One of my favorite topics of conversation – and one which I rarely get to discuss – is women’s facial hair. I have dark, Indian coloring, and yes, that means I have a mustache. Or I would have a mustache if I wasn’t so obsessed with dealing with my ‘stache in myriad and sundry ways. I also have some whiskers that annoy the hell out of me – just as I’m writing this, I can feel a lone whisker flapping around on my chin. I find that if women talk openly about their facial hair, we’d all be better people. Of course, I also believe that dealing with facial hair is just one of those uncomfortable things that women have to deal with, but the problem isn’t so much sexist as just one of those stupid things. I’m a feminist, I believe in equality, and I also hate when women have ‘staches. I think it’s a grooming failure.
Why bring this up? Because Adele has a beard. Literally, she grew a beard during her pregnancy. She named it Larry. She shaved Larry recently.
ADELE has revealed she has a BEARD, declaring: “I’m proud of it. I call it Larry.”
The Hello singer, 27, told thousands of stunned fans at a concert: “I only cut it last night. It’s true, honestly.”
Adele made the revelation as she spoke about her partner Simon Konecki’s facial hair and admired beards among members of her audience in Glasgow.She said: “There are a lot of good beards here. My man’s got a good beard and trims it sometimes in summer. It really annoys me — but I do have a beard myself. I understand when it gets hot.”
The star, who gave birth to son Angelo in 2012, blamed hormones from her pregnancy. She said: “When I got pregnant I had so much testosterone in me that I grew a beard. It’s not a joke. I actually do have a beard.”
Adele, pictured above how she might look unshaven, then had Friday’s crowd in stitches as she admitted she also has hairy legs.
She said: “If anyone gets a glimpse of my really hairy legs I’m really sorry but I’ve got a weekend off, so no need to shave my legs.”
I’ve never really considered the idea that Adele might have to deal with facial hair. She’s just so fair, and I’ve never seen a photo of her where her skin didn’t look smooth, flawless and hairless. But only Adele could not only talk about her beard on stage, but talk about how she named her beard (LARRY) and that she doesn’t shave her legs when she’s got time off. She says she shaved Larry… I wonder if she’s ever tried waxing Larry? Has she tried plucking him? Hm.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
We should all name our beards, mustaches and bushes.
If jlaw said this, these boards would be filled with people up in arms about how she needs to can it, nobody wants to hear about her gross Larry, and how she just trolls to be “one of us”.
Hahaha you’re so right!
I thought the same thing. Personally this is TMI.
Exactly. The narrative would change to “How dare that bitch try to be likeable”
Is talking about facial hair considered gross? I could understand being annoyed by someone who talked about hair in other places, like Gwyneth Paltrow does, but facial hair and even hair on the legs seems like a non-taboo topic.
Why all the fascination for this woman? She’s a wonderful singer and all but she doesn’t seem happy. Acts dresses and looks 20 years older than her age and all she does is bitch. At everything. Why everyone loves her?
yeah you’re probably right but IMO the reason people would turn their noses up at JLaw a having this same chat is because she’s overexposed, not entirely her own doing. Adele isn’t so it seems more endearing. Just my observation. But yeah still TMI no matter who it comes from
Hollywood doesn’t ever name beards.
I see what you did there.😌
Threading all the way! For all of that facial hair, I love threading. I feel like waxing is too violent on the skin …
Ooh yes to threading, if you can handle it. My cousin’s wife does threading and once she offered to do my lady-stache and after I said yes she said “okay, it might sting a little, but make sure you don’t twitch because I could rip your lip open hahahaha.”
Needless to say it stung a LOT and I made sure to sit as still as a statue, lol. I loved the results but it did make my pale skin quite red, so I had to be careful for a few days not to irritate it. I think it’s much better than waxing, though, even if it isn’t exactly painless.
