A woman who has to shave her facial hair every morning has ditched the razor and the foam to embrace her moustache for Movember, which challenges men to grow a facial hair for the 30 days of November, in aid of charity.

Sarah O’Neill has polycystic ovary syndrome, and excess facial hair is a symptom.

The 29-year-old from Hull, who was diagnosed with the condition in 2006, wants to banish the myth that only men grow moustaches.

 

‘It used to embarrass me a lot, and my brother even called me Mac3, after the razor,’ said Sarah.

‘But finally enough was enough and I had to accept that it was a medical condition that was just part of me. I now realise it’s nothing to be ashamed of.

‘I want people to understand I’m not trying to be a man and that my facial hair is something that can’t be helped.’

Before her diagnosis, Sarah suffered other symptoms of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), including weight gain and irregular periods.

‘I didn’t know what was happening to me and I was sick of people staring at me in the street,’ she says.

But it was a load off her mind when she was finally diagnosed with PCOS and realised there was a reason for her symptoms.

The Movember fundraising challenge sees people being sponsored to grow their facial hair in aid of prostate cancer and men’s mental health.

Sarah, an account manager for a kitchen and beds company, said: ‘My cousin does it every year and I just thought ‘I have a moustache, I might as well raise some money with it’.

‘Everyone I have told has been really supportive and proud of what I’m doing.’

Her normal ritual is to use hair-removal cream prescribed by doctors to get rid of the hair, but she isn’t sure how much hair she will grow over the month.

She usually also uses tweezers to get rid of stray hairs in between cream treatments.

She said: ‘I might grow a full beard, you never know! I don’t know what will happen, but it should be fun.

‘I’m definitely nervous about going four weeks – I’ve never gone that long before.’

‘I can get away with it for a bit, especially at the start because I’m strawberry blonde. But the hair does grow quite thick.

Sarah’s fiancee, Tina, who she has been with since 2011, is fully supporting her and even made a video of Sarah’s last shave on the morning of November 1.

Tina, 25, said: ‘She is amazingly brave and I’m so proud of her.

‘It’s other people’s problem if they can’t accept Sarah for who she is, and the people who feel it’s OK to stare at her just aren’t educated about a health condition.’

Read more: Daily Mail