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Getting rid of facial hair in women

When Harmaan Kaur, an Indian girl, stepped-out boldly with her facial hair and said, "I decided to keep my beard and step forward against society’s expectations of what a woman should look like. I have realized that this body is mine, I own it, I do not have any other body to live in, and so I may as well love it unconditionally. I am happy living as a young, beautiful, bearded woman,” women facing similar problems finally would’ve felt better as this is a very big embarrassment for women to have a beard and moustache. Nowadays at least 1 in 10 women are diagnosed with Facial Hair. This would in turn could cause troubled menstrual cycles and have difficulty in losing weight as well as causes acne and diabetes. Many indulging in for temporary solutions never realize the amount of damage it could do to their skin.  

It could be because of hormonal imbalance and that is known as Hirsutism. Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome is a common cause of Hirsutism. Excess presence of androgens in female, which is a male hormone, is considered to be the main reason for hormonal imbalance. It begins since the 20s and will last forever. Unlikely, there isn’t a cure for this. Here are some reasons and things you can avoid doing to resist facial hair.

The presence of testosterone hormones in men encourages growth of body hair and especially facial hair in men. It is also present in women, but not as high as found in men. On average, 5-10 per cent of what can be found in men will be seen in women. Any increase in this level would mean excessive hair growth. While this is said to be the major reason, consumption of medicines like Minoxidil, anabolic steroids and Cyclosporine could also result in facial hair via hormonal imbalance. In rare cases, women with cushing syndrome, adrenal gland cancer or tumor, ovarian cancer or tumor could also experience hirsutism. 

There isn’t a permanent cure for facial hair as it accumulates since the day it has come up. Temporary remedies could be the usual waxing and tweezing. In case of the latter, the hair is plucked from the root, but this in turn can injure the skin.  And the former is also as painful as tweezing and could also result in skin damage.

One could prefer going for a laser treatment or even electrolysis. But these two are time  consuming and also more expensive. As the hormones are pro-active, it releases hair continuously and thus resulting in more hair growth. Another way is shaving it up, but that makes your skin rough.

Well, you read it as hormonal imbalance. But still many women say their hormones are normal, but still they develop facial hair. In such cases, testosterone would have already been added in the blood episodically and thus showing an imbalanced level of the hormones.  Otherwise it could even be due to sensitive follicles. 

Generally women in Asia have little body hair except Japanese. Tropical climatic condition is also a reason.  Traditionally, Indian woman rub turmeric bars since young age to avoid facial and body hair growth.  

So the best way is to consult a dermatologist to analyze the condition.  Do not consume Minoxidil, Ananbolic steroids and Cyclosporine without a doctor’s consent. Also do not indulge in waxing and tweezing regularly as it would curtail your skin.  

By adding food rich in Vitamin A, B6 and E along with Magnesium, Zinc, copper and calcium will help you control Hormonal Imbalance as it lowers the level of Androgens. Some of the foods rich in these vitamins are banana, soybeans, whole grains, spinach, broccoli, tofu, pumpkin seeds, mango, almonds, cucumber, carrots, sprouts, apple, cabbage, turnip and peanut butter.

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