I can handle threading my eyebrows but I had my face threaded for my wedding and HOLY SHIT did that hurt like a son of a b*tch. Like, I was doing mediation breathing to get through that session and the woman doing it was like “man toughen up!” NEVER AGAIN
ha ha LadyMTL and lem, I do understand the pain, for sure! It definitely isn’t painless. I just love the results. I’ve been doing it since I was like 12 (Indian genes, so great hair on my head but also on my face 😛 ) so I guess I’m just used to it.
I’ve had a problem for years. Some of the chin hairs come in white, so laser didn’t work on them. Then a friend told me about using these spring tools, and that they are sort of like do it yourself threading. Amazon listed several (just search for spring hair remover) and I am a total convert! The one I have is the R.E.M. Spring. It was inexpensive ($15.) and great. The first time use I would compare the pain to waxing. After that it’s no big deal. I keep it by the bed and several times a week I just run it over my chin and mustache, no need for a mirror. It takes less than a minute and now I’m not paranoid about being hairy.
As a diabetic my options to shave my chin are limited. I just use a men’s electric shaver every few days. It sucks but since I have dark skin and hair it’s a must. I use to use things like Nair for face but developed a nasty cough from them and had to stop.
I pluck mostly. Everyday. Tried em all *sigh
Spring tool or epilator makes me break out like crazy, defeats the purpose. Good luck ladies.
I’m so with you, Kaiser. #100 #100 #100
I’m very fair too which just makes the random black hairs that pop out look even more obvious :X UGH!
Yep. I’m even more fair than Adele, and my facial hair is jet black. My hair’s light brown, so go figure.
The chin hair seems to get worse every month. I’m 28, and I’ve been plucking it for years… my skin is too sensitive for wax and I’m too poor for laser treatments, so until I (very recently) learned about making sure my skin is warm and wet before plucking, I also had a chin that was perpetually full of pimples, and loooooong ingrown hairs. Like dark stripes under my skin. Constantly. There are plenty of scars from stupidly digging them out, too.
I hate that it makes me feel so gross. I hate that it has to be a daily obsession. Any tips from anyone…? Bleaching isn’t really an option, because the texture bothers me too, and the coarsest hairs are the random white ones that pop up.
I feel the struggle! I’m super fair, with blue eyes, and black hair (Black Irish, basically). And everything you said about chin hair was the same for me.
I finally just started scouring groupon for laser treatment deals. I did research to make sure the places weren’t shady, and then just would do a groupon deal for 6 or so treatments to that area (usually around $120 at most). Then do another one at a different place. It really, really did make a difference, and I decided it was worth it to me to use that money for that. I know that’s still potentially unaffordable for lots of people, which sucks. But if you can scrape a little bit, it does help. Even one round of 6 treatments a year helps.
And yeah, there is definitely the feminist voice in my head that says I shouldn’t get hung up on that, there’s more to me than that minor chin hair thing etc. But in this case I just found myself getting stuck on it.
I used to have a similar problem (with chin pimples and some dark hair) I found that it was all hormonal. I started taking Evening Primrose Oil (2-3 500mg capsules) daily, and I found that the chin pimples totally disappeared along with my terrible PMS!! My chest is noticeably less sore every month and my skin is better than its ever been. Primrose oil and Stridex in the red box are my have to have products. Good luck!
A hand-held machine called No No. It removes hair painlessly. I watched a demo where a lady ran it up her arm and the hair just fell off. Apparently, regular use will eventually stop hair growth. They go for $200 so do your homework before you buy. They are sold on TV and also in a local mall store called, Everything you see on TV! A quick google shows them on Ebay too.
I have a habit of using my fingernails to pull out random chin hairs. I do this at work or when I’m lounging at home. I don’t have a beard or a dark moustache, but I have enough on my chin that I can feel them even if they are fairly invisible to most people, especially after it is covered with makeup. I have lasered my underam and leg hair, but I’ve got to get around to lasering my chin hair off. Those few random hairs drive me insane.
Brittney, reading that was like I wrote it myself.
