Harnaam Kaur was just 11 year old when she started
having sprouting facial hair.
As you might
expect, it was a difficult time. In order to look like other girls at school, Kaur resorted to waxing twice a week.
She also tried bleaching and shaving, but that only made the hair come back
thicker.“I got bullied badly,” she said, according to the Mirror. “At school I
was called a ‘beardo’ and things like ‘shemale’ and ‘sheman.’”Kaur suffers with polycystic ovary
syndrome, a condition that causes excessive hair growth in some women. The
23-year-old even contemplated suicide during those tough teen years, but now
she is proud of her beard.
“I feel more
feminine, more sexy and I think I look
it too,” Kaur said, according to the
Metro. “I’ve learned to love myself for who I am nothing can shake me now.”Kaur, who works as a teaching
assistant, credits her positive attitude to a decision to be baptized as a Sikh
when she was 16.One of the religion’s tenets is that body hair must be left to
grow. Her parents initially opposed the decision, but Kaur
said she was tired of hiding her true by
herself . It wasn’t easy. A year after her baptism, she shaved off her beard
because of pressure from her extended family.
“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.”
Kaur now emphasizes her femininity by wearing skirts, dresses
and jewelry. But she still tries to see the humor in her situation.
“I still get
shop assistants calling me ‘sir’ and strange looks from people. They see my
beard first and realize Ihave actually
got br**sts 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.”
Although she’s
had at least one marriage proposal from a man who she shared her story with, Kaur said some of the men in her
community haven’t been able to get over her beard.I haven’t found a potential
husband yet. I still get some grief … and it does still seem to be a barrier to
marriage, but I’m young and there’s still plenty of time for that,” she told
Barcroft TV. “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.
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