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[rosekay]

OK, no period since last May - brilliant.  Hot flushes - not much fun.  Waking up with sweat pouring in the night - definitely not fun, never experienced anything like it before.  And now - I have noticed black hairs above the edges of my lips - I'm growing a moustache for goodness sake!  What is all that about??  What do I do?  They are quite fine, but definitely there and I am mortified.  I am 52.     Help, anyone!!?

[Rowan]

Estrogen dropping, testosterone getting a foothold= black hairs, its no fun.

[honeybun]

Get the tweezers out. You are not alone in this. CLKD has had a topic going called my chin and lots of us are in the same boat.

What I want to know is how to they manage to grow so quickly and why are some of them spiky 

Oh the joys of getting older.


Honeyb
x

[Hurdity]

honeybun - I think they go spiky once they've been plucked ie they start out fine and then that's it, forever plucking!! Unfortunately I don't see mine due to increasingly poor eyesight as I age so have to keep remembering to look in my magnifying mirror in a good light to make sure there isn't one sprouting! Luckily I only have one or two and they grwo slowly otherwise this could be embarrassing!!!

silverlady our testosterone levels drop with age so the increase in facial hair appears to run counter to that which is puzzling. I've tried to find out about it because I don't understand why this is. I've found an article on hirsutism which explains a little more about hair growth and androgens but doesn;t really answer the question. It seems a lot more complex than meets the eye.

http://www.womenshealthnetwork.com/womenshealth/facialhair.aspx

Hurdity x

[Rowan]

This is interesting

http://edjanse.hubpages.com/hub/How-to-Prepare-Spearmint-Tea

[rosekay]

Good grief, this is so unfair!!  What is the best way to get rid of them, do you think?  I don't want to shave and get stubbly!  All advice very welcome!

[KatieLiz]

HRT to balance your hormones?

[Taz2]

Hi Rosekay - it's always a shock when it first happens but you will get used to doing your top lip and eventually your chin as part of your daily routine. Well the chin each day but maybe not the moustache. There are various ways such as waxing or laser treatment - some women bleach theirs. Some women also get nipple hair (I wonder how I know that?  ) and these have to be tweezered out - after a bath or shower is best.

There is an explanation here as to why it happens http://voices.yahoo.com/perimenopause-unwanted-facial-hair-causes-it-6316480.html

HRT made my chin hair worse.

Taz x

[Joyce]

Forever thankful I'm fair, though I do get the odd wiry one poking through. My mum got electrolysis on hers, cost her a fortune & she was still as hairy afterwards.

My daughter has been told she can attack mine when I get older as she used to hate kissing her hairy grannies. 

[Taz2]

I'm very fair too CG!

I was listening in to some young guys in the pub last week. One said to the other "You know what I discovered? My mum has only gone into HairyFaceMode!! It's so f***ing embarrassing!"

Taz x 

[Rowan]

We should all start drinking spearmint tea there is some research on it, have a look at google scholar

http://www.drbriffa.com/2007/02/21/spearmint-and-cutting-carbs-may-help-hairy-women/

I have some in the cupboard.

[Taz2]

That's interesting silverlady - especially as it may also help PCOS women. Thank you.

What I can't understand is why I suffer from chin hair etc. and also low libido and sexual response which seems to be caused by excess testosterone when the "treatment" for the sexual symptoms is said to be taking testosterone.

Taz x

[dahliagirl]

I started getting the yard broom bristles on my chin when I was still on the Pill.

If they are dark and your skin is light, laser treatment is the most effective (although it can be hurty)

Many of mine are white, so no luck there.  They are so thick they do not seem to be able to get out of the holes and I get really sore spots and lumps.  Sometimes, they start off as soft fine hair, then become suddenly stiff and bristley after about 2mm. 

[Rowan]

I have been wondering that for years Taz, though I have always suffered from unwanted hair, it can be genetic especially if you have  a Mediterranean or Asian blood, and as I have an Italian inheritance I have always blamed that. Chinese women don't seem to have this problem.

My sister and one of her teenage daughters suffers too ( she was diagnosed with PCOs) and it is very upsetting.

Personally after doing research I think that that for some women and more so after menopause, that the hair cells become sensitised to the testosterone that we produce even in tiny amounts for the rest of our lives, the tiny amount of estrogen that the ovaries continue to produce is not enough to counter the testosterone.

It could also be that progesterone had a part too, we stop producing that at menopause and some women never produce enough, even during the years from the start of menstruation to menopause.   

[rosekay]

Thank you,, ladies.  And that article was very interesting, Taz2, thanks for that.  So all I have to do is pluck up enough courage to - ummm- pluck!?  I think I'm too much of a coward for that, don't even do eyebrows!  Maybe a cream, then.  I was worried that I'd do something which would make them grow more coarse etc.  It was a heck of a shock!  Really, what will happen next!?  I'm not on any HRT - wouldn't that just start me off bleeding again?  I really don't fancy that!  Thank goodness for this site and all you lovely ladies!