'People call my beard disgusting but I love being a woman with a furry chin'

07 February 2024 , 12:21

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Gennevieve Vaillancourt was bullied for her facial hair (Image: Jam Press/@beardedladyg)

Despite being bullied for her facial hair growing up, Gennevieve Vaillancourt has learned to love her "luscious" beard.

At the age of 14, Gennevieve noticed thick sideburns started growing down the side of her face, spreading rapidly to create a thick moustache. As it continued developing into a full beard, she started getting bullied "heavily", with nasty people at school telling her it was "weird and disgusting".

In her former job in the retail industry, the 40-year-old was told by "angry" customers to "go shave" - even when she was doing everything she can to get rid of it. Gennevieve said: "I spent a lot of time in the past feeling embarrassed about my facial hair and trying desperately to hide it and to hide myself. I've received many negative comments over the years around my facial hair."

Gennevieve would shave every other day (Jam Press/@beardedladyg)

She has since embraced her beard (Jam Press/@beardedladyg)

Ultimately, Gennevieve, who is from Georgian Bay, Ontario, Canada, started struggling with feelings of self-hated and shame, explaining: "I've experienced negative comments from relatives and strangers, but most of that happened when I was younger, and when I was removing my facial hair."

Gennevieve "struggled accepting" her facial hair for years, and tried to hide the growth by waxing and shaving every other day - but only because her skin was "too sensitive" to do it more often. She added: "I felt like I was in constant hiding, planning my social life and career around 'shave days'. It was exhausting, embarrassing, and a lot of work!"

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Gennevieve struggled for years to accept herself (Jam Press/@beardedladyg)

At the age of 20, Gennevieve learned that polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) was causing the excessive hair growth. Despite struggling to accept it, decided to make a huge change in 2021, at the age of 37.

Gennevieve, who is now a confidence mentor and transformational speaker, explained: "One day I woke up and realised that the only time I truly looked at my face in the mirror was on the days I was removing my facial hair. Despite having a smooth face for a few short hours, I felt really terrible about myself, especially on those days.

"I felt like I wasn't feminine enough because of the stubbles and my lack of monthly cycles fuelled this negative narrative. Those years were really hard, and I remember thinking the self-loathing would never end."

She realised the excess facial hair was due to PCOS (Jam Press/@beardedladyg)

Gennevieve felt shame, but is now 'much happier' (Jam Press/@beardedladyg)

Then Gennevieve started "embracing and befriending" the vulnerability she felt when people would judge her - and the "shame became less". She added: "I started shifting my mindset to challenge the traditional beauty standards we're taught to follow as girls and women and started focusing more on what I see as beautiful in people and in the world. I changed my entire narrative around beauty and instead of it including words like 'hairless' and 'thin', I shifted my definition to include words like 'authentic', 'genuine', and 'soft'."

Gennevieve has also started sharing her inspiring journey online, with pictures of her facial hair. She has also started hosting a monthly virtual event called Hairy Ladies Rising, for other women who have similar experiences. She has been "shocked" and "overwhelmed" by the support she's received all over the world.

She added: "This really fuelled me in the beginning of growing my beard out. I began to see my beard as powerful instead of embarrassing and I began challenging myself to step outside of my comfort zone by getting visible online."

Gennevieve is now "much happier" after "embracing" her hair, and actually receives less negative reactions. She explained: "Now that I have fully grown out my PCOS beard, I get a few stares when I'm out in public, and sometimes a comment or two, or people trying to take a photo of me, but I get a lot more support than negativity."

Ariane Sohrabi-Shiraz