Starting at 11, her polycystic ovary syndrome made her hair growth really dramatic, the Huffington Post reports. She tried shaving, bleaching, waxing twice a week but nothing quite worked. In school, she was bullied, called names like “beardo” and “she-male,” because people seem to think it’s okay to act like a complete fucking monster. It got to the point where she was afraid to leave her room, self-harming and having suicidal thoughts.
Finally, at 16, she was baptized as a Sikh and stopped cutting her hair. Other than a brief period where, at her parents’ urging, she tried shaving one more time, she’s rocked the beard ever since. And she says it’s made her more confident: “I feel more feminine, more sexy and I think I look it too,” she told the Mirror, adding that she sees no conflict between the beard and her own girliness:
“I’m able to go out and shop in the women’s section without feeling I shouldn’t be there.
“I wear skirts, dresses and jewellery and I like to get my nails done like every other girl.”
Her (adorable) 18-year-old brother is supportive: “She’s happy living her life, does what she wants to do. It’s really good for her. As long as she’s happy, that’s all I really care about.”
“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 learned to accept it—fully,” she told interviewers from BarcroftTV.
I hope she teams up with Balpreet Kaur, the Sikh woman who handed a rude Redditor his own ass, and they travel the world together, preaching body positivity.