London:
An Indian-origin girl in Britain, who has been suffering from a rare condition causing excessive hair development on her face and body, has decided to stop cutting her hair after being baptised as a Sikh.
A beard first started to appear on Harnaam Kaur's face when she was just 11 years old due to a medical condition called polycystic ovary syndrome, the Daily Mail reported Monday.
The hair quickly spread to her chest and arms, and that made her the victim of taunts at school and on streets.
Ms Kaur, who is now 16, even received death threats from strangers over the internet.
Earlier, Ms Kaur was so ashamed of her beard that she used to wax twice a week, and also tried bleaching and shaving.
Her hair became thicker and spread which made her feel so low that she refused to leave her house.
But she decided to get baptised as a Sikh and stop cutting her hair. In Sikhism cutting body hair is forbidden.
"I would never ever go back now and remove my facial hair because it's the way God made me and I'm happy with the way I am," Ms Kaur was quoted as saying.
"I feel more feminine, more sexy and I think I look it too. I've learned to love myself for who I am nothing can shake me now," she said.
Stating that she was badly bullied in school, she said she was called a "beardo" "shemale" and "sheman".
"I can laugh about it now, but back then it affected me so badly that I began to self-harm because it felt better than all the abuse I was getting," Ms Kaur said.
Despite all the opposition, she took the step to bear her beard.
Ms Kaur said her mother and father did not want her to sport a beard as they thought she would not be able to live a normal life if she had a beard.
"They worried I wouldn't be able to get married and that I'd never get a job. But I wanted to make my own decisions and live for myself - not anyone else. I'd had enough of hiding," she said.
There is no cure for the condition, but medicine is available to treat excessive hair growth and fertility problems.
Most women with the condition can get pregnant.