As lindy recommended, try to find a Groupon or similar deal for laser. It worked wonders for me, and my chin has cleared up a lot since I’ve stopped constantly tweezing and messing with it. The place I ended up was an aesthetic dermatologist, and they now offer packages similar to Groupon’s deals, and I think the price in general has gone down now that it’s more common. Once you do the first round of 6, you likely only need the occasional touch up.
THANK YOU, everyone!! I knew this was the right place to ask. I will definitely look into deals for laser treatments… I thought it was a more expensive and extensive process, but if it’s less than $200 for the year, it’s worth saving up to spare all that time and pain and ugliness. I thought it only lasted a few months, too… is that not true?
lucy2 and lindy —
It was especially refreshing and reassuring to hear that others like me go through exactly the same thing, pimples and all. It’s not some huge disfiguring problem, but it’s definitely more embarrassing and difficult because there’s so much stigma/lack of discussion around women’s facial hair. Just knowing you’re out there and laser treatment helped you too is invaluable.
I am the same age and having the same problem. I am super fair with strawberry blonde hair and I’ve been getting more and more black facial hairs. Some are ingrown and causing pimples. I will also look into laser treatments but please keep the advice coming people!!!
Right there with you, Brittney! I’m 30, dark blond, and I have very dark chin hair that will grow into little beard islands if I don’t pluck regularly. I went away for Easter weekend, forgot my tweezers, and the shops were closed. When I got back home, it was such a relief to pluck all of them in one rapid session because even if a third of them are white or blond, they’re still thick and I can feel them. If I don’t have my tweezers handy, I’ll just keep touching my chin, and it’ll feel worse and worse, even though I sometimes inexplicably enjoy touching it. The more visible they get, the less I want to meet up with people (like when I go away for a few days & decide to stay longer, and then shops are closed); if it gets too much, my last resort is shaving. I only really share my longer chin hair state comfortably with friends. Dealing with ingrown hair as well sometimes, which can really drive me crazy.
I haven’t tested my testosterone levels yet, but I’m pretty sure they’re high as I am generally pretty manly, always have been. I’m glad to have read about Primrose Oil from @Alex (thank you); I’ll have to get myself checked out by a doctor and see if that’ll tackle my hormone imbalance, as I sometimes have impossibly bad menstrual cramps. I started taking vitamins (esp. iron, magnesium and calcium) and changing my diet to basically anything my body wants when I realized I had an iron deficiency, and that already helped a lot.
Thanks to everyone for being so open and talking about this honestly! This really is a relief (and I also see it as a sign of progress). Thanks!!
Brittney B, I had a thicker beard/ goatee than most teenage boys due to hormones (yay PCOS…) I unfortunately found that plucking seemed only to encourage the chin hairs to come in thicker so I finally decided to get laser treatments done. It was not what I would call cheap, but I would get my full face and neck done for just under $100 per treatment. I had particularly aggressive facial hairs so it took me several treatments but it was so so worth it. I was pleasantly surprised that my acne was essentially eliminated in the process as well though, and I hadn’t had clear skin since puberty. I only have a few stray hairs that still pop up and only light fuzz on my upper lip that I shave off now as the hairs are so fine the roots don’t show through like they used to.
I highly reccomend lasering, you won’t regret it, half my hairs were gone (as in, didn’t grow back) in the first treatment alone, so you will see a difference immediately.
I agree it’s a relief to know others go through the same thing. I was so self conscious about it and thought I was the only one, and any time I looked it up I only saw the extreme cases.
Keep in mind that you can’t tweeze before the laser, but it’s so worth it.
I agree, feminism forever, but facial hair on women (and i’m one of them) is a grooming fail.
has anyone successfully used a gelatine/milk mask to remove some?
i’ve seen that on the internet recently and wondered if it makes a difference.
I’ve used it for black heads successfully.
I use egg whites for that and it WORKS!:D
I used just glycerine once. Bloody painful to remove. Pulled out every hair including the blonde peach fuzz on my face.
