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Rose Geil, 39, appeared on British talk show This Morning to discuss how her decision to stop shaving her beard changed her life. Geil has polycystic ovarian syndrome, an endocrine disorder that sometimes causes women of reproductive age to grow excess hair.
Geil was diagnosed at the age 13, she explained, and had been shaving her facial hair for years after medication didn't help control the symptoms of the condition. The result of more than 20 years of shaving was completely "torn up" and painfully irritated skin — Geil finally decided last year she "couldn't handle putting a metal blade to [her] skin one more day."
Besides the physical aspects of shaving, Geil never felt she was able to truly be herself while she was doing it: "My full personality was never present. Instead of facing ridicule, I hid. I didn't participate fully in school as a young child — even going to class on a regular basis was difficult for me," she said. "I was wearing things with high necks and long sleeves to hide my issue."
She credits social media with allowing her to let her personality "shine through" all these years. Once she began posting pictures of herself with a beard, she found her "community straight away. Even before I let my beard grow, I was following certain accounts that were run by bearded women or just people in general who didn't conform to a conventional look, or gender roles, even. Inspiration is there, it's a beautiful thing."
When the host of the show asked about if Geil had seen an increase in attention from men since she stopped shaving, Geil shut her down: "Oh yeah, that's not too surprising. There are all kinds of people in the world attracted to all kinds of things, so I wasn't too surprised when I started getting lots of attention."
She also told the hosts of the show she thinks about the "years of heartache and anguish" she could have spared her younger self if she'd only realized it was more than OK to stop shaving sooner, but she now knows that's not fair: "I was ready now. Now is the time to do it."
Watch Geil's entire awesome segment below.
