Being pregnant let you feel some unexpected, precious experiences. There are a lot of pregnancy effects which enrich your knowledge. You might have been hearing that most pregnant women experience nausea and vomiting. They call it morning sickness—apart from the fact that it doesn’t always happen in the morning. You probably also notice that you have darker skin with acne’s while you are pregnant. You know that your hormones cause this. You are not worrying this hyperpigmentation during your 9 months because you’ve heard that most women experience it, too. You also feel your eye lid, feet, and nose are getting bigger, wider, or longer as the result of your hormonal changes as well. Although not all pregnant women have bigger nose or longer feet, you believe that this is normal and everything will get back to normal after delivery. However, now you find that you have hair grow on your stomach during the baby bump. Isn’t that weird?Why does this happen and is it normal?

Why do I have belly hair when pregnant?

Pregnancy leaves you a lot of questions and wonders. One of them is about belly hair that seem to occur when a woman is pregnant. This often causes confusion and question because the belly hair doesn’t seem to occur before pregnancy, yet during pregnancy, moms-to-be belly seems to have an area covered with dark belly hair. As many other pregnancy symptoms, it is not experienced by all moms-to-be. Some pregnant women see excess hair on their stomach, while some others might point out different places, such as chin, upper lips, breast areolas, and thighs. This phenomenon is called hirsutism. This unwanted hair growth is caused by male hormones that a woman might produce during her pregnancy. It is not surprising that hirsutism is often assumed as a sign that you are carrying a baby boy. However, this is not scientifically proven yet and is still an old wives tale.

Why some people have belly hair during pregnancy while some don’t?

When you are pregnant, your adrenal glands produce male hormone, called testosterone. This hormone will make your hair thicker and darker. As a matter of fact, most of your body areas are covered by fine hair. During pregnancy, when your hormone boost, these fine hair can turn darker and thicker and thus, become more visible. All pregnant women produce both male and female hormones, but not all moms-to-be are experiencing unwanted hair growth. Some of them, on the contrary, experience other effects, such as hyper-pigmentation, severe acnes, and swollen body parts. Whether you are to experience belly hair growth or not is defined by how sensitive your skin is. Hirsutism is caused as the result of increased sensitivity of the skin when responding to increasing production of male hormones during pregnancy. Skin sensitivity is different among people and thus, react differently toward testosterone production during the whole 9 months of pregnancy.

Can I get rid of the belly hair?

The excess, unwanted hair growth might bother you, especially when it grows in some visible areas. Some people have a thought of getting rid of this hair. However, some are still in doubt because they are worried it might give effects to the unborn baby when a mother gets rid of the pregnancy hair. Should you want to remove those hair, you need to see first the area where it grows. If your excess hair grows on the sensitive areas like your areolas or pubic triangle, you might want to keep it there. When you are pregnant, your skin is more sensitive than before. Hair removal can be painful and difficult. Thus, it is wise enough to leave unwanted hair in your sensitive areas. Should you have the familiar stomach hair or darker underarm hair, you can tweeze, wax, or shave it to remove the whole hair. Do not refer to laser hair removal during pregnancy as it may affect your unborn. Do it carefully and make sure all the instrument you are using are sterilized. One thing to remember is this is all temporary and will vanish soon after you give birth or finish breastfeeding. So, no worries!