I'm Hormonal | PCOS, periods, gut + hormone health insights

Top 3 Things to Know if Chin Hairs Are Knocking Your Confidence | Ep. 94

• Bridget Walton, Women's Hormone Coach • Episode 94

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Facial hair growth in women isn't random but a sign of hormone imbalance that should be addressed at its root cause to prevent worsening over time. 

• Facial hair often indicates high androgens (testosterone, DHT) which can cause irregular periods, acne, and scalp hair thinning
• Contributing factors include genetics, stress, diet, medications, PCOS, and insulin resistance 
• Androgens and insulin resistance create a problematic cycle that reinforces each other
• Balanced meals, strength training, and reduced sugar intake can help break this cycle
• Consider supplements including inositol, zinc, magnesium, and spearmint tea
• Understanding your personal hormone picture is crucial before starting any supplement regimen
• Exercise, stress reduction, and blood sugar regulation are universally beneficial approaches

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Speaker 1:

Now there are a lot of women out there who are just plucking or waxing their chin hairs without realizing that facial hair growth is actually a sign, a clue about what's going on with their hormones. And if you aren't addressing the root cause and understanding the root cause, it is likely to get worse over time. Now, that is why today, I'm sharing the top three things that you should know. If these annoying chin hairs are knocking your confidence. Let's dive in. Welcome to I'm Hormonal, your source of information about women's hormone health and how to support your body. Naturally, I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I'm a certified functional hormone specialist and menstrual cycle coach. I am on a mission to hold these hormone conversations with as many menstruators as possible, because you deserve easier access to accurate information about what's up with your unruly menstrual cycle and with your fertility mysteries. Don't you think it's time that we figure this out once and for all? Hey there, friend, welcome to today's episode of I'm Hormonal. I'm your host, bridget Walton, and I am so excited to have you here with me today to be talking about chin hairs of all things. As we get older, we are likely to have them at some point in our life, but if you are just thinking, wow, I'm way too young to be having these thick, like dark chin hairs. What does this mean? What can I do about it? What should I make of this, then you are in the right place. Also, if you think, well, I would kind of love to avoid that situation. What can I, what should I know now? Then you're still in the right place. I even this morning I was talking to my mom on the phone and she says how do you even decide what to talk about when you do a podcast episode? How do you come up with things to talk about? And I said, well, what would you want to hear if you were listening to a podcast episode and what would you want to learn? And she says, well, you know, I would want to learn what I can do about these damn chin hairs that keep popping up. So I said that's the magic, mom, that's, that's the topic. Then this is how we do it. So shout out to mom Hi, if you're listening. But also for everybody else who is not my mom, really grateful to have you listening today, especially if today's your first time listening.

Speaker 1:

I hope that this podcast is a really solid resource for you, helping you to understand what's going on with your body, what's going on with your cycle, how you can support better, more balanced hormones and also helping to really reinforce the fact that you totally can change what's going on with your hormones by making different shifts in your lifestyle, in your habits, that are for the better. You just got to know where to start and really focus on the root cause of what's going on. Let's go ahead and dive into the first of three things I want you to know, which is that facial hair like this isn't random. It is a sign of some sort of hormone imbalance. Now, that doesn't have to be a super grave, dire thing, but regardless, just knowing that, okay, something is a little bit off balance. What is off balance and how can you address that? Through diet and lifestyle changes. Now, oftentimes the imbalance would be high or relatively high androgens.

Speaker 1:

Androgens are hormones like testosterone, or maybe you've heard of DHT. They are the I'm doing air quotes over here classically male hormones, but they're definitely essential and necessary in female bodies too. However, again, when they are relatively high or in excess, that can result in experiences like facial hair growth, like irregular periods. It can look like acne. It can also certainly impact ovulation or cycle regularity. But coming back to our topic for today of chin hair growth, if that's something that you're experiencing, then high androgens like testosterone or DHT is possibly a part of that picture.

Speaker 1:

Now, if you're listening and you're thinking well, what about with PCOS? Maybe you have PCOS and you know that facial hair growth is common with PCOS then you are spot on, because high, or relatively high, androgens is characteristic of PCOS too. It's also worth mentioning that other factors could be your genetics, could be stress, could be your diet, maybe medication I mentioned PCOS and then also insulin resistance. These are all factors that contribute to what is going on with your androgens. I mean, really what's going on with all of your hormones? But especially when you're thinking of how can I get these androgens back down into a more normal level, thinking, okay, let's lower or eliminate stress and stressors, let's eliminate processed food, high sugar stuff, eliminate, or rather talk to your doctor about any medications that could be contributing to higher levels of androgens. If you have PCOS, then addressing the root cause of that PCOS is going to be a dope place for you to start. And then not a whole lot that we can do about genetics, of course, but there is a whole lot that you can do about insulin resistance and understanding how you can support more stable blood sugars. So those are a couple of parts, a couple of stars in this constellation of high androgens.

