My mam and her sister have a pact that if either of them went right into a coma, the opposite would pluck out their chin hairs. Each these female relatives have at all times laughed about their facial hair and never kept it a secret from me, their daughter and niece respectively, that they need to remove beard hairs each day. While I even have been an element of their follicular secret for so long as I can remember, I assumed I had years before I can be signing as much as the facial hair removal deal in case of immobility. 

Up to now 12 months, nonetheless, my struggle with PCOS – Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, a condition affecting 40 per cent of the feminine population with unwanted effects like ovarian cysts, irregular periods, and weight gain – has had unwanted effects of the facial hair variety. In addition to the peach fuzz along my jawline developing in density, several thick black hairs sprout forth weekly to be met with the wrath of at home waxing kits, epilators, tweezers, and more. 

As a queer plus size woman, I’ve found niches for myself on the web that remember what others may even see as flaws – my weight, my waistline, my stretchmarks – have turn out to be reasons to have a good time myself. But while body positivity tears through almost every subsection of body type and fills these individuals with indiscriminate self love, I’ve yet to search out a female facial hair movement that celebrates the fuzz as a substitute of attempting to remove it. 

Thankfully, this isn’t the 50s and it’s value acknowledging the forwards made for female body hair already within the feminist movement. Marissa Malik is a femme astrologer and DJ who happily flaunts her leg and armpit fuzz on the ‘gram and inspires many to do the identical. Model Sophia Hadjipanteli has also been raging the same war for body hair against beauty standards for several years and her #UnibrowMovement has seen her land campaigns, magazine covers, and more, and she or he continues to make use of her platform to advertise diversity in the style world and beyond. 

Speaking specifically about her own facial hair in addition to others, Hadjipanteli tells me about her journey to unibrow acceptance. “I’m a primary generation Greek Cypriot American so having thick hair and loads of it was never something latest for me.” She continues, “There was never a particular moment where I began to embrace my unibrow – I liked the best way it looked and so I kept it. I’ve at all times played around with the form/size of my eyebrows and never realised how big of a deal it was to everyone else.” 

When she did realise she was difficult stereotypes of gender and wonder together with her unibrow, Hadjipanteli felt much more compelled to maintain it and she or he impressed on me the necessity for those comfortable with excess hair further down their face to not feel pressured into removing it. “For years people have been taught – trained – to remove facial hair since it is taken into account ‘ugly’ by mainstream media, and wonder standards in some areas of the world,” she explains. “We’re each individuals and being hairless to some people is gorgeous and to others their facial hair is stunning. We’re told to have a protracted full head of hair, thick eyebrows, but no unibrow, we’re told to have long luscious natural lashes, but to remove our mustaches, to have shiny healthy hair but no sideburns… Beauty standards are inherently obsessive since it is a ‘rulebook’ we’ve been forced to join.”

“We’re told to have a protracted full head of hair, thick eyebrows, but no unibrow, we’re told to have long luscious natural lashes, but to remove our mustaches, to have shiny healthy hair but no sideburns. Beauty standards are inherently obsessive since it is a ‘rulebook’ we’ve been forced to join” – Sophia Hadjipanteli, model 

One one who has embraced their facial hair on a world stage and most web platforms is influencer and motivational speaker Harnaam Kaur. When her beard grew out as a preteen attributable to her own PCOS diagnosis, Kaur struggled to remove it. When depilatory creams, lasers, and razors couldn’t stop the hair from growing back, the London native decided to only let her beard grow out. It’s now, arguably, one in all her biggest assets not only for standing out in a crowd and on social media, but the following profession as an influencer. Although Kaur may very well be seen as a figurehead for cis women growing out their facial hair, having one person only to represent female facial hair is removed from it being accepted as a norm – it is just step one.

We will’t discuss the long run of female facial hair as a movement without consulting the trans women who feel similar pressures to remove their beards in an effort to adhere to strict ‘passing’ standards. Trésor Prijs is a trans femme one who flits between presenting themselves with and with no full beard, and she or he feels the negative connotations of females with facial hair has one other sinister layer of taboo and prejudice when applied outside of the gender binary. 

“There may be a singular weight that transfeminine folks carry regarding their facial hair. Inside the confines of binary gender facial hair is usually perceived as a transparent cut manifestation of the masculine beauty ideal. With many trans folks that imposition of patriarchal masculinity is compounded by the effect of testosterone on the feel and appearance of facial hair,” Prijs muses.

She goes on to ask all cis people to contemplate that trans female facial hair “often grows coarser, darker, and faster than what can be the case with a mean cis woman” and that, “removing this kind of facial hair, particularly within the case of a full beard, is an expensive and oftentimes painful process that not everyone has the financial privilege to undertake.” The dysphoria of being unable to remove unwanted facial hair – attributable to physical inabilities or financial ones – is a sense I won’t ever need to suffer through and wishes baring in mind when navigating the web and offline worlds of female facial hair.

“The dysphoria of being unable to remove unwanted facial hair – attributable to physical inabilities or financial ones – is a sense I won’t ever need to suffer through and wishes baring in mind when navigating the web and offline worlds of female facial hair”

For herself, and people like her who don’t exist inside strict gender binaries, Prijs hopes that the cis women with the privilege to wear their facial hair and face less abuse than non-cis people may, accomplish that. “Facial hair is gorgeous – it’s but one other gorgeous variation present in our biologies. We’re exquisite with it, and just as exquisite without,” Prijs explains, reminding me that she often and bravely chooses to wear her beard. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t suffer from the “ideal” of a bald female face.

“These ideals have dire implications for each one in all us, including those that implement them. The more influence and privilege one has, the more of a right away impact their expression can have upon the collective.” Prijs implores, “Cis women have that layer of societal privilege and with it a singular ability to assist to those that may not.”

With all these wonderful women impressing the necessity for change each on and offline for girls to feel comfortable with discussing their facial hair, let alone refusing to remove it, I feel I’m meant to complete this text with some type of epiphany where I also decide to grow out my mutton chops. Unfortunately, I’m removed from pleased enough with my black hairs to allow them to face the world just yet, but because of the ladies above and the ladies like them being totally open about this taboo subject, the one way is up for others with female facial hair. 

If I’m to be honest with myself, I doubt I ever will embrace the black hairs that grace my face. Although I definitely have privileges others in the feminine presenting world don’t – I still stand before the general public as a fat queer woman with enough on my plate than being the archetypal “bearded lady” as well. Again, I agree with Prijs that those with more privileges than us pair must step as much as the plate and represent their facial hair more openly so the remaining of us have a path set before us, where female facial hair is more of a norm for us to stick to, than for us to face out due to.

Essentially, transparity on these topics is what is required for the following generation – brought up on body positivity of their ads, magazines, and Instagram feeds – to push further and create spaces where the Kaurs and Prijs of the world aren’t anomalies or ground breakers, but a part of the norm.