Just when you think you cannot possibly love her more. Remember the old saying when it comes to plucking..”pluck one, and a hundred more will come to the funeral !!”
So true! Plucking is a losing battle, it seems.
If you have the right hair color and skin color, I recommend laser, it worked great for me.
I love that Adele just is herself and doesn’t fret over things.
Ann that is exactly the phrase I’d been searching for. I started plucking at fuzz and stray chin hairs and developed a goatee situation I had to get lasered off!
A similar phenomenon happens when I shave my legs, I will have multiple hairs growing out of a follicle. But curiously if I pluck my leg hairs they do not increase. And even more strange, shaving seems to be the best way to keep the remaining peach fuzz and hairs on my face under control. I have no idea why this is…
Ugh I hate the Sun article…”she told thousand of stunned fans at a concert”. They were stunned? Really? So dramatic. I always forget to shave my mustache and it’s awful. Men are so lucky that they can just let their body hair grow.
I think the audience was stunned because of the 1D tongue-in-cheek joke she did
I should name my beard Trump because I hate it, and it will not go the F away.
Bwahahahaha! ^^ Love this.
ha ha ha ha
LOL.
What a random thing to share lol. This is one of the reasons people love Adele so much and find her down to earth.
I have lots of hair on my head but I’ve never been very hairy in other places… I don’t even shave my legs! I’m dreading the day those whiskers show up under my chin though… My mom said hers started when she was in her 40s.
I have a lot of hair too, on my head. My legs need shaving once every 6-8 weeks, underarms, on the other hand need grooming twice a day. It feels like a constant hormone party going on.
My mum’s family are all very hairy and all sisters have facial hair. It’s mostly very soft and downy, though, even on the olive skin and dark hair. It’s kind of like having your own hazy filter, because they all age really well. I’m very hairy, but no one can tell. Not even when I tell The Man how hairy my legs are, and point it out to him. He can never see it. A perk to my albinism, maybe?
no no no NO NO!
Adele is going down ‘TMI’ road!
Stop before it’s too late!
Yeah…TMI…I thought it was only me thinking that.maybe because it’s nothing knew for a celeb to overshare on grooming. To me it doesn’t make her more likable bc all women have something to deal with whether it’s obvious or not. Is Adele running out of things to say? 🙁
Not you guys are not alone. You can only stand there for so long and sing ballads ..so yeah she has to share
I agree. I mean, I think there are subjects that when talked about by a celeb makes us all feel better, but I don’t want Adele to be my best friend, I don’t want to know about her grooming routines. I think actors and musicians gain more if they encourage a bit of mystery and distance.
agree, TMI
Eh, if a celeb is going to share something about her body, I’m thrilled it’s something that helps other women (including me) feel better about a rarely-discussed but very common phenomenon. The fact that people are considering her comments “gross” or “TMI” prove the point: too many women are embarrassed about having or talking about facial hair, so we need all the good examples we can get.
Well, with that in mind there are many things about our body that “should” be talked about. Grooming is a personal thing. I don’t have a problem talking about it with a professional or close friends, but that doesn’t mean I wanna hear celebs talking about it, it doesn’t prove anything, it’s a matter of preference. Like some couples are ok about sharing a bathroom and others not really.
It isn’t about being embarrassed when I say TMI, it’s that we all have something and I would not spent $500 to hear her talk about her beard(unless Larry wrote the next song or is singing back up….get the show on the road!
I wonder if she means the peach fuzz some women get? I can’t imagine she actually shaved. She could afford electrolysis or a variety of other ways to rid herself of unwanted hair. I’ve heard shaving is the WORST think you can do.
I’ve heard that to, but I started shaving random hairs about three or four years ago, and it’s been fine. Really easy (I use a tiny electric groomer) and it doesn’t grow back thicker or darker (and I’m uber fair)
Yeah, the darker/thicker thing is a COMPLETE myth. Cutting a hair in half doesn’t alter the follicle in any way. If hair looks darker or feels coarser a day or two after shaving, it’s because the softer, lighter ends were chopped off, and now the thicker middle part is protruding instead.