Speaker 1:

I am thinking too I didn't mention this a second ago, but sometimes, if you are having thinner hair on your scalp too, that could be a signal of higher, relatively high androgens. So it is this additional hair on your chin and thinner hair on your scalp. Now there also are other causes of hair loss on the scalp. So that is certainly not the only thing. Right, but something to consider. Right, but something to consider.

Speaker 1:

I'm not going to talk at great depth about menopause today or that phase of life, but if you're thinking of your mom or your aunts or your grandma or other gals in your life who are of that age, then you might remember them saying something about chin hairs or thinning hair on their head. It's kind of the same picture, or it's a similar picture, in that during that phase of life you are relatively androgen dominant, in that your levels of testosterone are higher than what's going on with your estrogen and progesterone, and so that can result in these differences or changes in hair growth or hair loss and also coming back to, like, midsection weight retention. That's also very much tied to androgens and insulin resistance. So I mentioned that just as a little bit of food for thought. That might be something you are more aware of, like in the larger sphere of what are other women around you experiencing. And just tying that back to again. Oh okay, our levels of androgens in our life just change, right, as we get older, those levels will go down, but they still can be higher, and I should say higher than estrogen and progesterone.

Speaker 1:

I do think for most folks out there, it is worth doing the testing to understand exactly what's happening hormonally, get the quantifiables, get the lab work done to understand what your androgen levels look like, so you know that you're addressing the right, best root cause. Also, you probably don't need me to tell you that if you have facial hair like this, if you have acne, if you have these things that are more visual, right, of course there are side effects that impact your energy levels etc. But since these are more things you can see on the outside, so if you're like me when I had acne back in the day, you're like let's get this over as soon as possible and figure out what's going on here. So, so, anyway, that is all to say that this is certainly this is certainly lab work that you could do, in part at least, with your primary care provider, right, when you go and have your panels run, your your annual checkup, sometimes they will do a testosterone test or can at least request it. When I'm working one-on-one with clients, this is something that we monitor through the Dutch test. That is the hormone panel that I use with my clients. So there are a couple of different ways for you to do it, depending on what fits your budget, your lifestyle, who you're working with, of course, but know that there are options out there, and getting the quantifiables on it could be a really helpful next step in the process for you in figuring out a resolution.

Speaker 1:

Now let's move on to number two of the three things that I want you to know, which is that androgens and insulin resistance are besties, but in the bad way. I mentioned midsection weight gain a minute ago, kind of like foreshadowing for this, but the point here, or what I want to convey to you, is that insulin resistance can result in higher levels of androgens. Also, higher androgen levels can further exacerbate insulin resistance. Now again, this is something that is fixable. This is something that you can totally make progress towards through simple or relatively simple changes in your diet and lifestyle. But this is all to say that if you know that you're having troubles with insulin, if you have really irregular energy throughout the day, if you are having irregular cycles that also can signal high androgens, then these two things are going to go hand in hand. But starting with practical changes like focusing on getting more balanced meals meaning protein and fat forward, being really conscious about what sort of processed sugars or added sugars you're bringing into your body, that'll be a great first step. Also, knowing that strength training will be good for both your blood sugar levels and for your androgen levels, and then let me just say it one more time reducing sugar spikes without any sort of extreme restriction, that will be really important. So first step would be just monitoring and becoming aware of how much sugar are you consuming on a day-to-day or week-to-week basis and then making a plan that is realistic for you, or working with somebody like a coach or nutritionist to figure out how you can create a plan that works for you and be accountable to it and make it really work for your lifestyle. Those are some great places to start.

Speaker 1:

The third topic that I want to talk about in just a moment will be related to supplements, but hang on with me for a minute. I want to walk through this with you kind of story style, to make it really make sense for you. So, if you are somebody who has excess chin hair, you want to start thinking through okay, well, what do I already know about what's going on with my hormones? Do I already recognize that my cycle is irregular? I can't predict my next period. How are your stress levels? Do you have really high stress levels, not just mental or emotional stress, but also are you doing really intense workouts? Are you eating a lot of processed sugars? Are you getting adequate sleep? Then, are there any medications that you're taking that could be impacting what's going on with your sex hormones?

Speaker 1:

Lastly, thinking, okay, what do I know about blood sugar regulation? Best practices, are those things that you implement? And just reflecting on, okay, let me get a good picture here of how these factors look for me in my life. Of course, also, you'll want to put together this puzzle of when did these changes start for you? Did it start after you finished hormonal birth control. Did it start after you had a child? Did it start at a certain age? Right, you turned 35 and these hairs popped up. So really putting together what that picture is for you and then thinking, okay, well, now that you, etc.

Speaker 1:

When androgens are high, that will also result many times in insulin resistance too. But let me remind you that there's a lot that you can do to focus on it, and let's look at supplements in just a moment here. I guess that wasn't even so much a story, but I just wanted you to be able to think of okay, what are the things that are relevant in my life? How can you start thinking through the process of what to do next? What focus areas are going to be top of mind for you to zoom in on? So, anyway, hopefully that was a helpful little recap before.

