Concern A
Unwanted hair, and why it grows where it does
Hair on the chin, the upper lip, the chest or the stomach is common, it is usually inherited, and it is not a defect. This page explains what causes it, what changes it, when it is worth a doctor’s opinion rather than a clinic’s, and what each of the options honestly gives you.
Compare the options Laser hair removal
Reviewed by Dr Natalie Olivera, BDS (Hons) MFDS RCS (Eng), general dentist and Level 7 aesthetics clinician · August 2026
Why It Happens
You do not grow new follicles after birth. Everything that changes later is a change in what the existing ones make.
The follicles were always there. The hormones changed what they make.
Most people assume unwanted hair means something has gone wrong. Usually it means a follicle that was making fine, pale hair started making thick, dark hair instead. That is a normal thing for a follicle to do.
Every follicle you have was there at birth.
Around five million of them, spread over almost all of the body. Most produce hair so fine and so pale that you have never noticed it. No new follicles arrive later in life, and none are added by anything you do to your skin.
Androgens tell some follicles to change.
Androgens are a group of hormones that everyone makes, in different amounts. On the face, chest, stomach, underarms and groin they switch a follicle over to producing a thicker, darker, longer hair. That switch is usually permanent.
What you inherit is the sensitivity, not the hormone.
Two people can have identical hormone levels and grow very different amounts of hair. The difference is how strongly each follicle responds. That is why this runs in families, why it varies so much within one family, and why it is not something you caused.
Through A Life
It moves through your life, and most of that movement is ordinary.
Puberty sets the pattern. Androgens rise, and follicles on the face, chest, underarms and groin change over. Broadly, the pattern set then is the pattern you keep. It can take until the mid-twenties to finish arriving.
Pregnancy moves it in both directions. Some women grow more hair on the face and body while pregnant, and much of that settles in the months after birth. Some shed instead. Both are common and neither needs treating.
Menopause changes the balance, not the amount. Oestrogen falls faster than androgens do. Hair on the chin and upper lip can coarsen at the same time as hair on the head thins. It is one hormonal shift doing both things at once.
Some medication does it. Steroids and certain hormone treatments increase body hair. If new growth started within a few months of a new prescription, mention it to whoever prescribed it before you book anything with us.
Shaving does not make hair grow back thicker. A cut hair has a blunt end, so it feels coarse as it regrows and it is not tapered by sun. The follicle underneath is untouched. This has been tested more than once and the answer has not changed.
When To See A GP
A clinic can treat the hair. It cannot treat the reason the hair is there.
Sometimes hair is a symptom, and then a GP is the right first stop.
Most unwanted hair needs no explanation at all. A small share of it is the visible part of something else, and the useful thing we can do is tell you how to spot the difference.
Hair that arrived suddenly. Growth that appeared over weeks or a few months, rather than gradually over years, should be looked at. The speed matters more than the amount.
Hair with other changes alongside it. Periods that became irregular or stopped, weight change you cannot account for, acne that started in adulthood, thinning hair on the head, or a deepening voice. Any of those with new growth is a GP appointment.
Polycystic ovary syndrome is the common cause. PCOS affects roughly one woman in ten. Coarse hair on the face, chest or stomach is one of the ways it shows itself. It is diagnosed with a conversation, a blood test and sometimes a scan — none of which happen in an aesthetics clinic.
Treating the cause changes what treatment buys you. Laser still works when a hormonal condition is driving the growth. But new hair keeps arriving, so you are buying maintenance rather than a course with an end. You should know which of those you are paying for.
If we see this pattern at a consultation we will say so, and we would rather you spent the money on a blood test first. The laser will still be here afterwards.
The Options
Doing nothing is a real option and it belongs in the table. Most of the hair in the world is left exactly where it is.
