leg hair? hormones? help!?

[cutsandstitches.livejournal.com]

Ok, here's what's up: I have a lot of leg hair, it's very dark and coarse. I really like the idea of not shaving, but sometimes I really am not into being such a spectacle. When I'm wearing shorts or a bathing suit it's extremely noticeable, and I have felt pretty judged both for not shaving and for choosing to shave, so please, spare me. My reason for posting is actually more medical. I've been wondering for a while now if my hair might be in some way linked to PCOS, hypothyroidism, or another hormone/endocrine issue? The problem is, none of the lists of symptoms seem to fit quite right. I really don't have irregular periods, I'm not overweight, regular gyno appointments (though i haven't brought up this issue specifically), I was tested once for thyroid problems a few years ago after complaining of fatigue, but was told everything was normal. Otherwise I feel pretty healthy. Maybe it's just genetics, but I thought I'd throw it out here to see if anyone else has had similar experiences and found anything out? Thanks grrls.

Comments

[kiteless.livejournal.com]

PCOS is pretty cut and dry. You can have only one of the symptoms / issues, or all of the symptoms / issues, but you usually don't have none of them. (Gah that sounds grammatically wrong!) PCOS is usually quite noticeable. If you think it still could be an issue, go to your doctor and have them run blood tests like your TSH, your hormone levels, your insulin levels, and a fasting blood sugar. They should show something out of the ordinary if you have PCOS.

No clue on the thyroid, as I have PCOS and my hair is most likely attributed to that rather than my hypothyroid. I'm also half Italian, so it is also partially genetic. 3 strikes for me! What is your ethnic background? If other people in your family tend to have darker body hair, I think that probably is your answer.

[cutsandstitches.livejournal.com]

Yeah, at some point in the future I plan to get all that tested for peace of mind. No italian in my background, mostly german, english, and scottish (supposed to be hairy, I know, but that side of my family is mostly fair-haired and not too hairy, so its a bit of a mystery).

[chimera2005.livejournal.com]

I'd think it was just genetics. My hair comes in the same exact way, and I've always attributed it to being half-Italian.

[cutsandstitches.livejournal.com]

Hmmn, I think maybe vaginapagina needs to do an everyday bodies on hair. I have more leg hair than all the women I know, and most of the men, and any search online brings up only weird fetish sites or articles about medical causes of hirsutism, so I'm left feeling a bit like a freak.

[queensugar.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I know what you mean.

If it helps, I have crazy dark body hair, and lots of it. I get massively dark leg hair from my ankle to my pelvic bone (a lot of women seem to not get much hair on the back of their thighs, even if they have lots of it elsewhere -- well, I do!). Tons of pubic hair, a well-developed treasure trail, and a dark down of breast hair. Then I've got sideburns, a mustache, and chin hair.

I remove quite a bit of those areas (particularly the face and stomach) and shave my legs if I'm going to be swimming. Beyond that, though, I mostly let it be.

And there's no hormonal issues here -- just genetics. It really is normal to have lots of dark hair. (My husband always pats my leg when I haven't shaved for a few months and comments that it's "like petting a ferret." What a dork.)

[cutsandstitches.livejournal.com]

Yeah, i guess in a society so intent on removing all hair, the full normal range of body hair isn't really easy to observe. Thanks, it does help, seeing how many people have already responded to this saying similarly encouraging things is very reassuring.

[queensugar.livejournal.com]

I think that's really a huge part of it -- body hair is so often removed, and if it isn't removed it's hidden. And I find many women feel really uncomfortable even talking about it or "admitting" that they have hair in certain places where they "aren't supposed to," even though, well, the human body is most certainly "supposed to" have hair there in many cases.

[mccunt.livejournal.com]

wow, I have dark thick body hair, and grow it in ALL the same parts you've mentioned (except I leave my leg and belly hair be) - are you my LJ twin?? lol.

[dearstudioaud.livejournal.com]

same

[pygmybugs.livejournal.com]

I have super-pale skin and really coarse, black body hair. Like hairbrush bristles. I personally shave (because I like the way it feels), but I know folks who have similar body hair and don't shave. There are ways to make it less noticeable -- getting a little sun will lighten it (my arm hair gets practically clear in the summer), although then you've got sunburns/skin damage to think about. You could artificially lighten it with any of a number of products designed for that purpose. I know a girl who kinda sand-papers her leg hair so it's softer and less coarse.

I feel you on the getting crap for shaving/not shaving. I've gotten both at various periods in my life. But oddly, more crap for actually shaving, though that probably has a lot to do with the kind of people I hang around. Having to explain that I shave my legs because I like it, and not because I've been "brainwashed by the evil patriarchy" gets kind of tiresome. My body, I'll alter it however I darn well please (note $4000 worth of tattoos).

[cutsandstitches.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, yeah, I think I hang out with a similar crowd.

[archangelbeth]

I'm going with genetics. I started getting a goatee after I got on my thyroid pills. Caused 'em? Body just decided to turn on the scraggly beard? Who knows. I'm not going off the thyroid, so I've been having the 'stach (I've always had whiskerpads, but they did darken after I had my kid) and the chin lazed -- HEAT RAY HAIR REMOVAL! Muwhahah! FOR SCIENCE!

Sorry. Weird sense of humor there.

Anyway, I shave my legs as well because otherwise socks will pull my leg-hairs up the wrong way (and forget about panty-hose!) and it itches uncomfortably. I sometimes take my spouse's old, discarded face-razor to my legs, too -- it's dull, or else I'd probably get a better shave, but it works pretty well as a first pass, and then I can just run a not-too-sharp (so it doesn't cut skin) razor along my legs to get the rest.

If you had the money, and you have pale skin and dark hair, you could look into laser hair removal treatments. They are pretty expensive, though. ($88 for my face...) And they STING. The laser is heating up your skin, and the light of it is attracted to darkness (which is why it works best with pale skin, which doesn't absorb the light, and dark hair, which does), and then the light is converted to heat, and it basically is micro-scarring the hair follicles, killing them or wounding them badly so they only produce light, fine hairs.

(I lost a flat mole on my chin (dark "freckle" look) because it was dark and the laser killed the pigmentation cells. It startled me! I looked in the mirror and... no mark!)

Anyway, because of how it works, there's really no way to get around the "this is gonna sting" issue, and any place that tells you they can do it painlessly is probably trying to scam you. ("No, really, we'll use our no-pain laser [which is a LED], and this special cream [which is maybe nair from the store] and charge you $100!") And how many treatments? At least 3, probably, before all the hairs are dead or wounded into submission. I'm on 5 or 6, and there's both improvement (major improvement on the chin!), and some stubborn outliers and the 'stach.

[cutsandstitches.livejournal.com]

Yikes, I'd hate to see the bill for a leg or two. In the past few years I've noticed an increase in the dark hairs I pluck off my chin, but I'm still pretty young (22), so maybe that's just what my body has planned?

[archangelbeth]

Could be... Could be it'll just be those few, too. Dunno!

I was plucking, but... they started getting ingrown and infected, and laser stuff works better on dark hair, so I figured I should try to kill the bastiches before I went white early or something. O:>

I would've tried to grow the thing out and see exactly how much of a Bearded Lady I was, but I couldn't stop messing with the chin-hair, it irritated my chin, and ze spouse, he complained about the scratchy. So zappy-zap! It does seem to be working on the chin, but my whiskerpads are kind of whiskery -- probably because I would pull them out absently and there are more left that haven't felt the heat-ray's deadly zap.

(BTW, what were your thyroid numbers? Because "normal" really doesn't tell you anything; there are labs out there which use stupid-high, outdated numbers.)