HARNAAM: This is who I am, I'm different and
I've learnt to accept it fully.
COMM: Meet the incredible 23-year-old woman,
Harnaam Kaur who's been growing a beard since the age of 16. And she says she's never felt
more feminine.
HARNAAM: It's the way that God made me and
I'm happy with it.
COMM: Harnaam from Slough has polycystic ovary
syndrome which can cause excessive hair growth. She was just eleven when it sorted appearing
on her face.
HARNAAM: I would hide it by talking to people
with my hands over my face. I used to wax it and that became really painful so I would
just shave it or use different sorts of creams. Um I used to bleach it too.
COMM: Harnaam endured bullying at school and
stares from people on the street.
00:46 HARNAAM: The names that people would call
me were things like beardo instead of weirdo, um she-man, she-male.
00:54 COMM: She's even received death threats after
posting videos about female facial hair on YouTube.
HARNAAM: I have had people telling me that
they're gonna burn me and that they're gonna throw brick at me.
01:06 COMM: At her lowest point she began self harming,
and even considered taking her own life.
HARNAAM: I would lock myself in my room, I
didn't want people to see me because I knew that would lead to more stares.
COMM: At the age of sixteen, everything changed
for Harnaam, when she took the decision to be baptised as a Sikh.
HARNAAM: We need to keep our bodies intact
the way it was given by God. It was literally at the point where I had enough of people
bullying me, me feeling down, me having suicidal thoughts, me self harming, I just had enough.
COMM: The decision proves controversial, even
Harnaam's own family were against it at first.
HARNAAM: The concerns that my mum and dad
had were I won't have a normal life "normal life"I say, as a young girl should have. I
won't get married, there were concerns about me getting job, how there was no employers
out there that will employ a bearded lady and such.
02:04 COMM: But she's found support in her 18-year-old
brother Gurdeep, and friend Surrinder.
02:09 GURDEEP: She's happy living her life, does
what she wants to do, so it's really good for her, as long as she's happy that's all
I really care about.
SURRINDER: For me to see her without the beard
no I think it would be a shock, it would;t be the same person, I so I think having the
beard has probably given her a lot of strength etc. to be who she wants to be, to say what
she wants to say, and y'know just be happy.
COMM: Harnaam still has to endure stares in
the street, and is often mistaken for a man. But she's learnt to accept it.
HARNAAM: I do play around with it a little
bit because sometimes when I go to the public toilets and someone goes to me um "Oh this
is the women's" and I actually put on a deep voice and I say no this is for men's. SO I
kind of play around with it and it's funny because we all end up laughing.
COMM: Today things are looking hop for Harnaam,
she works as a primary school teaching assistant, and she's received dozens of messages from
women and men around the world, who say they love her beard.
HARNAAM: One guy saw my picture and he goes
to me, will you marry me?
COMM: And she hopes her story will encourage
other women to be more body confident.
COMM: This is me, this is who I am, it's my
inner beauty, it's my outer beauty, it's my oneness, it's my wholeness. I'm different
and I've learnt to accept it fully.