"My beard is sexy," Mariam says. (This Morning / ITV)
Twenty eight years after developing facial hair, a 49-year-old mother decided to toss the tweezers and let her whiskers grow. The German-born woman who goes by Mariam appeared on the UK’s This Morning show today to show off her goatee and mustache and let the world know that a bearded woman can feel beautiful and confident.
Mariam started sprouting hair on her face after the birth of her son and she spent years plucking and tweezing her chin until the skin was red and raw. Before leaving the house every morning, she was faced with removing all the little hairs that would pop up over night.
She tried electrolysis three times but the hairs just kept coming back. Mariam also met with doctors who conducted tests determine if the hair growth was related to a medical problem, but nothing was found. She never waxed or shaved because she feared the hair would grow back thicker.
In 2008, while living at home alone and being unemployed, Mariam decided to give her laborious plucking routine a break and let the beard grow.
“I had no job so I had free time to give it a chance and see what happened, so I started a blog to inform other women about it, and to see what was happening every day and how I felt,†she said on This Morning.
Mariam found that she felt liberated and she grew comfortable with her facial hair.
With a full-blown natural beard, Mariam told the This Morning hosts, Holly Willoughby and Philip Schofield, “I’ve never felt sexier.â€
But while Mariam has learned to embrace her appearance, she says many people, from her own mother to complete strangers, are critical.
“My mum said, ‘Do you have to shock people like this?’ Then she got used to it and thought that one day I’d finish it, and was patient, but now she’s getting nervous and wants me to stop and become ‘normal.’â€
Readers of her blog have said terrible things like, “You should be sent to Russia…or shot.â€
Despite the criticism and odd looks she receives at the grocery story, Mariam plans to keep her scruff and has found a job as a “Bearded Lady†in a traveling circus.
“I want to give people the opportunity to talk to a bearded lady, because usually they are too scared in the street,†she said on This Morning.
Source Article from http://blog.sfgate.com/sfmoms/2013/04/10/bearded-mom-embraces-her-facial-hair/