Bearded Woman Shows Remarkable Confidence Despite Medical Condition & Bullying

This is a picture of 23 year old Harnaam Kaur from Slough, UK. She has a medical condition called polycystic ovary syndrome, where excessive hair growth is one of the side effects.

When she was 11 years old, mostly likely as she was hitting puberty, she started growing facial hair which, as you can imagine, was traumatic for her. She would do everything to get rid of her facial hair: bleaching, waxing and shaving twice a week. But it didn’t stop the bullying throughout her teens, which left her feeling suicidal.

“I’ve had people telling me they’re going to burn me and throw a brick at me – all sorts of things like that” but on the flip side there have also been many who have thanked her for being brave enough to speak out. “I’ve had a lot of positive messages from women in the same situation as me,” explains Harnaam.

However finding her faith in the Sikh religion enabled her to find confidence in who she was and how she looked. In the Sikh religion, both men and women are forbidden to cut their hair. This is referred to as Kesh, which is where they grow their hair naturally as a symbol of respect for the perfection of God’s creation.

We can see this is probably why Harnaam grew tired of changing herself and decided to accept her condition, and also accepted that she was beautiful. Talk about redefining the word! Good for her!

“I would never ever go back now and remove my facial hair because it’s the way God made me and I’m happy with the way I am,” she says.

“I feel more feminine, more sexy and I think I look it too,” continued Harnaam. “I’ve learned to love myself for who I am nothing can shake me now.”

Her parents were worried for her thinking she will never be able to get married, get a job or be accepted into society, but today she is a teachign assistant and is supported by her two close friends, below in the video. She even says now that she has no problem talking and posting pictures about her beard, she even had one proposal from a male stranger!

A year after she became a sikh, she shaved off her beard because of pressure from her extended family.

“I removed my beard once during a really low moment. But when I’d done it, all I could do was cry because I didn’t feel like myself,” she said, according to the Daily Star.

“My brother was actually the one person who was completely shocked by what I had done — he hugged me and said I had looked so beautiful with my beard, he didn’t understand why I had done it. It was from that point that I thought I’m never going to remove it ever again.”

Harnaam has a light-hearted approach these days to anyone who comes at her with negative comments.

“I still get shop assistants calling me ‘sir’ and strange looks from people. They see my beard first and realize I’ve actually got breasts, too. It must be confusing for a lot of people,” she said.

“The funniest reactions I get are from the children at my school. Some ask me what my beard is and I joke it’s a Halloween costume.”

While she is definitely not the only young woman in the world to suffer from a medical condition that affects their self-esteem, she is certainly part of the group who aren’t ashamed to speak out and own who they are, despite the fact they look “different”.

“I want other women to find the strength that I have. If I had any message it would be to live the way you want – it’s your journey and it’s your life. All that matters to me at the moment is that I love myself. I love my beard and all my other little quirks –- my tattoos, my scars, stretch marks and blemishes.”