Glossy hair, a good physique, and an attractive face make an ‘IDEAL MODEL FIGURE’.
Imagine a body with abnormal growth of facial hair, and a body not in the shape you want it to be.
Will you still consider it a model figure?
Well, your opinion doesn’t matter to her anymore! It’s her beard — dark skin tone, perfectly exaggerated winged eyeliner, and her turban, it’s the acceptance of her body that makes her who she is today. After accepting Skkism at the age of 16, it was her religious calling that let her grow facial hair. As Sikhism forbids the cutting of hair.
She is none other than Harnaam Kaur, a British social media personality, life coach, motivational speaker, and model. But a model? How is she accepted in a profession where being ‘PERFECT’ is the main criteria!
After hitting puberty at the age of 10, she was diagnosed with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) and she received thick facial hair as her 12th birthday gift.
Just like any other teenager, Harnaam waxed, shaved, and bleached her hair to a point where her skin would turn painfully raw. But there needed a permanent solution to this.
Constant bullying and taunting made her believe that she was a ‘shemale’, ‘beast’ and ‘sheman’, which resulted in her skipping school and refusing to go out.
In her early 20s, she decided that she would not allow her haters to win and would accept her body — and beard — just the way it is! Even after continuous bullying and death threats, she made up her mind to be that passionate disrupter of mainstream beauty standards.
Today PCOS being one of the most touched topics, majority of us arent aware of PCOS and its related numbers.
PCOS is a common hormonal condition that affects women of reproductive age and symptoms may fluctuate over time.
According to the data of World Health Organisation (WHO) the condition affects an estimated 8–13% of women of reproductive age, and up to 70% of cases are undiagnosed.
Along side being taunted as “ugly”, she made every dream of her possible. In March 2016, Kaur became the first woman with a beard to walk at London Fashion Week. In September 2016, Kaur was included in the Guinness World Records as the youngest woman in the world to have a full beard. In March 2017 she was featured in the Teen Vogue article “Instagrammers Challenge Body and Facial Hair Stigma”.
But if she can be the flag bearer in challenging and adapting one’s beauty standards. What does beauty mean to you?
