It is common knowledge that a circus is not complete without a ‘bearded woman’. Meet Dakota Cook, she has a hormonal-based medical condition that causes her to grow a full beard. She has decided to ditch her razor, and is making the most of her body. She is now happily working as a Sideshow performer in a circus in Las Vegas. There she performs in her own show as The Bearded Lady.

The bearded woman, Dakota Cooke, first became aware of her facial hair when she was 13 years old as she made her way into puberty. She was growing light and fluffy hairs at first, but they later became much darker and grew longer. “When I hit puberty at 13, I guess I got hit with a little bit extra,” said Dakota. “It started out with peach fuzz on my face that started to get longer and dark.”

Her stepfather took her to a salon for her first facial hair wax after a family friend informed her parents. “A family friend pointed it out at the time, so my step dad took me to the doctor for tests, and then to the hair salon for my first ever wax,” Dakota explained. “It was extremely uncomfortable, and I was just learning how to shave my legs at the time.”

Dakota was always self-conscious about her facial hair, especially given her generation. “I grew up in a time when women with facial hair were so stigmatized that the women at the salon were telling me how girls aren’t supposed to grow facial hair,” she explained. As a result, Dakota’s life became a ritual of waxing her facial hair. “I guess that stuck with me, because for the next ten years, I kind of just sunk into this shame spiral where I’d try to hide my face in photos and be attending waxing sessions every week,” Dakota explained.