A woman with excessive hair growth has gone viral after proudly showing off her beard in a bid to normalize her condition, while opening up about why she decided to ditch razors once and for all.
Nellie-Jean Robinson, a 35-year-old financial analyst from Orlando, Florida, was diagnosed with hirsutism – a hormonal imbalance – when she was in her twenties.
The condition causes stiff, dark hair to grow on the face, chest and other parts of the body, and it is often directly related to polycystic ovary syndrome.
While hirsutism once affected Nellie-Jean’s confidence, and saw her shaving daily in a bid to remove her excess hair, the bank employee has now learned to love herself, and her beard.
Speaking out: Bank worker Nellie-Jean Robinson, from Florida, has gone viral after opening up about her battle with hirsutism, a condition that causes dark, stiff hair to grow on her face
Open: The 35-year-old, who also has PCOS, was diagnosed with the condition in her mid-twenties and spent years feeling ashamed of her facial hair
Under cover: Nellie-Jean would wake up early in the morning to shave her face and cover up her shaving scars with makeup (pictured)
In recent months, after discovering sugar waxing, the financial analyst has let her facial hair grow out.
Nellie-Jean also has polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which can also cause facial hair growth.
She has been documenting her journey on TikTok and users love it.
In one of her videos, she shares photos of her face after letting her hair grow out for 26 days ahead of her waxing session.
Her videos have received over 14 million views and thousands of comments from followers who have praised her for the honest approach.
One person said: ‘I thought I was the only one! I been growing facial hair forever and it has caused me depression, thank you for this seriously.’
‘Sis you are so brave for this!! I’m doing electrolysis now and it’s been a game changer,’ another fan said.
‘You are still beautiful, hair or not,’ wrote one person.
Another person agreed: ‘You are so beautiful, thank you for sharing your story.’
Something new: A few months ago, Nellie-Jean discovered sugar waxing, which offers far better hair removal results – but requires her to grow out her facial hair before treatment
Ouch: She has documented the process on TikTok, where her videos about hirsutism have quickly gone viral
Improvement: Nellie-Jean says she is thrilled with the sugar waxing results, and she is grateful to no longer have to carry around razors everywhere she goes
‘That beard looks fire, not gonna lie,’ added someone else.
‘I suspected that I had this condition when I was in middle school but I didn’t officially get diagnosed until I was in my mid-twenties,’ Nellie-Jean told Jam Press.
‘Suffering from hirsutism meant it was hard for me to make friends so it had a damning effect on my social life.
‘I spent a lot of years hating the way that I looked so I was constantly trying to hide it and felt more comfortable going out late to like a comedy club versus going to the beach.
‘It also made it hard to cultivate romantic relationships, making it difficult for me to grow close to men physically, intimately and romantically.
‘I always had a disclaimer about how touching my face was a “hell no”.
‘And I made sure I always had makeup on which meant waking up early in the morning to shave and conceal the scarring from the shaving, or late at night to touch it up.
Praise: TikTok users have been quick to praise Nellie-Jean for showing off her facial hair
Concern: When Nellie-Jean decided to grow out her hair for sugar waxing, she says she was initially ‘terrified’ about what it would look like
Natural! However she soon learned to embrace the hair growth, and says it was a relief to no longer have to worry about carrying around razors and makeup
‘I kept razors and makeup in my purse in the event I ended up being anywhere overnight.
‘It was quite the hassle and really made me feel as if marriage was not a viable option.
‘I did share my condition with a few men who weren’t bothered by it at all, which gave me hope.
‘But it took me a long time to realize that I don’t need the validation of other people to believe that I am beautiful and worthy of having a healthy relationship and marriage.’
At the start of this year, Nellie-Jean made the bold decision to let her hair grow out and eventually have it sugar waxed (a gentler hair removal method) instead.
This meant ditching the razors and allowing her hair to grow out.
She said: ‘Initially I was terrified but because of us being in a pandemic, it wasn’t that hard to conceal my hair growth.
‘After a couple of weeks of growing it out I actually thought it wasn’t that bad, it didn’t kill me like my fear had me thinking it would.
‘I even thought: “This is quite liberating to no longer be a slave to shaving and wearing makeup.”
Honesty: ‘After a couple of weeks of growing it out I actually thought it wasn’t that bad, it didn’t kill me like my fear had me thinking it would,’ she explained
Fear: Nellie-Jean has always worried that her condition would prevent her from finding love
Moving on: ‘It took me a long time to realize that I don’t need the validation of other people to believe that I am beautiful and worthy of having a healthy relationship and marriage,’ she said
‘I haven’t put a razor to my face since.’
After discovering her newfound confidence, Nellie-Jean decided to share TikTok videos about her experience – including before and after pictures of her facial waxes – and quickly went viral.
She said: ‘I had a desire to share my story about hirsutism and PCOS because of the freedom and liberty I received from growing my hair out.
‘The shame, embarrassment and guilt that I experienced up until that point were no longer there.
‘I know that there are women just like me struggling in silence who deserved to hear my story to know that they were not alone.’
Nellie-Jean has received dozens of messages from women who suffer from the same condition.
Sadly, however, she’s also been the victim of cruel trolls.
The financial analyst said: ‘I do have to deal with the occasional person making snide remarks but overall the reaction has been very positive.
High praise: Her TikTok videos have inspired dozens of other people to share their own stories about struggling with facial hair growth
Celebration: Others have called her ‘beautiful’ and praised her ‘bravery’
‘A lot of women are very pleased with the concept that I’m bringing awareness to PCOS.
‘And because I am the source of the content, people are calling me confident and saying that I am inspirational, which is still kind of hard to receive.’
Nellie-Jean has since created an organization called Cysters for Sisters – dedicated to connecting women with PCOS with one another and to helpful resources.
While she is currently single, the young woman is optimistic about meeting people and dating in the future.
She added: ‘I want women who are struggling with this condition to know they are beautiful and perfect exactly the way they are.
‘As much I would like to say my insecurity regarding the hirsutism is a thing of the past, that just isn’t the case.
‘I still haven’t quite figured out when and how to engage the topic.
‘One thing is for sure though; I won’t be a slave to shaving and make-up anymore and whoever I am dating will simply have to accept me as I am, or they can keep it trucking.’