Unwanted facial hair growth in females can cause a lot of embarrassment as well as insecurity. Instead of just judging the woman and making her feel like an alien, have you ever wondered what causes female hair growth?
Many poets and artists have defined a woman as the ultimate example of perfect beauty and grace. When you look at a woman, what do you expect? A beautiful smile, a flawless skin, beautiful hair! Obviously looking at a woman with unwanted facial hair which form a mustache or beard on her face wouldn’t be a pleasant sight.
Which is why statistics reveal that almost 30 million women in the United States of America go for the removal of unwanted facial hair at least once in a week. The condition of unwanted growth of facial hair in women known as Hirsutism. This is a condition wherein women may experience hair growth of male pattern in areas like their upper lips, chin, cheeks, back and even chest.
Causes of Excessive Facial Hair Growth in Women
There could be various reasons for unwanted facial hair growth in women. They could be either because of basic genetics, or an underlying medical condition! There are basically two types of hair growth that takes place. These are thin hair, also known as the vellus which lack pigmentation and are almost invisible to the naked eye. The other type of hair are terminal hair which are highly pigmented and are thick, usually the kind that men have. While thin hair growth on a woman’s face is normal, there could be some medical conditions that can lead to terminal hair growth. These reasons are explained as follows.
Hormonal Imbalance
Hormonal imbalance is probably the most common cause of hirsutism. This is usually because of the male hormone known as androgen which is responsible for converting the vellus hair to the terminal ones. Another cause behind abnormal facial hair growth in females is because of imbalance in the sex hormones leading to polycystic ovary syndrome, which can also lead to irregular periods, infertility and even obesity along with excessive hair growth.
Cushing’s Syndrome
Cushing’s syndrome is another reason behind the occurrence of unwanted facial hair. It is a condition wherein the cortisol levels in your body become extremely elevated. This can either be due to too much of stress or consuming medications and drugs that are boosting your cortisol levels.
Medications and Drugs
Do you feel that your facial hair growth has increased ever since you have started consuming certain medication or some drug! An example would be a drug called danazol which is used for the treatment of a condition known as endometriosis. Even medications that can trigger your cortisol or androgen levels can be responsible for hirsutism.
Genetic Problem
Many times, women with excessive hair growth have no health problem at all. Their hormones are normal, they have no health issue, but they do have unwanted facial hair! In this case, one may consider it to be a heredity problem. So if your mother, grandmother or other women in your family have had this problem, then it just runs in the family!
Pregnancy
Most of the women experience heightened increase in the facial hair during pregnancy. This is because of the drastic changes in the hormones that take place inside a woman’s body. Both the estrogen and androgen hormones are affected, and we all know that increase in the androgen levels can cause facial hair growth.
Menopause
Another reason could be aging and menopause in a woman. This is because, like pregnancy, even menopause can lead to elevated levels of androgen and decrease in the levels of estrogen. Therefore if you are aging, or are nearing menopause, then you may have to go for hormone therapy if you have unwanted facial hair growth.
If you can identify yourself, or anyone else with these causes, then get in touch with your health care specialist as soon as possible. There are various hormonal therapies, hair removal therapies, and medications that can help you get rid of unwanted hair and give you the beautiful feminine skin and face that you always wanted. I agree that beauty is what lies inside you. However, you cannot deny the fact that your outward appearance does affect your self-esteem, doesn’t it? Have a beautiful, healthy, and confident tomorrow.
