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People can be cruel and heartless, especially when it comes to looking different. Alma Torres knows exactly how mean people can be. Due to a hormonal disorder, Alma grows a beard and is known as the bearded lady. Rather than letting haters drag her down, she embraces her beauty and stands up for herself.<\/p>\n
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Alma was diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) when she was just 16 years old. This causes an imbalance in her hormones, which leads to cysts and enlarged ovaries. To counteract the disorder, Alma takes a high dose of insulin, which leads to her body producing more testosterone.<\/p>\n
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Women with PCOS will have irregular periods, acne, excessive hair, dark and patchy skin, and sometimes problem with fertility. Along with these symptoms, they may suffer from hirsutism, which is unwanted hair in male patterns.<\/p>\n
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Growing up, Alma tried to hide her condition and would shave her beard. \u201cWhen I was first told, I started crying and I thought it was a really bad thing. They said the word \u2018disease\u2019 and I thought it was really bad until I did my own research. About two or three years ago, I was starting to feel more confident and positive about myself. I look up to women who are body confident,\u201d Alma told The Daily Mail.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Alma\u2019s peers would bully her to no end. \u201cI have been called \u2018ugly,\u2019 others have said I should \u2018kill myself.\u2019 People have told me \u2018go wax your ugly ass\u2019 and have called me \u2018cancer.\u2019 People usually don\u2019t make comments in front of me. Most are over the Internet but I will get stares. I\u2019ve noticed people trying to take pictures of me but I just laugh and smile. I know it\u2019s not a big deal so I\u2019m okay with it,\u201d she recalled. She has found a way to cope and handle the bullying.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Along with the pain of bullying, Alma also goes through physical pain from the disorder. She often has pelvic pain and suffers from anxiety and depression. So, the facial hair is not high on her priority list. She decides to be confident in herself and her appearance to combat these symptoms and the bullies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Alma said, \u201cI think everyone has their own insecurities and when they don\u2019t feel good about themselves they try to hurt other people to try to make themselves feel better. I have helped a lot of people feel good about themselves, we need more girl power. Having the beard has made me a better person. I feel more confident and I want to encourage other women with PCOS to feel the same.\u201d Alma is a strong advocate for positive body image and hopes that her message spreads.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Alma\u2019s boyfriend, Taylor, loves her confidence and the message that she stands for. \u201cI told Taylor about my beard when we started dating. I was shaving at this point so there were times he would see me frustrated and help me tweeze it. When I started to grow it I looked at him and asked him, \u2018Babe, what if I grow by beard? What I bother you?\u2019\u201d Alma said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Taylor didn\u2019t have a single problem with Alma growing her beard out. \u201cNope, it\u2019s just hair. That\u2019s normal,\u201d he responded. \u201cShe\u2019s still beautiful to me and her beard doesn\u2019t define her. It\u2019s just hair and it doesn\u2019t have anything to do with how a person feels and should never be able to change that. It\u2019s what is inside that matters. It\u2019s something that\u2019s natural and there\u2019s nothing wrong with that.\u201d It looks like Alma found the perfect man for her.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n To help other women with PCOS, Alma uses Instagram to spread her positive message and embrace her natural beauty. \u201cI want to tell other PCOS sufferers that this is who you are but if you want to change it then it\u2019s fine, but if you feel comfortable then don\u2019t change,\u201d Alma explained.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n There are other women who embrace their natural beauty and like to show off their unique hair on social media. \u201cIt is beautiful, natural, and the crowning glory of my womanhood,\u201d Schwarz told Health<\/em> when asked about her PCOS.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Leah Jorgenson recently posted on Instagram, \u201cSomeone recently asked me why I am trying to normalize body hair when my amount of body hair isn\u2019t \u2018normal.\u2019 My reply was\u2026 who says it isn\u2019t?!… I am tired of this being kept in the dark. I want this to be seen and I want this to be talked about.\u201d She is not afraid to post body confident photos of herself to social media, no matter how many mean comments she receives.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Nova Glaxia is also an advocate for natural beauty and doesn\u2019t shave her body hair. \u201cWome shouldn\u2019t have to shave if they choose not to, but what about those o fus who have way more hair than what is considered socially acceptable? What about us women with dark, thick tummy and chest hair? What about us women who are fully capable of growing a big, bushy beard? You\u2019re not alone, no even close, and it\u2019s so important that others know they\u2019re not alone either,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Miranda Nodine also uses Instagram to spread her message and document her life with PCOS. \u201cSometimes the way hair grows blows my mind! Like that little empty patch from my chest to my shoulders! Lol. It\u2019s so cute! My body is not your concern. Things haven\u2019t always been easy for me with my hairy self. It\u2019s been a growth process and I\u2019m so much better for it! If you go through things that seem like the end or seem like they\u2019ll never end, they do. Believe me, they DO end. Things get better always,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Annalisa Hackleman likes her beard because she feels it makes her unique and stand out in a crowd. \u201cI think it gives me a talking point to people, to educate them or teach them about PCOS. They think that if a woman can grow out a beard, she must have crazy body hair, she must be a werewolf. And that\u2019s just not true,\u201d she told Marie Claire. <\/em>Body positivity is a wave that everyone should catch. Be you! Be beautiful!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" People can be cruel and heartless, especially when it comes to looking different. Alma Torres knows exactly how mean people can be. Due to a hormonal disorder, Alma grows…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10044,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10042","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celeb","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedesigninspiration.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10042","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedesigninspiration.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedesigninspiration.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedesigninspiration.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedesigninspiration.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10042"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedesigninspiration.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10042\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10076,"href":"https:\/\/thedesigninspiration.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10042\/revisions\/10076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedesigninspiration.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedesigninspiration.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10042"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedesigninspiration.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10042"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedesigninspiration.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10042"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Bullied<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nConfidence is Key<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nEveryone is Insecure<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nThe Boyfriend<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nIt\u2019s Normal<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nInstagram<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nSchwarz<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nLeah Jorgensen<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nNova Glaxia<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nMiranda Nodine<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nAnnalisa Hackleman<\/h2>\n
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