I knew Victoria Beckham had PCOS, but just the other day I was watching VH1 and they were making fun of her for attributing her extremely thin frame to "suffering from PCOS" which generally makes it difficult for women to maintain a lower weight.
I definitely Photoshop pictures when necessary. Before I had laser, I would do it if you could see any hint of facial hair. Now I end up doing it if my arms look fat. An inch or two off the side of the arm can take off like 20 lbs overall lol.
__________________ Age: 23
New York, NY
"Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else's opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation." --Oscar Wilde
If people think pcos will give you a 'thin frame' then it just shows not many people know what it's about etc. I think I need to learn how to use photoshop it sounds like a good tool!
So, I wanted to do some further investigation on this Alicia Keys chest hair situation. At first I thought it might be an internet hoax or extreme photoshop to shoot down another shining star; but it looks like there may be a bit of truth behind it. I was able to see at least 2 more photos when I googled her using a keyword search. She is still great looking to me; and I love her music, but I was taken aback by all of the rude things that people have to say about her chest hair...I can just imagine what they have to say about average hairy girls that arent as fab as Alicia! People can suc sometimes!
I certainly can relate, but hers (hair) didnt look half as bad; the hair was smooth and not curly, so a wax or maybe some hair bleach would have been a good fix...or maybe she's just that confident and doesnt give a flute about what people have to say. Maybe Alicia can be our spokesperson and make body hair acceptable as the new norm! If so, people would be running to surgeons to get chest hair implants!
I also wondered if she is a PCOS sufferer or if her mixed ethnicity just made her fuzzy by way of genetics?
That makes me feel so much better too! Alyssa Milano and Alicia Keys are both so beautiful! But I wonder why the excess hair hasn't destroyed their self-esteem? I mean it's obvious it doesn't affect their self-esteem, otherwise they wouldn't be singers and actresses. The excess hair has COMPLETELY destroyed my self-esteem.
That makes me feel so much better too! Alyssa Milano and Alicia Keys are both so beautiful! But I wonder why the excess hair hasn't destroyed their self-esteem? I mean it's obvious it doesn't affect their self-esteem, otherwise they wouldn't be singers and actresses. The excess hair has COMPLETELY destroyed my self-esteem.
I reckon that since virtually all models and actresses have to do a lot of hair removal -- even if their hair growth is minimal -- those with a bit more simply treat it as part of the preparation for the job each day or whenever required. The preparation time is always much, much longer than the camera or stage time. If you model or act then you've got to put a lot of effort into creating the image you present to the public before you ever appear in front of them.
I think what's destructive of our self-esteem is our finding ourselves different from what the public expectation of a woman is. I know how devastating it was to me, in my early teens to find myself with moustache growth that I had to shave. And then at 15 to realise that I was having to shave every day and I didn't have anything that could be described as breasts -- just nipples that had enlarged somewhat. But I don't feel that way now. I have a husband and I have kids. And my lack of so-called "femininity" hasn't spoiled my relationship with my dh at all. He actually enjoys my "distinctive characteristics" as he calls them, so why should I be ashamed of them?
Hi, JoyBlack!
I'm sure you've heard this before, but I wish I had your level of self-esteem. You're very lucky to be so accepted. When my doctor first told me what I had (hirsutism), and that it only gets worse, I planned to walk into traffic as soon as I left his office, but for some reason I didn't. I guess I'm a glutton for torture.
BTW, why would Alyssa and Alicia go out in public like that? Alicia is actually showing it off, or flaunting it! I don't understand that. Why aren't they mortified? If I were famous and had this, I would drop out of the public eye. I'm not saying they should, I just don't understand how they cope with it. I mean, don't they think "I'm beautiful! Why have I been cursed with this?"
I always guessed that is why Victoria Beckham is so thin and in control of her diet, being super slim must keep her PCOS symptoms to a minimum. I'm sure fashion plays a role there as well.
__________________ Dx PCOS w/ IR 4/05 High Cholesterol 9/00 Glumetza (Metformin) 2000mg Low GI, wheat free diet
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Hi, JoyBlack!
I'm sure you've heard this before, but I wish I had your level of self-esteem. You're very lucky to be so accepted.
I didn't always feel this way, I can assure you! But life is certainly infinitely more pleasant since I accept the facts about the way I am. And being accepted and knowing that I'm accepted is an enormous thing. The fact that DH accepts and enjoys the hair that's part of me as one of the distinctive things about me. And the fact that my kids accept the fact that I have moustache and beard growth in the same sort of way as their father has. And the fact that the few male family friends who know have all been totally accepting of it. These things are an enormous encouragement to me. The fact that all these people can see me with a stubbly face in the morning and not freak out makes life so much easier for me. And I'm well aware that not everyone has it as easy as I do in that respect.
Quote:
When my doctor first told me what I had (hirsutism), and that it only gets worse, I planned to walk into traffic as soon as I left his office, but for some reason I didn't. I guess I'm a glutton for torture.
I think he was probably trying to be helpful, but doctors aren't always very good communicators or very good at understanding other people and especially not good at understanding the non-medical aspects of a medical problem.
From the doctor's point of view, he was probably thinking
* hirsutism is very common indeed
* there's a considerable natural overlap in hair growth patterns between women and men. Overall men have much more facial and body hair, but it's quite common for individuals of either sex to have the hair growth pattern more commonly associated with the other sex
* most women at some point will develop at least moustache growth which will usually remain with them for life
* many women develop beard growth, sometimes on a male scale
It would be a rare family practitioner who hadn't got a few female patients who shaved every day and a significant number who shave at least a couple of times a week.
He might well have been thinking it was better to prepare you for the fact that there's no simple "catch all" cure for hirsutism and that perhaps it's best to recognise that this might well be a matter in which the best approach might be, as far as the hair is concerned, to recognise the facial hair growth as part of life and adopt a simple plan for dealing with it long-term.
What all that leaves out of the equation, however, is the effect it has on YOU.
It's traumatic to discover one has excess facial and hair.
It seems masculine
It seems to attack one's identity as a woman
It seems like a threat to our relationship with the other sex
It poses a difficulty as to whether to remove it and if so, how to remove it
If we remove it, it poses a difficulty as to whether or to whom we should reveal the fact that we have "excess" facial and body hair
I think a lot of women avoid shaving principally on the ground that it has a very "masculine" image. I certainly know how I felt the first time I "borrowed" my father's razor to shave off my moustache in my early teens.
But I don't feel that way now. I wouldn't even try to create an illusion of being "feminine" according to society's expectations -- I am who I am. I'm a woman who happens to have male-type facial hair. I deal with mine in exactly the same way as DH deals with his -- I shave with a men's-type electric razor. It's a simple fact of life. But it was a difficult thing mentally for me to accept at the start, too. And I don't think doctors really appreciate that. I think if it were more socially-acceptable for women to shave facial hair, then that's probably what more women would do.
