Jennifer’s first class of the day was biology.
“So today we’re going to be looking at endocrine disorders and the different ways our hormones can go awry.” The teacher Ms. Peterson began.
The next slide showed a woman with hair all over her body.
“This first disorder is called Hirsutism. Hirsutism causes the normally fine hair on our bodies to become dark or ‘terminal”. It’s especially noticeable in women, since women usually don’t grow terminal hair on their back, chest, or face...” Ms. Peterson continued.
Jennifer’s mind started to wander off. “I wonder how much money she has to spend on hair removal products? Is there even a point to waxing when you have hair like that?”
Her legs started to itch. Jen could feel the hairs work their way up her lower legs, then her thighs. She twitched as her groin itched worse than anything else had in her life. Even her lower back and butt itched. The itching became less intense as it moved up her torso. Jen felt like scratching her pits as the hair spread to her underarms before moving down her arms and coating her forearms with downy hair. Still taking notes, her chest itched too. The itch became more of a tingling as it finished on her face. Finally the itching was over.
“Jennifer here is affected by Hirsutism and has asked to share her experiences with us.”
Jennifer remembered that she told the teacher she'd talk to the class about her condition.
“So, Hirsutism is something that i’ve been dealing with since puberty. I started growing dark hair on my face when I was 14. I had depression and contemplated suicide until I sought help. Usually I shave everywhere so people don’t notice. But when I learned that we’d be covering endocrine disorders I decided to let it all grow out so people are aware of Hirsutism.”
“Thank you Jennifer, that was very brave of you.” Ms. Peterson said.
“I cannot believe I agreed to that!” Jen thought.