Many women spend a fortune—and put up with a lot of pain—plucking, threading, and waxing away unwanted facial hair. Not Mariam.



The German-born mom, who goes only by her first name, is making headlines for embracing her significant goatee.

Mariam's thick beard is all natural. "It really grows as a goatee, as you can see," she said during an interview with the UK's ITV Network. Instead of shaving, she simply "shortens" the ends to keep herself looking well-groomed, because "If it gets too long, it's a bit frizzy."

Mariam—who is of German and Iranian decent—didn't immediately embrace her facial hair. She says that it began growing in soon after the birth of her son, when she was about 21 years old. Ten years later, it was so thick that she would have a full beard if she didn't tweeze each hair out every morning. It would take her hours to get ready to leave the house, she was so obsessed with pulling out every hair.

"My chin got really red and inflamed from all the plucking, and some of the hairs were ingrown, so it always looked like I'd fallen on my chin," she told ITV's "This Morning." "But when people asked what had happened and I told them they couldn't believe it."

She tried electrolysis three times, "but it just grew back," she confided on the morning talk show. She worried that shaving or waxing would just cause the hair to grow in thicker and darker. She talked to her doctors, who ruled out serious medical problems and reassured her that "it happened to lots of other women, so I shouldn't worry," she remembered. "But they didn't really give me a reason."

Nearly five years ago, she decided to stop plucking and just let the hair grow.

"One day I realized that the hair on my chin belongs to my body and that it should be there," she explained on her blog. "On 6th August 2008, I stopped plucking my facial hair and saw the whole thing as a experiment. What would happen if I let myself be who I really am?"

"When I decided to let it grow it didn't feel brave," she confessed to ITV. "It was more like a curiosity. I wanted to see what would happen to me. There was a big fear that everyone would turn away and nobody would talk to me anymore."

Instead, she found the courage and the freedom to just be herself. She now works with a circus, as their bearded lady act, which gives her a chance to educate people about the issue.

"Today I am happy to have had the chance to live with a beard," she wrote on her blog. "It is an experience that has taught me a lot!"

'I know myself more now,' she told ITV. 'There are always people with a fetish who might only be attracted by the beard, but that is the same with lots of things, even if I were a blonde woman."

What's the cause of excess female facial hair and just how common is it? The FDA reports that more than 41 million women in the United States have hirsutism, or unwanted, male-pattern hair growth. Women with high levels of a naturally occurring hormone called androgen—also known as testosterone—can end up with extra facial hair, according to the Mayo Clinic. Adrenal or ovarian tumors, certain steroids, Cushing's syndrome, and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) can also trigger excess hair growth in women. The amount of facial hair you have can also depend on where your family comes from, states the Mayo Clinic's website. Women of Mediterranean, South Asian, and Middle Eastern descent are more likely than Caucasians to have noticeable facial hair.

Some of the most famous—and most beautiful—women in the world have had excess facial hair. Artist Frieda Kahlo famously flaunted the hair on her upper lip. Generations of women envied Elizabeth Taylor for her amazingly thick eyelashes, but they may have been enhanced by hypertrichosis, a condition that caused dark hair to grow all over her body, including in her ears and nose (the actress was known to shave her face to keep it looking smooth on camera). And Marilyn Monroe used to use a hormone-heavy beauty cream that caused downy hair to grow all over her face.

"She had the heaviest peach fuzz beard of any actress in Hollywood," Gene London, a Marilyn Monroe expert, told British Vogue. "They [studio chiefs] wanted to remove the facial hair, but Marilyn absolutely refused. She said that when the light hit the fuzz it caused her face to have a soft glow, so they didn't have to photograph her through special lenses, lace or Vaseline the way they did with so many stars."

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Nuting wey photoshop no go do o

PweetiQueensy: Nuting wey photoshop no go do o

may not be photoshop dear, av seen women with worst

Some guys can go any length jus to seek relevance.
Looking at this photokiosked pics got me lol.

and so?

her face look like man ohh, but the boobyy is woooooow tremendouss

GeneralJ: her face look like man ohh, but the boobyy is woooooow tremendouss

^^i confess... My very same thought.

Most Women with facial hair tend to be very wicked
Shout out to my SS Economics and physics mistress!

RastaPasta: Look at the shoulders, its def a man. Wendy williams is the only women with shoulders like this, only one!

I beg to disagree. Shoulder-span could be influenced by genes, i have an aunt who's a case in point. Besides if this woman's facial hair is due to high levels of androgen, then it could very well affect her physique (and prolly voice quality, too).

And her jugz look way too natural to be transgendered. I mean, dayuum! Have i mentioned how tremendous those baby-food are?

I simply gave one a tin of shaving powder as her birthday present.

dc555: and so?

abi o

What the Heck

READ IT ON YAHOO DIS MORNING, NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THIS NEWS.

With those kind boo.ooobs eeeh, many guys no go even know say she get Goatee

Brave woman in between

.ARE U SERIOUS

The beards fit her sha. Handsome woman

ylaa: READ IT ON YAHOO DIS MORNING, NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THIS NEWS.

As I no come read am for yahoo nko?

well she's still finer than errrrrrrm .............Tonto

Pls ow can i treat my gf hairy legs,she is really uncomfortable wit it

ylaa: READ IT ON YAHOO DIS MORNING, NOTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THIS NEWS.

what sort of comment is this?. Are u a child?. what about those of us who have not read it on yahoo?..
I swear some of u brothers here need to get the hell out of ur villages lol.

PweetiQueensy: Nuting wey photoshop no go do o

Is everything photoshopped? Everything has become photoshopped to some people.

GraceBestowed: Surely, none of you would wife this woman if she didn't wax consistently!!

Wana know something weird? I'm actually tripping for her beards. If i met a woman like this, a personality like her's and such luscious curves, i'm going for her. The hairs will be a plus.

Call it a fetish if you like. Yeah, i'm weird like that.

Seriously I envy her for being herself. But if she were to be my wife, then I guess my days of having S E X will be ova,cos I can't even imagine it.

She really has courage leaving it like that, but it will attract a lot of unwanted attention and the kind of stare a girl with one breast will get.

I saw a lady (if it was really a lady) in Anambra, you should see the the facial hair, it was like Pete Edochie with a close shave.
I hope they discover a method of getting rid of facial hair on women.

Its weird.

Its her choice and her life. My mum have same issue but she doesn't let it grow out. I admire this lady for her courage but me no go fit cos I may be seen as a freak + my hubby will not be comfortable around me.