The Hairy-Chinned Woman
By Marilyn Zink
I remember it clearly. I was probably about 12-14 years old at the time. I had a horse that I kept on a farm near our home.
I had to pay the rent so I knocked on the door of the farmhouse. When the farm wife answered, I was mesmerized.
Not because I lacked the rent money, which I held firmly clutched in my hand.
No. I was mesmerized by the growth I saw on that woman’s chin. It was a hair. One singular lo-o-o-ng hair that was oh, so obvious.
Up until that point, I didn’t know hair could grow on a woman’s chin. I mean, it was supposed to grow on men’s chins, that was normal. But on a grown woman?
Well I managed to pay the rent and rode my bike home to think about it. Now that I’m older and somewhat wiser, I know why hair grows on a woman’s chin.
It’s due to unbalanced hormones. Or to put it more precisely, it’s due to an excess of one type of hormone, estrogen, that causes hair to grow.
There’s a fancy name for it. It’s known as hirsutism - an excess of body hair due to high levels of testosterone and high blood levels of progesterone. This hormonal unbalance with excessive body hair, particularly on the face, doesn’t occur until a woman is in her 40s. That’s when hormone levels are fluctuating as the body enters peri-menopause in preparation for menopause.
The question is; what to do about it. In some cultures, women are more prone to facial hair and need to get moustaches waxed off. For some it’s hereditary. For others, it’s often caused by Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome. Some women will use electrolysis or bleaching to remove the hair. But there’s another way, the herbalist’s way.
Herbs like black cohosh, chaste tree berry and dong quai can be used to balance the hormonal system. Women may also consider doing a herbal cleanse, particularly of the liver, as a stressed liver can cause hormonal imbalances.
Marilyn Zink is the publisher.editor of the Herbal Collective magazine, www.herbalcollective.ca