Speaker 1:

Now let's take a look at supplements, and I want to reiterate to you, too, that supplements can be helpful, but only if you are targeting the right root cause. So, making sure that you understand what the root cause is. Working with a practitioner, working with me, working with somebody to say, okay, this is exactly what's going on with me. Do whatever testing that might be helpful and supportive for you and then using the right supplements to support your end goal. Okay, now I'm off my sort of disclaimer soapbox.

Speaker 1:

Here are the couple of supplements that are commonly used to support your body when you have excess androgens. The first one that I want to note is inositol. Now, inositol is good for supporting insulin sensitivity, also supportive of normal androgen levels. Also supportive of normal androgen levels. This is something that, if you have PCOS, could be a part of, or rather, could be something that is familiar to you. There are different kinds of inositol right, there's myo-inositol and d-chiro-inositol. So if you are going to be doing some research on your own, then just know that there are different kinds. You want to find a supplement that has them in the right ratio to each other, so it'd be about a 40 to 1 ratio, which is the natural balance or the natural ratio that they exist in your body. So inositol is the first one. Zinc is another mineral that is anti-angiogenic and it also will support healthy skin and hair growth.

Speaker 1:

Third, magnesium Magnesium is the hero of all of the supplements. If you've been listening for a minute or if you've been listening to other wellness podcasts, and I'm sure you've heard about magnesium a lot. But magnesium can be supportive of ideal stress levels in the body, or rather, like reducing stress, supportive of your HPA access. So that's why this can be influential, right, if stress levels are high, that can push up androgen levels. It also can be supportive of more stable blood sugar levels. So that's going to be helpful here in keeping that stress down and not giving your androgens an excuse to be particularly high.

Speaker 1:

I want to mention, too, not that this is related to supplements, but testosterone is produced in our ovaries right, ovaries for those who are for women, and, of course, testes for males. But sometimes we just think of testosterone as being produced and like we don't know, because we're like I don't know, I have ovaries that make estrogen. But just note to self, your ovaries are also the organs that produce testosterone. Now, fourth and final, I want to mention spearmint tea. This is one that is pretty accessible. Right To know that spearmint can be supportive of normal androgen levels as well, so that might be something that you feel more comfortable with getting into. Again, talk through all of these things with your coach or practitioner or provider to make sure that it's a good fit for you. But inositol, zinc, magnesium and spearmint tea. Those are four areas to start when you're considering what might be a good fit for you.

Speaker 1:

I do want to emphasize again, though it's not a one size fits all. Taking random ones without knowing your unique hormonal picture can definitely be frustrating, and I don't want you to be wasting more and more money. I hear that from my clients all the time. They're just feel like they're throwing away money on supplements, just trying different things. So that's why having a clear, personalized plan can really make all of the difference. What is more of a one size fits all, though? Right If you're like well, that's not. That's not a resource I have available to me right now. Something that is more one size fits all would be moving your body and exercising, if that's accessible for you, lowering your stress levels and eliminating or decreasing stressors in your life, and then also learning about blood sugar regulation All of these things which you can learn about here on. I'm Hormonal, so you're in the right spot Now.

Speaker 1:

If you are tired of wondering what's going on with your hormones and you want a really clear, step-by-step plan to balance them and get rid of your chin hair, then that's exactly what I help women do in my one-on-one coaching. You don't have to guess your way through this. I've got you. Take me up on my offer for a free consult call. You can find the link in the show notes to book that call. You can also connect with me on Instagram at Bridget Walton, and I would love to learn more about your goals, learn more about what you have been working through and help you understand how I can support you in getting you to that goal. Really, though, that's all I've got for you guys today In recap, or in summary.

Speaker 1:

One your chin hair is not just random. It can be a sign of hormone imbalance. There's some more investigating to be done there. Two androgens and insulin resistance are best friends, and not in the good way. And then three supplements. They can be really helpful, but only if you are targeting the right root cause. So come back and check out what we've got going on.

Speaker 1:

On Thursday, I'm going to be talking about five signs of high testosterone, so if you're thinking okay, some of what you said today, bridget, resonates with me. We'll come back on Thursday for a mini episode where we will talk a little bit more through what are signs of high androgens. Thanks again for listening. I really appreciate you guys so much and I will look forward to seeing you on the next one. I appreciate you guys so much and I will look forward to seeing you on the next one.

Speaker 1:

If you loved today's episode and got something good out of it, make sure you subscribe so that these episodes show up automatically in your feed. No work needed on your side, let's put it on autopilot. As always, I need to give you my reminder that the information I share with you here is for educational purposes only, and it should not be used as a replacement for medical advice or diagnosis. Now, if you are, on the other hand, in the market for some one-on-one support, then I would love for you to take me up on my offer for a free strategy call. You can find these links and more in the show notes.