Tired of Plucking Chin Hair? The 5 Best Fixes for Women Over 50, According to Dermatologists
There’s even a tea you can sip that’s study-proven to help reduce hair growth!
Key Takeaways
- Chin hair in women is driven by hormones—and nearly always gets worse with age.
- Spearmint tea, zinc and cyperus rotundus oil may slow growth with minimal risk.
- For meaningful reduction, laser or electrolysis remain your most effective options.
If you’re among the millions of women at least a little obsessed with your chin hair, actress Sandra Bullock, 62, can relate. “My sister and I have an agreement. Should one of us be in a coma, the other one has to come to the hospital and always pluck the chin hair,” she recently shared with a laugh on the talk show Royal Court. Because even when the rest of you is shutting down, those pesky hairs “are gonna grow without permission.”
It actually got us thinking: Besides constant plucking or shaving, is there anything we can do to keep chin hair at bay? Turns out, we have options, including several DIY hacks. And Purvisha Patel, MD, named best dermatologist in the Memphis area five years running, is here to help break them down for us.
Why chin hair in women gets worse as we age
Some of us are simply genetically prone to hair growth on our chins. That said, it definitely gets worse with age. As estrogen drops over time, the adrenal glands and ovaries continue to produce androgen hormones that drive hair growth. “This shift stimulates ‘peach fuzz’ hairs on the chin and upper lip to transition into coarse, dark hairs,” explains Dr. Patel, founder of Visha Skincare. It’s harmless, of course, but makes many of us feel self-conscious.
The 5 best ways women can get rid of chin hair
We’re going to start with the cheapest and easiest options. Scroll to the end for your most effective bets for unwanted facial hair growth.
Sip spearmint tea
In small tests on women with excess androgen hormones, drinking spearmint tea twice daily showed a “clear and significant alteration in the relevant hormone levels” and reported less hair growth, per a British study in the journal Phytotherapy Research. While bigger and longer trials are needed to determine how well the anti-androgen compounds in the tea work, “there is no harm in drinking two cups a day,” says Dr. Patel. It may make your chin hair grow slower. And, hey, if it doesn’t work for you, it’ll still be tasty!
Check your zinc levels
Chin-hair prone women (with PMOS, a syndrome that leads to excess androgen hormones) who got 50 mg of zinc a day for eight weeks experienced a significant decrease in excess growth—six times greater than women who got no extra zinc, according to a study in Biological Trace Element Research. Zinc is thought to reduce production of DHT, an androgen hormone that stimulates hair follicles to produce darker and coarser hair.
This strategy will likely only work if you’re deficient in zinc, cautions Dr. Patel. If you are, it’s pretty easy to fix with food. Oysters are by far the richest source, with 50 mg zinc in just two ounces. Other good sources include beef, shellfish and pork (up to 3 to 7 mg per serving). Beans, nuts and seeds are decent vegetarian sources (1 to 2 mg per serving). Only use a supplement under a doctor’s care, cautions Dr. Patel, since too much zinc can be harmful.
Try this TikTok-famous oil
Plenty of women on TikTok rave about Cyperus rotundus oil, and they often cite a scientific study while doing it. Indeed, findings published in Aesthetic Surgery Journal found that the essential oil reduced hair as much as laser treatments in a small study. And it seemed to work better than a laser on gray hair.
While that’s an amazing result, no follow up studies have been done, so it’s far from definitive. And oil sold to consumers is typically diluted and “may not contain the same botanical species, extraction method, concentration, purity or formulation used in the study,” cautions Vanessa Coppola, MS, FNP-BC, a board-certified menopause expert, nurse practitioner and founder of Bare Aesthetic Med Spa. If you’re motivated to try cyperus oil to target excessive hair growth and don’t mind dropping $25 or so, it’s likely fine—but test the oil on a small area first to be sure it doesn’t cause irritation.
Get an Rx cream at discount prices
Here’s one option conclusively proven to reduce hair growth in postmenopausal women and specifically on chin hair. Eflornithine cream—once sold as the pricey prescription Vaniqa, but discontinued in 2023—is now available in a compounded version from telehealth providers like Musely and Wisp for a much lower cost, about $30 to $45 per month for a small treatment area. “It’s a great option to slow the rate of hair growth,” confirms Dr. Patel. “It’s effective.” The main caveat: Hair slowly regrows if you stop using it.
Ask about in-office options
If you really want significant hair reduction, laser treatments or electrolysis are the way to go, says Dr. Patel. Electrolysis takes a bit longer (as follicles are treated one by one and can only be treated when hair is in the active growth phase); it takes 15 to 30 sessions at a minimum of $25 each. Laser hair removal treats many hairs at once and takes about six to eight sessions that cost at a minimum of $50 each. Also key: Laser treatments work far better for women with light skin and dark hair, and they don’t work for gray or white hair at all.
Are these chin-hair removal options out of your price range? Don’t forget that “shaving, careful tweezing, threading and facial depilatories can provide safe and effective daily control,” adds Coppola.
The bottom line on minimizing chin hair growth in women
Unwanted chin hair is a nuisance most women–even A-list celebs!—deal with. And you are now armed with lots of strategies to help minimize growth. We wish you smooth sailing from here on out!
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