Meet the woman who feels more feminine with facial beard.

A 23-year-old woman with a condition causing excessive hair development has revealed that growing a beard makes her feel more feminine.

Harnaam Kaur, of Slough, Berkshire, suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome - and a beard first started to appear on her face aged just 11.

The hair quickly spread to her chest and arms, and the condition made her the victim of taunts at school and on the street. She even received death threats from strangers over the internet.

But Miss Kaur has now decided to stop cutting her hair after being baptised as a Sikh - a religion in which cutting body hair is forbidden.

She said: ‘I would never ever go back now and remove my facial hair because it's the way God made me and I'm happy with the way I am. 

'I feel more feminine, more sexy and I think I look it too. I've learned to love myself for who I am nothing can shake me now.’

During her early teens, Miss Kaur was so ashamed of her beard that she waxed twice a week, and also tried bleaching and shaving.

But the hair became thicker and spread - with Miss Kaur feeling so self-conscious that she refused to leave her house. She even began self-harming and she considered suicide. 

She said: ‘I got bullied badly - at school I was called a “beardo” and things like “shemale” and “sheman”. I can laugh about it now, but back then it affected me so badly that I began to self-harm because it felt better than all the abuse I was getting.

‘I'd talk to people with a hand over my face and I wore baggy, tomboy clothes to cover up the hair on my chest and arms.

‘I didn't want to go outside my house because I couldn't take the stares from strangers so I'd lock myself in my room. It got so bad that I just didn't want to live anymore.’

Despite all the opposition, she took the step to bear her beard, and now embraces the thick hair on her face and chest.

But at the age of 16, everything changed for Miss Kaur when she decided to be baptised as a Sikh. It meant she would have to let her facial hair grow out.

The decision proved controversial - especially with her family. Miss Kaur said: ‘My mum and dad didn't want me to do it - they didn't think I'd be able to have a normal life if I had a beard.

‘They worried I wouldn't be able to get married and that I'd never get a job. But I wanted to make my own decisions and live for myself - not anyone else. I'd had enough of hiding.