I have a friend who very clearly shaves. We’ve never talked about it, but she often has a five o’clock shadow. I honestly don’t know what I would do in her position. What a bummer it must be to have facial hair that heavy.
In the short term it would be waxing. If she can find a good place it will help quite a bit in the short term. However in the long run, laser might be a better option. It can be done for all skin colours now so it’s just about finding a good place that suits her.
ugh don’t remind me 🙁
it started with the first baby and just got worse as i gave birth to kid 2 and kid 3. they said it’ll stop once i stop getting pregnant. lies! all lies! even after no more kids and when they’re almost flying the nest now!
it grew in places that i didn’t even know could grow hair. i thought evolution had taken care of those places.
and let’s just say apparently my ancestors were from Hobbitton? the hair on my legs/feet… EVEN TO THIS DAY! i wonder if menopause will stop the growing.
apparently, according to my mom, i scared them when i was born. i looked like a little baby gorilla, i was so hairy. all of the baby hair was shed over the next few months and they thought that was it, an aberration, that’s why they never told me… until i got pregnant that is.
my husband laughs at me still.
i probably shave more than he does.
lasering is so damn expensive and electrowhatsit gives uneven results. threading works though. cheap and cheerful but by gosh.
My body and face aren’t at all hairy, but I do have one crazy eyebrow that drive me nuts. It grows out longer than my other eyebrows and it curls. I’ve plucked it a hundred times, but back it comes.
Ok Kaiser. Since it’s you, I’ll out myself on the facial hair thing. I call them old lady hairs (no idea why, how ageist of me) and I have two. One on the chin. One on the upper lip. My problem with them is this: I’m blind as a bat without my glasses on and I don’t wear my glasses in the bathroom (steam issues). Neither do I sit in front of mirrors regularly as make-up and I are strangers to one another. Therefore, I don’t see the old lady hairs until they are about a centimetre long or somesuch. Or, for an even longer time, because Mr Sixer is an Evil Swine who thinks it is funny not to tell me it’s time for the tweezers.
If Mr Sixer waits long enough he may turn into a goat himself – men getting older can grow more hair around their ears, necks, backs, out of the nostrils, even their (facial) cheeks. Then it’s time to take out the lawn mower.
The old lady hairs seem to pop up so fast – they can go from a dot to a cm-plus overnight!
Sadly, he is not a hairy man. We joke he has nine hairs and a nit on his chest. Does that translate or is it a uselessly Britisher joke?!
A hand-held magnifying mirror might be the answer? They are relatively inexpensive, and in good light (especially daylight near a door or window) will unveil all sorts of things.
That is an excellent plan. Thanks!
Get a magnifying mirror. I have one in my bathroom, it is on a stand so you don’t have to hold it. One side is a regular mirror and the other is a magnifying one. It’s a great tool for plucking ! One caution, don’t keep your magnifying mirror in a spot that gets direct sunlight or you might cause a fire !
Well its nice to know im being judged for having PCOS and having a completely unmanageable ‘beard’ because when you have PCOS it grows at the same rate as a mans – its not fucking peach fuzz or Indian stache – its another level.
How Feminist of you….
Agree. I found that bit so very grating. It seems to be a distinction that others so many women: those with health issues such as PCOS, as well as a significant proportion of WOC who may tend to have to deal with “hairiness” to a greater extent than our white sisters. And from a fellow WOC I find it even more disappointing.
Yup. I’ve been furry since I had anorexia in my 20s – I guess my poor body trying to keep warm. I’ve half-heartedly & intermittently tried every single way of removing it but everything brings my super-sensitive skin out in a rash or, worse, boils. So I’ve given up.
Frankly if anyone judges me on my furry face, then they’re really not people I can be arsed with. Guess what: women don’t HAVE to be hairless.