Five routes, including leaving it alone.
| Laser | Waxing or threading | Shaving | Electrolysis | Doing nothing | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| What it actually changes | Fewer hairs, finer and slower with each session | Removes the hair and its root for a few weeks | Cuts the hair at the surface | Destroys one follicle at a time, for good | Nothing. The hair stays as it is |
| How long it takes | Eight to ten sessions across about a year | Twenty minutes to an hour, every time | A few minutes, every day or two | Session after session, hair by hair, for years on a large area | No time at all |
| How long it lasts | Years, with an occasional top-up | Two to four weeks | One to three days | Permanent, for each follicle treated | Indefinitely |
| What it costs you in time | About ten hours in total, then it stops | Ongoing, forever | Ongoing, forever, and the largest total of the five | Ongoing for years, then it stops | Nothing |
| Works on white, grey and red hair | No | Yes | Yes | Yes — the only route that does | No treatment involved |
| The honest downside | Needs pigment in the hair, and a break from the sun either side | Ingrown hairs, and you must grow it out before each appointment | It never ends, and it is the shortest result of the five | Slow on anything larger than a face — and we do not offer it | None, if the hair does not bother you |
Shaving looks like the cheap answer because the cost is spread so thin. Counted in hours it is the most expensive line in the table, and it is the only one with no end to it.
The One We Do Not Sell
An electrologist is a separate trade with separate training. There is no shame in being sent to one.
If your hair is white, grey or red, the right treatment is one we do not offer.
Laser works by finding melanin, the pigment inside a hair, and turning light into heat at that point. White, grey and red hair contain almost none of it. There is nothing for the light to find, so nothing carries heat down to the follicle. No machine on the market has solved this, whatever the advertising says. Blonde and very fine fair hair respond poorly and unpredictably for the same reason.
Electrolysis works differently. A fine probe follows the hair down into the follicle and destroys it with a current. Colour is irrelevant, because nothing is being absorbed. It is the only method that is permanent for a single follicle, and it is slow — which is why it suits a chin, an eyebrow or a scattered handful of hairs rather than a pair of legs.
SKiN does not do electrolysis. If your hair is the kind that laser cannot see, we will tell you at the patch test rather than after you have paid for a course, and you should go and find an electrologist instead of coming back to us.
Questions
Unwanted hair, answered.
Is it normal for a woman to have hair on her chin?
Yes, and it is far more common than most people think. Coarse hair on the chin, the upper lip and around the nipples is ordinary at every age and becomes more common after menopause. It is only worth investigating when it arrives quickly or brings other changes with it.
Why do I have more hair than my sister?
Because you inherited a different sensitivity. Hormone levels are often almost identical between siblings. What differs is how strongly each follicle answers the same signal, and that is set by genes you had no say in. It is not diet, hygiene or anything you have done.
Did shaving make my hair grow back thicker?
No. A razor cuts the hair where it is widest, so the regrowth has a blunt end that feels coarser against the fingers. It is also darker at first because it has not been faded by sun. The follicle below the skin is completely unchanged by shaving.
Should I see my GP before I book laser?
Only if the growth was sudden, or came with irregular periods, unexplained weight change, adult acne or thinning on the head. Then yes, see a GP first. If the hair has been there for years and nothing else has changed, there is nothing a GP needs to rule out.
Will laser work if I have PCOS?
It works, but it behaves differently. The hormones driving the growth carry on, so new hair keeps being recruited and the course does not end in the usual way. Most people with PCOS treat, then return once or twice a year. We say this before you start, not after.
Does waxing eventually stop the hair growing?
Not reliably. Years of waxing can weaken some follicles and thin the regrowth a little, but it is inconsistent and nobody can predict which hairs it happens to. If you want the hair reduced rather than removed for three weeks, waxing is the wrong tool for that job.
Is threading better than waxing on the face?
It is gentler on the skin, because nothing is stuck to the surface and pulled off. That matters if you use retinoids or have sensitive skin. Both remove the root, both last two to four weeks, and both leave the follicle able to grow the hair again.
Do I have to choose one and stick with it?
No, but do not mix waxing into a laser course. Laser needs the root in place to aim at, and waxing takes the root out. Shaving between sessions is fine and encouraged. Grey hairs on the same area can be handled separately by an electrologist.
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