Many, many years ago, the first time I took birth control pills, I noticed that, after I’d been taking them for about a month and a half, I seemed to be growing a mustache. When I stopped taking them it went away.
By mustache–I have light hair and fair skin. I know there were very fine, very blonde, very short hairs on my upper lip before BC pills. What happened was that they got longer, darker, and coarser.
I had a lot of problems with those pills, not the least of which was that I got pregnant, and I never took anything like that again.
But…what on earth about those pills caused the unfeminine hair growth? I know this is probably regulated by sex-specific hormones, and I’ve known women who had more facial hair, sometimes significantly more, while still getting enough feminine hormones to have periods and get pregnant.
A couple of years later I had a roommate who took BC pills without a break so that she would not have periods. She knew this trick because her father was a pharmacist–although, knowing him and his relationship with her, I have to believe she overheard this when he was telling someone else. And she was kind of hairy. But she was kind of hairy naturally, too. (Also she had really long, thick eyelashes, which seemed like an okay tradeoff for the chest hair, which after all could be shaved or Naired off.)
I have noticed that as I get older, I get more and more hairy. I’m only 25, so I don’t look forward to my old age, I’ll definitely be one of those little old ladies with the inch-long whiskers on her chin.
This isn’t limited to my face, though. I now have a blond hair that grows to 3 or 4 inches in length that occasionally sprouts out of my chest, and my inner thighs have started sprouting darker hair where there was none before. My feet and toes are also growing hair in places they didn’t before. And on top of that, I have a tiny bit of a mustache, that my BF admitted tickled him when I kissed him. ACK! I’ve been Nairing that sucker since.
I’ve been taking the pill on and off since I was 15, so make of that what you will. Maybe it’s aging, maybe it’s the BC, but either way I find it harder and harder each year to remain hair-free. I always thought it was testosterone that made women hairy, so taking female hormones you’d think would make you less hairy, or at least not make it worse. But a few of my friends have commented on the BC pills and their new mustaches or whatnot.
But then, I’ve got a friend who hasn’t taken BC pills for years (because of the perceived hair issues) and her mustache is fuller and darker than it ever was. So I’m more inclined to think aging is the culprit.
Yeah, that was my problem with it. They wouldn’t put testosterone in BC pills, would they? Or did it just suppress the female hormones, which allowed the testosterone to prevail?
OTOH, if that made you less likely to get pregnant…and I can sure see how that would happen…who knows?
There is a hormonal disorder called Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome, and one of the most notable symptoms is the growth of unwanted body hair in a more masculine pattern. It affects about 5% of women in their childbearing years. However, going on oral birth control helps the symptoms from getting worse, though it can’t rid the body of hairs that have gone from fine to coarse.
In the case of some of the older COC’s (combined oral contraceptives), the progestin component has some androgenic activity, which may contribute to cases of acne and hair growth in typically masculine areas of the body. Some of the newer COCs use newer developed progestins which have less androgenic or even anti-androgenic properties (Yaz/Yasmin come to mind for the latter).
I came in here to ask: Why would a woman ignore obvious facial hair? I met a friend of my ex’s way back who just could not have been more obvious with the facial hair. In some ways, she beat me. She was probably more sparse than my sparse beard, but hers ranged farther on the face. What astonished me is that she let it grow to about an inch, IIRC. This seemed to be one of the worst instances of “If I ignore it, it doesn’t exist.” It was bad enough that I could only remotely imagine dating her ever, no matter how wonderful she might turn out to be, and even then she’d have to shave it. That’s a dealbreaker.
Maybe she… just… doesn’t… mind. Shocking, I know, but perhaps attracting you isn’t her main prerogative in life.
The other day my co-worker practically worked herself into a frenzy trying to figure out a tactful way of informing me I needed to “shave my mustache”–in those exact words. When she finally got it out I laughed so hard I thought I would pee my pants.
