look her over or anything. I love and accept all people according to their inside person and not their outside person. If they heart is good, I’ll want to be friends. Anyhow, I wish this woman well and many happy years is what I hope for her.
aww, this is really lovely, Karen. Thanks for that, I wholeheartedly agree with what you are saying.xx
Bless her.
It takes a lot of courage to just accept the fact that some women are growing facial hair (beards). Let alone to decide that they will not have them shaved.I do hope somebody could invent a special cream or a laser treatment to clean up their face .
I haven’t heard of the story you shared as well as about hirsutism which made this post a good read. I haven’t encountered women who have a severe facial hair case. The most is justlip hair which they usually remove through waxing.
Rose is very brave for showing it to everyone. I’ve read about Rose before, she’s big news now. I have to get used it. Never have seen this before (besides via the internet). But I think it’s great of her that she deals with it this way.
That woman must be very brave. I know that some women suffer from this disease and it’s horrible but these days there are solutions to the problem, like laser treatment which removes the hair completely, preventing it to grow again. I don’t know, it just feels strange to see a women with a beard like a man…
Kudos to Rose! We’ve been conditioned by society that having too much hair is bad. We should be the ones to decide if we want to be hair-free or not, all the while not being judged if we do decide not to get rid of our hairs.
I remember watching american horror story freak show and i thought that the bearded lady was an exaggeration. Now I know that it’s real. The awareness of this cause will combat shaming because of this rare abnormality.
I will be honest. It does not disturb me, in fact I find it intriguing. Having said that, it is a shock for me to see the photos and the idea of women having that much facial hair is a little too much for me to absorb in one sitting. It is easy for us bystanders to talk about the what ifs, but Rose here, has her life to live. She has the right to choose how she wants to live and must be respected.
I don’t know what to do if this happened to me. I admire her, she’s very brave. The least we could do is not discriminate people like her.
This topic is somewhat new to me. I know women grows facial hairs but having those beards… gosh that woman is so brave to be able to pull off her beards in public. I salute her. So much respect to her.
This is an interesting topic. I’ve never thought about the other side to it, but it has to be hard to be ridiculed and judged because you aren’t conforming to the norm in society.
Thank you for educating us on this subject.
Thats interesting. On a personal level I ofcourse believe people should be who they are but there is no way I would have a beard. I hate hair so that is just me.
That woman must be so brave ! Look at the full beard she wears now , well not my cup of tea either , but I must admit , I take my hat off to her !