bearded woman
Chloe Crawford
Chloe Crawford
December 26, 2023 ·  3 min read

Woman Who Started Growing Beard Aged 15 Is Embracing Life With Facial Hair

What are your thoughts on a woman with a beard? 

It’s a male trait, boys are hairy and girls are hair-less, right? WRONG.

Of course, we all know female beauty standards have kept women from rocking their natural look for too long.

Honestly, I have to give it to social media here because although these standards came from the entertainment industry, social media has become a support platform for those who hmmm… I don’t know… don’t want to shave their face??!!

There is no doubt that women who have more than a little bit of facial hair have been exiled and treated like a ‘freak.’ I only use that term because if you saw a  woman with a beard in the past, they might have been a part of a circus-like display called ‘freak-shows,’ where the world could point and laugh at their abnormalities [1]. Awful, right?

Woman With a Beard Embraces Her Look

Klyde Warren, 27, says her beard is her ‘defining feature’ and doesn’t care what anyone else has to say about it.

The 27-year-old freelance writer from Nebraska was just 15 when she started to grow hair on her face.

Immediately, Warren knew that it was here to stay and never thought of removing it.

“It started in school and I had a thicker moustache than normal. I just decided to embrace it straight away. My mother had something to say about it. She didn’t like it at all and told me to get it under control but I didn’t care. I refused to shave it. I just work on my confidence, it’s OK to be a little different,” Warren shared [2]. “A lot of people are self-conscious but you’ve got to learn to be comfortable in your own skin which can be really hard. The universe wanted it to be this way so I’m going to trust it.”

All Women have hair

If you say that you don’t know a single woman that regularly shaves their legs, goes for upper lip waxes, or even gets laser hair removal, then you’re lying. Either that or all the women in your life are lying to you. 

If you’re someone who struggles with excess facial hair, it could possibly be from Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) [3].

However, the good news is, if you have PCOS, other symptoms you may be experiencing are: 

  • Irregular periods or no periods at all
  • Difficulty getting pregnant 
  • Excessive hair growth (hirsutism) 
  • Weight gain
  • Thinning hair and hair loss from the head
  • Oily skin or acne

The Woman with a Beard is Looking for a Special Someone

It may not surprise you (because of our unrealistic societal expectations) but Warren has a hard time in her love life. 

I get a lot of stares and people on Tinder will go out of their way to message me and tell me I’m disgusting and gross. It does bother me at the time but I’m quite confident. Nobody likes getting comments like that,” Warren shares [2]. “Some people I date embrace it too much and just see it as my defining feature, but my last boyfriend was really supportive and loved my beard in a healthy way.”

Unfortunately, we still don’t consider female body hair a normal trait. We’ve already established that every single woman has body hair out there so honestly, I’m not sure what it will take for society to finally accept our hair for the way it grows. 

One place we can start is supporting women who have decided not to care what society thinks and go au naturale. PS. This includes a woman with a beard.

Keep Reading: Women Are Posting Unfiltered Pictures To #NormalizeNormalBodies

Sources

  1. Lessons of the Bearded Lady.” The Atlantic. Sean Trainor. December 5, 2015.
  2. Bearded woman refuses to shave stubble and embraces facial hair despite getting abuse.” Mirror. Hannah Phillips, Matthew Dresch. March 26, 2021.
  3. Polycystic ovary syndrome.” NHS