Why Am I Getting Chin Hairs?

You spot it in the car’s visor mirror at a red light, a single coarse dark hair on your chin that wasn’t there on Tuesday. You pluck it. By Friday there are two.

Two kinds of hair

Cleveland Clinic² explains the basics. Everyone has vellus hair, the fine peach fuzz. Terminal hair is thicker and darker, and it develops during puberty.

Hormones can convert one into the other. When your hormone levels fluctuate, Cleveland Clinic² says, the amount and type of hair on your body can change. That’s the basic mechanism behind the visor-mirror surprise.

Why it happens around midlife

Androgens, the sex hormones everyone has in some amount, naturally trigger facial hair growth, Cleveland Clinic² says. MedlinePlus³ agrees that women normally produce low levels of male hormones, and that in many cases the exact cause is never known and the condition often runs in families.

Menopause is a common trigger. Cleveland Clinic² says the hormonal shifts of menopause commonly produce chin and jawline hair. It also says the tendency is more common in people of Southeast Asian, Mediterranean and Middle Eastern descent.

So if your mother or grandmother kept a pair of tweezers in every handbag, that may tell you something.

When it’s hirsutism

The NHS¹ defines hirsutism as thick, dark hair on a woman’s face, neck, chest, tummy, lower back, buttocks or thighs. Lighter, finer hair isn’t hirsutism. Thick, dark hair in those places is.

The most common cause is polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), linked to changes in androgen levels, the NHS¹ says. The Office on Women’s Health⁴ says PCOS affects between 5% and 10% of women between 15 and 44, and that extra facial and body hair affects up to 70% of women who have it. Other PCOS signs on its list include irregular periods, acne on the face, chest and upper back, thinning scalp hair, and darkened skin along the neck creases.

Rarer causes exist. The NHS¹ names certain medicines, such as epilepsy drugs and steroids, hormone disorders like Cushing’s syndrome, and tumors that affect hormone production. MedlinePlus³ lists medicines that can cause unwanted hair, including testosterone, anabolic steroids, danazol, minoxidil, phenytoin, cyclosporine and glucocorticoids. Cleveland Clinic² adds diabetes, which it links to extra facial hair alongside scalp hair loss.

What you can do about it

The NHS¹ lists the home options: shaving, waxing, plucking, creams and bleaching. It also names a prescription cream called eflornithine that slows hair growth on the face, hormonal contraceptives that regulate hormone levels, and weight loss for people who are overweight.

Cleveland Clinic² lists 12 approaches in all, from temporary ones like plucking, sugaring and threading to potentially permanent ones. For longer-lasting results there’s electrolysis and laser hair removal. The NHS¹ says they’re not typically covered by the NHS, they carry risks, and results vary.

One caution from Cleveland Clinic²: waxing is discouraged when a hormone imbalance is involved, because it can inflame already irritated skin. It also lists prescription eflornithine cream and anti-androgen medicines among the options.

The play

Try this: a two-minute inventory

In daylight, look at your chin, upper lip, jawline, chest, tummy and lower back. Where is the hair coarse and dark?

Note when it started and how fast it’s spreading. Note any medicine you take.

Add the rest: irregular periods, acne, thinning hair on top. Those are the pieces a clinician will ask about.

When to get checked

Don’t wait if

1. Same day

   Call your clinician the same day if hair growth appears suddenly with a deepening voice or increased muscle size. The NHS¹ asks for an urgent appointment for that combination, and MedlinePlus³ says sudden onset can point to a tumor that releases male hormones, which makes prompt evaluation essential.

The NHS¹ says to see a GP if you have thick, dark hair in the areas it describes. Cleveland Clinic² says to see an endocrinologist, a hormone specialist, if your hair growth is rapidly getting worse, your periods are irregular, or you have acne, scalp hair loss, fertility problems or a deepening voice.

Book an appointment if any of these fit:

• Coarse dark hair is spreading to your jaw, neck, chest or belly
• It has come on quickly
• You have irregular periods or acne alongside it
• You’re losing hair on top while growing it on your chin
• You started a new medicine before it began

Keep the tweezers if they help. Add the inventory to the habit.