Each individual experiences hair growth on their body but sometimes, there is excessive, coarse hair growth. This can get frustrating, embarrassing and often depressing for many. Many times, however, excessive body hair could also be part of the natural ageing process wherein your oestrogen level starts to decline, altering the balance of oestrogens and testosterone in your body. With your body producing less oestrogens and thus increasing the levels of testosterone in your body, you would then end up with excessive hair growth.

What causes excess body hair?
Ageing is the most common reason for excess body hair growth, however, that is not always the case and there are a number of other factors that could cause excess body hair growth.

• Hirsutism is a condition in which excessive hair growth often appears suddenly in places where normal men would have hair growth. This could be a genetic condition but could also get triggered due to certain medications.
• Higher production of testosterone in women could lead to excessive hair growth.
• Certain hormonal changes, specifically the hormonal imbalance caused by Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), a common condition among pre-menopausal women, which causes cysts to grow around the edge of the ovaries, could lead to excessive hair growth.
• Menopause could also cause a hormonal imbalance leading to increasing levels of testosterone, followed by excessive body hair growth.
• Cushing’s Syndrome could cause excessive body hair growth among women. This is caused because the body affected by this syndrome, is exposed to high levels of the hormone cortisol for a prolonged period. This could happen if your body produces cortisol in excess or if you take corticosteroids over a long period of time.
• Congenital adrenal hyperplasia is a hereditary condition which affects the adrenal glands that produce the sex hormones. This could lead to an imbalance that would lead to excess body hair.