I agree 100% with both of you. I also struggle with PCOS and know how frustrating it can be to eliminate body hair. But I know that stressing over it to be aestically pleasing or socially accepted won’t make me feel confident or happy with myself.
No matter what, I’m still a woman and a feminist. And beauty constructs won’t make me stop living my life.
YES!!! I was scrolling down looking for the obvious PCOS comment. I also have PCOS. I’m really thin so it went undetected for YEARS, but I’ve always had facial hair I had to pluck, oily skin, and a higher BP/heart rate than everyone else despite exercising daily my whole life!!! Facial hair is hormonal, so this just SCREAMS to be hormonal imbalance. It’s way more common than people think, especially when someone is heavier(it’s related to thyroid issues as well). Get yourself checked for metabolic disorders, PLEASE, ladies. They raise your risk of reproductive cancers and heart disease significantly.
Wax is the way to go for unwanted hair.
I tried threading but would only last days before the hair was back.
Ah, I hate this. I’m East Asian and naturally very hairy (I know, I must be a freakish anomaly because people, mostly non-east Asians keep systematically telling me it’s odd for “my people” to be so hairy) and sometimes I just give up on it and live with it because no matter what I do (and I have tried everything) the darned thing doesn’t abate. Sorry if that counts as a sloppy “grooming failure”. However, It’s nice that fellow feminists have finally found a way to criticize other women, though.
THIS!!! You can’t call yourself a feminist if you criticize other women for their hirsuitism. What women do with their body hair and how they maintain it is no one’s business.
Don’t impose shitty, hairless beauty constructs on other women.
Thank you!!
Thanks Adele, for being so open!
I’m an Italian (100%) natural redhead (yes, natural Italian redheads do exist), hazel eyes, very fair skin with no freckles, no hair on my legs or arms (yay!)… and dark hair on my chin! I hate them so much, I’m constantly plucking or waxing them (carefully, as my skin is horribly delicate).
It’s probably a matter of hormones (Hashimoto’s chronic autoimmune hypothyroidism) but every time they come back out I feel like a mess!
Check into getting it lasered, it works best on fair skin with dark hair.
Is it ok with redheads? Does it hurt (if you know)?
I’ll check it out, though. Thank you 🙂
Thank you for this…I always feel like i’m the only one with this problem!!!
Sorry, but I haven’t found JLaw’s oversharing (puking, pe*ing and so on) endearing and I can’t find Adele’s fine either.
She has hairy legs…and a beard…seriously now? What about ingrown toenails? I find their cutting-off fascinating…
I’ve just managed to forget the vagina steaming and now this…
Wow! What a relief! I love CB for so many reasons, but today I love it even more. Fair haired, blue eyed gal here with my own Larry going on, dark and coarse for years. Birth control pills started it for me. I have spent literally THOUSANDS of dollars. Dermatologists are flummoxed. Laser makes it worse. I wouldn’t date for years after a particularly cruel comment. I was warned not to shave. So 20 minutes, every single day, is set aside before I can “face my public”. It bites.
I’m sorry to hear about your discomfort. Thank you for mentioning birth control… for me it started when I got my hormone spiral – lessened my monthly pains, but screwed up my poor body chemistry. I’ve always been rather manly, but that set off my beard growth. I mostly work from home, in consequence I don’t “have to” be hairless & ready at all times. But when I get ready to leave the house, it’ll first and foremost include a chin check & a tweezer session. Just something that may be comforting: my boyfriend doesn’t mind at all, hair or no hair, even the removal process. After four years, I comfortly pluck my chin hair next to him, so there are definitely relaxed people out there who won’t make you feel like shit for natural circumstances.
perimenopause has turned me into a lumberjack.
you are funnier than Adele 😀
Sigh… wait till you hit menopause. Those timbers will look like splinters 😛
I have dark hair and years ago I did electrolysis for several months to get rid of my mustache and chin hairs. It was somewhat painful but worked well. My mustache never really came back but the chin hairs did and I have to constantly pluck them. I should really wax but I’m too lazy and I just hate the chin hairs!! My husband (who is starting to get hairs on his ear lobes) and I have made an agreement that when are too old to see our own wild hairs, he will pluck my chin and I will trim his ear and nose hairs. 🙂
I did electrolysis for about 2 years as well and it worked, most of the chin hairs did not come back. I wish I’d done it years earlier due to all the problems from the ingrown hairs. The trick was to have some ice on hand for after the sessions – and not go anywhere public!
