Chandigarh: Meet Harnaam Kaur, the lady from United Kingdom who holds the Guinness Book record for youngest woman with a full grown beard. 26-yr-old Kaur is a former teacher from Slough in Berkshire, UK. She took to modelling and body positive campaigning after her harrowing ordeal of having to cope with the unwanted stubble in the early years of her life.
Harnaam Kaur suffers from polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a condition in women that is one of the common reasons for infertility. PCOS leads to excessive secretion of androgen – the male hormone – which causes growth of facial hair among other abnormaloities.
She first noticed that she had abnormal body hair, when at the age of 11 hair started growing on her face, arms and chest. As a girl with a beard, she faced the worst kind of social stigma during her adoloscence and was often at the receiving end of abuse, bullying, cruel jokes and overall social ostracization. During those years, she often thought of commiting suicide, took to harming her body, and often skipped school to avoid being a target for ridicule.
Her parents were concerned about her and took her to beauty parlours where she underwent a constant routine of shaving, bleaching, cutting, and threading. Her hair grew fast and she was in for long painful sessions. She was not able to accept her body and the pressure to find acceptance in the society was excruciating.
But then something positive happened in her life that gave her the strength to cope and emerge as a strong, confident individual on her own. At the age of 16, Kaur decided to be baptized as a Sikh. Sikhism ordains that a true follower of the faith should accept his or her body as a gift from God. Baptized Sikhs believe in the sacrednes of the body, which must be kept intact as a submission to divine will. Practically, it meant that Harnaam could no longer cut her hair. She needed to accept herself as she was.
In religion, she found the strength to transcend the western views of beauty. As a baptized Sikh, she learnt to focus on her inner beauty and her role in this world. She came to accept her physical appearance as it was and soon gained the acceptance of others around her. In March 2016, she became the first woman with a beard to walk the runway at London Fashion Week by opening the show for Marianna Harutunian. In September of the same year, she was included in the Guiness Book of World Records as the youngest woman to develop a full beard.
After winning the world record, she said, “I hope those who read or see my record can take away positivity, inspiration and realise that no matter who you are or what you look like, you are officially amazing!”
Harnaam is now featuring in a new BBC Earth TV series on extraordinary people around the world, and that’s what she really is – extraordinary in every sense of the word.
(From agencies and online sources)