Why do women grow random hairs on the body?
Finding a random, singular, long, awkward hair is not a fun experience, especially for women! We’ve all been there – whether it’s a curly bugger on our chin or a super dark and absurdly long one on our arm, sprouting abnormal hairs on our bodies is one of life’s frustrating mysteries.
RELATED: How to minimise hair growth
To find out more about this phenomenon, I spoke to Andrew Chim, CEO at Detail Smoother Skin Clinic to find out was causes these sporatic sprouts. Plus, I asked some bh members to share their stories about random hair growth to remind us that we’re all in this together!
What causes random hair growth?
We are normally balanced perfectly with hormones to regulate our body developments. However this hormone balance can be affected by ageing. This can lead to some annoying hair growth being stimulated in some places where hair didn't grow previously. In rare cases there may be an underlying medical condition if there has been a sudden radical change. Seeking medical advice is recommended in this situation.
Why do women sometimes grow facial hair?
Women produce mainly oestrogen but also small amounts of testosterone. As women age, their oestrogen levels can decline and the higher level of testosterone can affect hair growth, especially around the chin and upper lip. Also the decline in oestrogen can make the light blonde fuzzy hair on the cheeks turn dark.
People often find random, single, long hairs on the body (e.g. on arms, coming out of moles, on hands etc.) - is this normal and why does it occur?
This is more common than you think. During development a hair follicle may be located in a place that seems out of place. This single hair follicle normally lacks the message to produce pigment in the hair so you don't notice it until it is long. Also this hair follicle has a long anagen (active) phase similar to the hair on the scalp. Hair around the body normally falls out before it gets too long. This single hair is easy to manage by pulling out with tweezers. This [is] nothing to be concerned about.
RELATED: Your common bodycare questions, answered
Luckily, getting rid of unwanted hair is easy! Here are a few of our go-to products:
bh loves: Veet High Precision Facial Wax & Care, Nair Sensitive Hair Removal Cream Body, Schick Intuition Pure Nourishment
bh loves: Marzena No More Facial Hair Treatment, Philips Lumea IPL Hair Removal System, Ottoman3 Tweezers
bh members say:
I have a random hair that grows right, smack bang in the middle of my forehead. It's fair and super thin and grows about half a cm... When I notice it, I pluck it out. Sometimes it's there every month and other times I don't see it for weeks. – sparrow x
I have a completely random one that sprouts out [of] my arm, in the place where they would usually immunise you. I didn't notice it until I fell pregnant with my last baby, and it keeps coming back now. It looks like an eyebrow hair sprouting out [of] my arm. So I tweeze it out as soon as it gets long enough. The strange thing is that it isn't a mole. Just a random hair growing, like the cells in that part of my arm are super confused. – Seezora
I also have one thick and black and really long hair on my neck. [I’ve tried] to pull it [out] many times but it always [comes] back :/. - Jessica L
I have one hair that grows on my cheek out of a small mole but it's thin and not very dark and [I] can get away with not plucking it… The other odd place I sprout hair is my big toes. I get that lasered off but since I got pregnant they've sprouted again, stupid hormonal hair :(. - Marina_87
I've got one on my neck, it's thick like a bristle. I pluck it out the second I detect it. Sometimes it's difficult, because it's too short to get an easy grip on with the tweezers. – misfortune8
I have one hair that grows on the top of my right ear. It's just like the hair on my head, so it blends in as it grows. Sometimes it'll be 3cm long before I notice that it's grown back! – AliceJaneInNewcastle
Haha yes! I also have one random white hair that grows on the right hand side of my forehead. It grows insanely fast which freaks me out. It literally won't be there one day and then the next it's there - a good couple of centimetres long! [I] wish I could make the hair on my head grow that fast! – maydayismyday
I have one white hair (which was dark a few years back), it's a semi-soft one, but grows tough, and it's on the side of my throat. If it gets long enough, it lies flat against my neck, but I usually pluck it before it gets long. – CherryBlossom
I have a long and white eyebrow hair. I keep plucking it, but it always grows back white. The rest of my eyebrows are still their natural colour. – Petal
I get one very long thin blonde hair growing out of a tiny mark on my lower back. I pull it out and it always comes back and grows so fast! Lucky it's light-coloured but [it] still freaks me out each time! – duality
This is weird but I used to get this one single long and thin hair on my neck, just below my chin. It was like a cat hair and really soft. I [used to] pull it out and it used to grow back. I haven't seen it in years though. I don't know [what] its growth cycle is. I'm sure the phantom hair will be back! – Pink_Sugar
I get little patches of hair on my fingers and toes (it looks super weird) and I also have a mole on my chin that always decides to grow a single, long, thick hair. – Coconut Jayne
Have you experienced random hair growth in strange places on your body?