I have a single hair smack in the middle of the front of my neck that grows until I pull the damn thing out. I always forget about it until it is ridiculously long. You’d think after a constant assault over the years the damn thing would give up and die already.
Wow, your judgement of facial hair makes me so sad. Mine is really bad; I’ve tried everything, but it always starts coming back after 1 day and there’s always a shadow. Hate to think that people are judging me for that, but what are you gonna do? People are jerks.
Mine is mean to get rid of too. I finally found the perfect combo but I would have to do it every day and I love my skin and have no intention of putting harsh chemicals on it everyday just to get rid of some hair above my lip. So I do it every few weeks but I’m certainly not hairless there all the time.
I have a very successful career and relationship. Not sure what my grooming is failing me at exactly.
After years of feeling bad about my facial hair (and having an insecure ex-boyfriend who shrieked at the sight of a small spot of hairs I failed to shave on my legs) I pluck my chin hair sitting in the living room with my boyfriend of four years. He’s super cool about it, I’m getting more relaxed about it, and I think it’s important that we (edit: meaning the ones with unwanted facial hair) share stories like these. You know, I didn’t choose to have hair on my chin, so at least I don’t want to be ashamed for taking care of it. You hang in there, and remember, not all people are jerks. Also I wouldn’t say people are automatically jerks if a topic has been so hushed up and linked to “omg, TMI, keep it to yourself”. Let’s just talk about it a little more. Some things just take time. As long as we’re cool about it, we can also give some insight and make the discussion more comfortable for everyone. That’s just my opinion because I know I don’t want to be judged for stuff I didn’t choose.
i have a stache. i don’t mind it.
i would prefer to not have it, but i am definitely no longer stressing about it.
YAY! That is really cool. I’m happy for you. I have little beard islands on my chin, and while I still want to get my hormones checked, I’m feeling more and more comfortable about it.
It’s pretty normal for women to have facial hair. Just because most remove it, doesn’t mean A LOT of women aren’t dealing with this. It doesn’t mean they are poorly groomed… that’s just biology, folks.
Hallelujah! Grooming failure my ass.
I have a few chin and neck hairs, so they’re easy to pluck. What I really hate, though, is the arm hair. Most women I see don’t even have any hair on their arms. Mine’s almost as bad as a dude. I trim it. Scared to shave it. Don’t want them looking worse by having stubble. Ugh.
I used to wonder about other women’s arms, too. As I got older, I started hearing more and more stories about women and their body hair issues. Imagine how many women never talk about their beauty regimen of shaving their arms twice a day! That may be why you hardly ever see any. Most of us have secrets like that, and what it does to all of us is that it isolates us and makes us and other women feel alone, worried or self-conscious. Which is why I love this post and all this honesty so much! Thanks, CB!!
PSA: If you have light skin and dark hair, check into getting it lasered off. You need a contrast between your skin tone and the hair for it to work. I got it done in the bikini area and it made me feel so much better about myself. I had – well let’s just say a lot of stubborn hair, even the hero who did the lasering remarked on how it was a tough job ha ha. I’m telling you, if you are eligible, it is so worth it.
If you can’t do laser, electrolysis.
