"Bearded Lady Syndrome" - Dreaded Hirusutism: what is it and what can you do about it?

 Hirsutism is some nasty stuff. The basic definition of hirsutism is “an abnormal growth of hair on a person’s face and body, especially on a woman,” but it is so much more than that. It is typically an excessive growth of coarse or dark hair in a male-like pattern, on the face (like a mustache or beard), chest, arms, and back. While not on the level of the “bearded lady,” for most women, it can still be a massive pain in the neck, and you can feel uncomfortable. Having hirsutism not only influences your appearance, but it takes much more time to get ready in the morning, since you may have to practically shave your entire body. It also affects your self-esteem and makes you feel self-conscious since you can look and feel more masculine and hairy and not as beautiful as you want. Thankfully, I haven’t suffered from hirsutism personally, but I know plenty of people who do. It really is a painful struggle for them.
Hirsutism Causes:
Hirsutism can be caused by various things, like Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, Cushing syndrome (high cortisol), Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, tumors, or medication side effects. The root cause is typically from high androgen or testosterone. Basically, if your hormones are out of wack or have more male hormones than a female should have. Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t have to be overweight or unhealthy to experience hirsutism.

Hirsutism Treatments:
There are several different kinds of treatment options, with varying success.
Shaving: You can always shave your face, but that can be time-consuming and painful if you get rashes or razor burn. 5 o’clock shadow can be such a pain, for men and women alike.
Plucking: Plucking easily removes a few stray hairs, but isn’t particularly useful for removing a large hair area. Also, plucked hair usually regrows quite quickly.

Bleaching: Bleaching lightens the unwanted hairs to make them less noticeable. The bleach can irritate, though. It doesn’t solve the hairy situation, though; it only covers it, like a bandaid.
Waxing: Waxing is when you apply warm wax to your skin areas where the unwanted hair is. Once the wax hardens, you pull it off to remove the hair. Sometimes it can sting temporarily or cause skin irritation and redness. You should wax every 2-3 weeks.
Laser Therapy: Laser therapy includes a highly concentrated light or laser that is moved over your skin to damage the hair follicles to prevent your hair from growing. If your unwanted hair is darker, this may be a better option than electrolysis. Side effects can include a darkening or lightening of usual skin tones, blistering, and inflammation, especially if you have a darker skin tone. Laser therapy treatments are typically spaced out every 4-6 weeks.
Electrolysis: Electrolysis involves inserting a tiny needle into each individual hair follicle. The needle emits a pulse of electrical current to damage and eventually destroy the follicle. If you have naturally blond or white hair, electrolysis should be a better option than laser therapy. Electrolysis can be useful but pretty painful. A numbing cream is sometimes spread on your skin before your treatment to reduce discomfort. Electrolysis treatments are typically every few weeks.
Hirsutism Supplements:
Treatments can quickly become time-consuming and expensive to have to upkeep the hair removal regularly. While not producing the instant results of treatments, supplements can help over time with the overall balancing of hormones, which will help the hirsutism decrease.
L-Carnitine, 1,000 mg: L-Carnitine helps improve hirsutism, glucose tolerance, insulin function, and sensitivity, fatty acid metabolism, feeling more energetic, help alleviate aging and disease on the mitochondria, improve exercise tolerance, overactive thyroid, increase ovulation, infertility issues, hair growth, kidney issues, and prevent gestational diabetes. It also helps the body to produce energy and improve blood sugar levels, brain function, heart and brain function, and muscle movements.
Side effects can include nausea, vomiting, heartburn, and diarrhea. Taking it during pregnancy can help with gestational diabetes, and is most likely safe while breastfeeding. Be careful if you are currently taking any thyroid hormone since it can interact weirdly. Do your research to see if it will work with your kind of thyroid problems.
Myo-Inositol & D-Chiro Inositol, 40:1 ratio, (2,000 mg of Myo-Inositol and 50 mg D-Chiro Inositol): There are several types of inositol, but our fertility specialist recommended a combination of Myo-Inositol and D-Chiro Inositol with a 40:1 ratio as the ideal amount your body needs. Myo-Inositol is a member of the vitamin B8 family and helps promote female fertility through improving hormonal balance, healthy ovulation and ovarian function, regular menstruation, and pregnancy rates. D-Chiro Inositol is a chemical signal chain that tells your body how to dispose of sugar. So D-Chiro Inositol helps improve insulin sensitivity, hirsutism, heart health, reduces anxiety and depression, improves healthy moods, gestational diabetes, and metabolic health. So, you can see why a combination of Myo-Inositol and D-Chiro Inositol can be so beneficial for PCOS since it helps with both hormonal balance and insulin resistance, which hormonal imbalance could be causing the hirsutism.
Side effects can include stomach pains, upset stomach, and flatulence.
N-Acetyl Cysteine (NAC) 1,000 mg: N-Acetyl Cysteine is essential for antioxidant production, immune health, and fighting cellular damage, diminishes kidney and liver damage, helps with depression, hirsutism, respiratory conditions, and boosts brain health. It also helps with PCOS by reducing insulin resistance, lowering high testosterone levels, improving fertility, regulating your period, spontaneous ovulation, restoring hormone balance, and fights inflammation. Since N-Acetyl Cysteine lowers high testosterone levels, it helps to decrease hirsutism.
Side effects can include: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation, but only when you take it in high doses.
Prenatal DHA, 830 mg Omega-3 + 400 IU Vitamin D-3: Omega-3 fish oil is beneficial, even if you’re not pregnant, since it helps lower blood pressure, reduces triglycerides, slows the development of plaque in the arteries, reduces hirsutism, reduces the chance of abnormal heart rhythm, heart attack and stroke. It can also help prevent pre-term labor and delivery during pregnancy, lower the risk of preeclampsia, increase birth weight, and help with postpartum mood disorders. It is crucial to start taking it before you get pregnant, so your body is ready and prepared with the right vitamins for early pregnancy and beyond.
Side effects can include a fishy taste in your mouth, fishy breath, stomach upset, loose stools, and nausea. As a regular adult, it is recommended to take a minimum of 250-500 mg of combined EPA and DHA Omega-3 a day. If you are pregnant or trying to get pregnant, the recommended dosage is 830 mg of Omega-3 per day. The kind I take also happens to have 400IU of Vitamin D-3, which is fantastic since you need a lot of Vitamin D-3 in your life.
Spearmint Tea: Spearmint improves memory, stomach problems, digestion, and can reduce inflammation and testosterone. Research has shown that women who drank 2 cups of spearmint tea per day for one month had much lower testosterone levels than the control group. This, in turn, helps reduce the cause of hirsutism and helps there to be less hairiness. Do NOT take spearmint tea if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, or have kidney or liver disorders.
Zinc, 40 mg: Zinc helps to grow and repair your body’s tissues, supports your immune system, improves ovarian function, block androgen hormones, and balances testosterone and androgen levels. Zinc helps with hirsutism, acne, and mood swings.
Side effects can include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, kidney and stomach damage, and a metallic taste.
Birth Control: Birth control can also help with hirsutism, since they can contain estrogen and progestin, affecting the androgens in your body. So, if you are currently not trying to get pregnant, it might be a good idea to talk to your doctor about birth control options that help balance the androgens and reduce hirsutism.
Suffering from hirsutism can be extremely painful and lonely, as you feel ugly and hairy and not at all gorgeous. Let me assure you. You are NOT ugly. You are beautiful inside and out!
What have YOU found to help with your hirsutism?

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