Main image credit: @thandieandkay
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227 Member Comments
I use tweezers on my extra long neck hair when I see it's come back
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Funnily enough, I found this article googling why I had a random dark hair growing, that I never noticed before instead of on beauty heaven. I have a pesky hair under my chin that I pluck every few weeks.
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I think it's just a fact of life we have to put up with and one of the joys of growing older. I notice it's worse if I'm taking hair, skin and nails supplements.
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I just found a 2cm Long black hair 4cm under my belly button way above where my top pubic hairs grow I'm 34 so assume this is only guna get worst, wahhhh
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Yes i have serial offenders here lol
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I have random hairs and quite a few chin hairs, so I am always using a razor and plucking
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I had an odd hair on my tummy. I kept on pulling it out for years, yes years. One day I realised it had never come back. Yeahhhh! My only challenge now is very pale hairs on the lower part of my cheeks. Have never touched them but they are annoying when I apply foundation. Too afraid to use anything'on my sensitive face that might rid the cheeky cheek hair.
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As we are lucky. Not!!!!!!
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I have random hairs growing in places and I get obsessed with plucking them out.
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I've probably already commented on this article (it goes back to 2016) as I noticed a bh member in the article who hasn't been on here for about three years!
But in the last six months I've noticed a dark hair on my cheek that's suddenly decided to sprout - twice! Problem is that it gets to be 2-3cm long before I notice it as I don't use my specs to put on makeup and I guess my foundation flattens and covers it - Eeewwwww! I try to look for it every few weeks now.
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Like sparrow above, sometimes there is a hair every few weeks, and then not for months and I even forget about it. one is on my arm - somewhere, but i just pulled it out, didn't even need tweezers
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I'm in the process of researching a home epilator to use on my face.
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I’m glad I haven’t experienced any yet!
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I'm always plucking chin hairs! Oh I hate them! I wish I could do laser but just cant afford it, and I'm scared it would make it worse :(
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I don’t think I’ve seen any random hairs ...lol, well I haven’t noticed any yet. But, I do have random single hair totally grey/white strand, I’m 50 and I haven’t had to dye my hair, but I have the odd grey one.
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I'm always plucking random hairs just under my chin. Hate it.
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Luckily I haven't had a random hair I've noticed anywhere but I'm sure its probably in a place I can't see! LOL I just when I get older my facial hair doesn't go dark though!
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I usually just use those face razors from daiso for my face. Makes foundation look so much smoother too.
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I can relate to many of these stories.
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Facial hair can take an emotional toll, see how you can permanently get rid of facial hair https://www.femina.in/beauty/hair/how-to-get-rid-of-facial-hair-permanently-121448.html
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Have some near my belly button and some on my upper lip... Tweezer out the one on belly button and use a facial hair removing device for the upper lip... >"<
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The joys of getting older! I use tweezers, I’ve had electrolysis done in the past on a couple of stray chin hairs & the beautician burned my skin
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Growing up my mum always complained about having 1 chin hair and I would always be like "ew" and now I'm 32 and have gotten that exact hair in that exact same spot LOL karma?
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I need an epilator to remove unwanted hair asap. My old epilator died a few weeks ago and I didnt realise how much I used it.
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I have a regular little group of white wires, I mean hairs, that grow out of a mole on my neck. There’s about 5 and they grow at different rates, so it seems i’m always plucking at least one out.
My favourite though is a very fine, long, curly hair that occasionally grows out of the side of my nose near my left eye. i never even notice it until it;s a good inch long, and each time I find it i’m thinking ‘how many people have noticed that and not told me?’.
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