I’m a woman.* I have a beard.** These are my stories about my experience with my beard – people’s reactions, my reactions to their reactions, and what I’ve learned about myself, gender, identity, race, class, assumptions, and people through these interactions.
Eventually, I hope to compile these stories into a book.
*I’m a female-bodied person who was tagged female at birth. I mostly identify as female in my daily life, but I also identify as gender-fluid/-queer/-variant/-unaffiliated. In various settings in my life I’m sometimes male-identified.
**My beard grows on its own, without the assistance of creams, pills, or added hormones. It is dense and curly – it’s more than a few stray hairs, and it’s obvious and visible even from a distance or in blurry pictures. It started growing when I was about 13, and I shaved and tweezed for years to keep it hidden. In May 2008, I started letting it grow. I’ve been bearded more or less continuously since then.
Some of these stories are password-protected for privacy. If you’d like to see these posts, email me for the password. If I don’t know you, please explain who you are and why you’d like to see these posts.
beardstories 
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It is so amazing! I did start letting my beard grow in August 2008 and I did not read about you and your blog until today! I also started writing a blog in August 2008 about what I experienced with having a beard. It is so interesting to see that more and more women are going this way, and let their beard grow and want to share about their experiences. I will start reading your blog and perhaps we can exchange some things. I did today post and article on my german blog and i wanted to post your photo there too, is this ok with you if I put a link to your blog and the photo? If not I will remove it again. Thank you! Mariam
Yes, please feel free to link to me! And, yes, I’d love to be in touch. I’ve read some of your blog over the years, and that’s part of what gave me the idea to make this blog public – I’ve been keeping it as a private blog previously.
Rae
Thats why I did not find your blog earlier! I was checking the net over all these years many times to find out new things about bearded women or find pictures and so on…..Great that now your blog is public…and still you write some is private. I still want to do a book too, but somehow….its not really done yet. Perhaps we can email. My email is: fraumitbart@women-at-work.org
Thank you for your answer and to allow me to link to your blog!
Mariam