Bravo to you if you are fully comfortable with yourself. This is for those who aren’t.
im glad she talked about it…. its annoying
just 2 weeks ago my bestfriend was like “OMG Ashley you have hairs on your face”
I tried to nervously deflect and scoff yea…. ” their called eyebrows and lashes and baby hairs near my hairline….Jeezzz”
she rolled her eyes and said “NOOOOOOOOO. ON. YOUR. FACE”
to which i laughed ” wooooooooooooooooooooooooowwwwww i mean damn bihhhh can I live, I’m still cute and they are tiresome to pluck away”
I occasionally wax and pluck but 90% i just leave as is or put my makeup on and live to fit another day. LOL
I dont shave my legs and havent shaved under my arms for years. “Bush” is omnipresent. But beard or stache? I want that gone right away…. but I think I would be prone to grow even more than the few dark obvious hairs I do now, if my hormones shift…..
i’m not hairy anywhere. the hair on my head is fine and flat, my eyebrows sparse and so are my lashes. that’s the downside, on the upside i hardly have any hair on my legs, basically none of my arms, and getting a bikini wax is super fast, too.
Braggart.
lol i did write it has downsides, and it does. my hair is very fine and super flat and other than getting extensions, which i hate, there’s nothing i can do about it. i always have to fill in my eyebrows because they’re so sparse, and my lashes are short and straight and mascara seems to make them look even worse. sometimes i’m really envious of women with more hairs, with lovely strong brows and bouncy hair.
@ell, same here… And no, I’m not blonde… Just don’t have hairs on my legs and arms… Thank goodness.
@SloaneY, it has downsides too.. I wish I could have beautiful eyebrows… But nope…
i’m not blonde either, my hair is light brown.
I like threading my eyebrows but haven’t gotten it done in years. I keep up with the plucking so it’s been ok. I can’t imagine threading the whole face though. That is painful. I did have my eyebrows waxed a few times. Yes, the results last a long time but if they make a mistake, it takes a long time for the hair to grow back. One lady f*cked up one of my eyebrows and just ignored the mistake. When I got in my car, I looked in the mirror and noticed she ripped like 1/4 of my eyebrow off ! I also f*cked up one eyebrow when I tried to wax my eyebrows myself before my cousin’s wedding. I had to draw one eyebrow on ! I stay away from waxing eyebrows for that reason. Threading or plucking gives you a lot more control. I use Nair on the upper lip. I also bleach the rest of my facial hair about 2 times a year with Jolen Creme Bleach. It makes them almost invisible. I am fair with dark hair, but my hair is very fine not course so it works well. I just hate using chemicals though. Waxing to me is so painful and harsher on the skin. It also stretches the skin over time which I don’t like.
This is something few women like to speak about, so I’m very happy that glamorous Adele has broken the taboo and defused it with a bit of humor and who-gives-a-crap attitude.
Because it’s so rarely spoken of, I’m kinda thrilled when it is. There’s a 1950s movie with Judy Holliday (maybe The Marrying Kind) where she sits at the mirror plucking away at her chin. I was pleasantly flabbergasted at this bit of cinéma vérité. More recently, Tina Fey has a line about that age when you get a beard in Amy Schumer’s “last f—able day” sketch.
I find waxing isn’t as effective unless you let your hair grow out longer/more, and I just can’t handle the embarassment of doing that. I’ve started shaving because it’s actually really good for you skin and effective, but I do worry about the long term results. I’ve wanted to try threading but I can’t find anywhere that does it in my town, and plucking takes FOREVER. This is the first I’ve heard about the R.E.M. Spring board, I might order it online actually. I LOVE that we are all talking about this by the way, so many of your comments have been really informative!! As a hairy woman I’m constantly dealing with facial hair and it’s so embarassing!
Great thread. Very informative.
I’d have a pretty awesome goatee if I let my facial hair go.
There was a new york times article (?) recently about shaving being advocated for facial hair on women and how there are wildly popular youtube videos available about it. Waxing does seem like it can harm the skin long term, and threading, depending on who does it, can be painful and make the skin red. It also can be fine, but certain areas of the face it can really sting. I also used to have my eyebrows threaded and I think it thinned them out beyond what I wanted!