can't it also be some kind of hormonal imbalance? Do you also have problems with acne?

If you have polycystic ovaries, DO NOT take any form of estrogen, even if it is natural. I have had pcos for about 15 years....the worst thing I ever did was to take the pill. I felt bad and did not get better in the long run (you might see some short-term results). The problem with pcos is that your hormones are all whacked out and all of your levels are too high. The best thing I have ever done for it is to be on a low carb diet (making sure you have plenty of green veggies, not just meat and cheese), take the herb vitex, and use either a good natural progesterone cream or a progesterone suppository (which a doctor has to subscribe; I use it on days 16-25 of my cycle). The cream is not as effective as suppositories. Exercise is also an immense help. Many doctors now subscribe metformin, a diabetic drug, which helps your body to use carbs more effectively in your body...although that is not a natural solution. If you have pcos, another root problem of it is believed to be that it is also caused by insulin resistance problems. I believe that part of the reason we have so many women these days who have polycystic ovaries is because there are so many "phyto-estrogens" (things that mimic estrogen) in our environment. Our bodies react to the imbalance and then try to balance things with the other hormones, ratcheting up everything and then affecting us with the ovaries, hair growth, etc. It is a hard thing to deal with, and I feel your pain. A lot of my energies are spent trying to deal with the collateral damage of this syndrome.

> I just started on the pill to balance out my infrequent periods, and even
> though I've only been on it two weeks I think it's actually made the hair
> problem worse.

An answer very late in the day, but the pill probably has made the problem worse. Your body has probably detected the estrogen coming from the pill and shut down your natural production of estrgen leading to more male-tyoe hair growh from high testosterone levels.

> I HAVE to get something done. I'm afraid that waxing will make it grow more.

It may well do. As may plucking or threading or using an epilating machine. It won't have that effect on very fine growth, but if the growth is hormonally driven, then it may well stimulate more growth.

> Is bleaching a good idea?

Tends to make your moustache and chin hair glow against the light

> I know my Mum has quite a hairy chin

Moustache and beard growth in women tends to be hereditary in many instances -- though my own mother certainly isn't hairy and I was shaving every day by the time I was 15.


> His sister had the usual 'moustache' problem...
And what did she do about it?


> but I just don't want to turn into a man or something. I want to be feminine...
Some of us just have to settle for being female wihtout being feminine.
No-one can challenge the fact that I'm female -- I have a large family. But I could never legitimately claim to be feminine, however much I might like to.

> my boyfriend kept telling me I was 'beautiful'
And no doubt meant it. Attractive to him. The guy who's now been my husband knew before he took me out that I had moustache growth like a guy and that I was flat as a pancake. I don't know why he found me attractive, but he did, as he still keeps telling me 30 years on. And it certainly wasn't that he hadn't had "feminine" girlfriends in the past.

For the sake of the record I've found over the years that for the sort of heavy hair growth I have shaving has been the answer that suits me best. I use a Norelco from the men's range for my face and it simply isn't a problem to me.