siobhain fletcherWomen who have any facial hair of which to speak generally do everything they can to get rid of it. Anyone who suffers from hormonal imbalances -- or just the lovely side effects of perimenopause/menopause -- that cause us to have what might be termed as excessive facial hair usually carries tweezers in her purse, just to be sure to keep unsightly fur at bay. For most of us, even one noticeable hair on our lip or chin is nothing short of utterly embarrassing. But that must not be how Siobhain Fletcher feels.

The 36-year-old northern England woman -- who has polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), which causes higher-than-normal androgen levels to trigger excessive facial hair growth -- decided to turn her condition into a positive fundraising effort during "Movember" with the aim of creating awareness and support for prostate cancer. She's grown a beard!

More from The Stir: Woman Proud of Her Facial Hair Teaches Bullies a 'Beautiful' Lesson

Yup, a full-on male-ish, noticeable beard. Forget having no shame about it -- she's incredibly proud that since setting up her profile on Movember's UK website, she's already raised £1,040. And she also has said that the response to her efforts has been surprisingly positive. She told ABC News:

To actually go out there, and get out there, you see people still have manners. People may look, but mostly it’s been very positive. I think only one negative comment on the whole of the Internet.

That's really incredible, and she's so, so brave to be doing this. After all, it's a tremendous "screw you" to the beauty industry and media that make women feel horrible for not having perfectly smooth, wrinkle-free, and of course hair-free faces. But as much as I admire her bravery and selfless aim, I will never understand how any woman would be okay with defying this of all conventional beauty standards.

Maybe one of the only things I have in common with Kim Kardashian is that I'm also a girly girl who happens to have hairy genes. And since I hit adolescence, I've done everything I can -- from waxing to threading to laser hair removal -- to eliminate pesky facial hair. If I sound a bit OCD about it, that's because I am! Because I just feel better about how I look and feel when there's not even a bit of peach fuzz. Sure, we could chalk it up to centuries of forced gender roles that deserve to be challenged, but meh ... I'm not only okay with my assigned gender role, I completely identify with it and want my outward appearance to reflect it.

So to see someone like Siobhain basically going against everything most women believe about our own beauty kiiiinda blows my mind. In addition to tons of donations, sheesh, someone give this woman a medal for placing philanthropic selflessness so high above hairlessness!

Here's a video from The Sun featuring Siobhain ...

 

How do you feel about what Siobhain is doing?

 

Image via The Sun via ITV1