Women and Chin Hair
Why Women Get Them and How to Remove Them
I’ll never forget my Aunt Gina. She was the sweetest woman, but she had more hair on her chin than Santa Claus. As a teenager, I swore I would never let that happen to me. Ah, the ignorance and arrogance of youth.
If you have noticed new hair growing on your chin, the first thing to understand is that it is perfectly normal. As women get closer to menopause, they can begin producing more male-type hormones known as androgens. This can make hair follicles that at one time produced peach fuzz hair produce thicker, coarse hair. Whether this happens to you depends a lot on genetics. If your mother and grandmother (or aunt) had it, then you probably will too.
How to Get Rid of Them
Temporary removal. Safe ways to remove unwanted facial hair include tweezing, waxing, threading, shaving, and depilatory creams. There is the Finishing Touch Flawless Hair Removal device ($16-no affiliate) that painlessly shaves off the hair and is handy to keep in your satchel. If you are worried that any of these techniques will make the hair grow back thicker, don’t. That is a myth. The reason women think that hair grows back thicker after using these techniques has to do with the shape of the hair. Hair normally tapers towards the end. When you shave it off, you remove that taper, which creates a blunt end so that when the hair grows back, it both looks and feels thicker. Using these techniques can actually help you because they will damage some of the hair follicles, and the follicles will either stop producing hair or produce thinner, softer hair.
Another way to control unwanted hair is to use a prescription medication called Vaniqua. This cream makes hair grow more slowly, softer, finer, and even lighter in color when used twice a day. The problem is that the effect stops once you discontinue using the product, so you have to keep using it.
Permanent removal. If you don’t want to deal with any of the above-mentioned techniques, there is always laser hair removal or electrolysis. A doctor or an aesthetician can perform these methods, which work by damaging the hair follicle. With electrolysis, a needle is inserted into the hair follicle and an electric current is applied, thereby damaging the root. With laser hair removal, a laser is used to damage the root instead of electricity. Both methods are generally safe, but the laser method doesn’t work very well on lighter-colored hair and some types of lasers cannot be used on darker skin tones because they can burn the skin. One laser that is safe to use on all skin tones is called Bare HR.
At-Home devices. There are at-home laser or intense pulsed light (IPL) devices that you can purchase. They work by heating the hair follicles but only work on lighter skin tones. These devices work more slowly and require more treatments than the ones used by doctors and aestheticians, but they are much less expensive (around $200-$300).
When to be Concerned
If you notice more than just a handful of hairs growing on your chin, or if you see hair growing on your lower abdomen, back, chest, or thighs, contact your advanced practitioner. There are many reasons hair growth patterns can be disturbed, including thyroid disorders, genetics, and side effects of medications.
Thyroid disorders. Both an underactive and overactive thyroid can cause problems with hair and hair growth. Not only can the thyroid cause issues with androgen hormones, which affect hair growth, but it can cause your hair to become brittle and fall out.
PCOS. One condition, polycystic ovary syndrome (POS), can cause hair to grow out of control, a condition called hirsutism. (You may have heard of old-time circus sideshows that highlighted “the bearded woman.” These women suffered from hirsutism.) The cysts that grow on the ovaries in POS cause an imbalance of androgen production. This can cause thick, coarse hair to grow uncontrolled all over the body. Other symptoms include weight gain, irregular menstrual cycles, and acne. If you have these symptoms, make an appointment with your advanced practitioner. POS is usually treated with birth control, and progestin therapy or a diabetic medication like metformin; however, every person is different, so your treatment plan may differ. Untreated POS can lead to infertility.
Steroids. Long-term use of steroids to treat illnesses like asthma and COPD can lead to abnormal hair growth patterns because those medications interfere with androgen production.
Conclusion
Chin hair growth can be annoying, but it’s a normal part of the aging process and is affected by genetics, medications, and underlying health issues. If you decide you want to be rid of it, you can do so as inexpensively as $2.49 for a pair of tweezers or spend several hundred dollars at a medispa to have an esthetician use a laser or electrolysis. But if you notice hair growing in odd areas on your body, make an appointment with your advanced practitioner.
My shoutout goes to Adeline Dimond, who has recently been writing about surrender. But I don’t think she’s giving up on personal grooming quite yet.
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