Now, I admit that with a half Sicilian and half Mexican genetic makeup, I am probably a bit fuzzier than many women, and that I do have lip-fuzz that could probably stand to be waxed. However, while visible to scrutiny, it is nothing like an even remotely measurable length, much less an inch long, and is certainly not like the rockin’ stache I’d be sporting if I were male. The point is, my lip fuzz doesn’t bother me, my husband doesn’t even notice if I have a full-body waxing done (true story) and since I have to impress exactly zero other people on the planet, why would I bother?
Also, an absolutely amazing woman I know has a serious white goatee. She’s been a homebirth midwife and CNM for four decades and I have never seen anyone sport female facial hair with a more “I don’t give a shit” non-notice and this woman is a bit of an international celebrity in her field. I am in awe of her in more ways than one.
It’s hard to imagine females not caring about facial hair. I obsessively get rid of all the body hair I can. I guess I just feel more feminine when I’m as hairless as possible. (Though I don’t opt for the hairless pube look.) I wax pretty regularly so I think I’ve got most of the world fooled. (At one point, I was dating someone for four or five months who didn’t realize I had any facial hair till I mentioned it–so I consider that a success.)
Yes, I know, my approval is not the gateway to eternal happiness. But it is at least unusual to find a woman who doesn’t object to such a turn of events. No need to get snarky about it.
As with any other drug, different people react differently to the hormones in BC. My brother has a total of 4 “birth control babies.” All 4 of his children were conceived while his wife was taking BC. The last 2 are twins. They were originally triplets (that fact was discovered during the C-section delivery – hearing your doctor say “holy fuck, what is that” while removing babies from your cut-open womb is a very scary experience, I am told – that was the 3rd amniotic sac and placenta sans baby). The pills acted as a fertility drug in her system. She would literally have continued getting pregnant with more and more babies at a time had she not gone a different route – she got her reproductive organs burned, cut, removed, tied and yelled at, y’know?
I’ve not heard of anyone getting hairy from BC, but I wouldn’t doubt it. For me, when I was on the pill (way back when in the 80’s and 90’s), my skin cleared up and I lost weight. I lurved the pill! Oh, and I never got pregnant – that was the best side effect!
I do pluck some facial hair, wax my 'stache occasionally. You know, the hairs that bother me so much I have to pluck them often aren’t even visible! There’s a couple blonde ones which are harder than any of my black ones - not visible, but I can touch them for a couple days before they’re even long enough to be plucked.
No BC, but I’m very much Mediterranean brown-on-brown; I have less body and facial hair than I used to due to many years of waxing. If it wasn’t for current mores, I probably would just pluck the hard ones out…
My SiL was on the pill for about ten years, originally to help with acne and later as BC. It did help with the acne, made her periods less painful - no hair changes.
My cousin has been on the pill for many years. A particular brand gave her quite a moustache, which was particularly shocking in a light redhead.
As I recall, Cardinal, you’re the one who entered the discussion with “Why would a woman ignore obvious facial hair?”
The phrasing of that question suggests a universe of attitude, bias and provincialism that is hopefully on the wane. As I get older I’m grateful to discover that the population begins to divide into the “content with themselves just as they are” and the “struggling mightily to maintain an appearance of conventional gender identity.” It becomes easier and easier to find people who are happy with themselves and with life.
It’s definately the aging more than the birth control. My wife was remarking that in the nine years we’ve been married I am much hairier now than I was. Then she asked me when it stops growing. After I stopped laughing, I told her that unless I die by 50 I’ll eventually turn into a sasquatch.
I dunno. How can millions of men not notice their nasty unibrows? (that half-inch of hair has kept more of them from getting in girls’ pants than you can imagine)
As a side question, if you are a guy that finds hair on women unattractive, how do you politely and in a circumspect manner, suggest alternatives such as laser removal for a spouse?
edit: Also, I worked with a woman that had a mustache that any man (that liked em) would envy. It was thick, waxed and trimmed. Everybody stared at first, but when people asked her about it, she always said: “God gave it to me, I might as well be proud of it.” Nice lady, I wouldn’t kiss her though.
