Talking with your doctor isn’t always easy. Whether you are afraid she will judge you, you just don’t feel comfortable sharing the intimate details of your life between the sheets, or you can’t think straight with a speculum between your legs, many people get tight lipped in the doctor’s office. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have questions.

We thought we’d help and every Thursday our friend Dr. Lissa Rankin will be answering your questions. The ones you couldn’t ask your doctor in person. Just leave your questions in the comments, or send em over to us. (We’ll keep it all anonymous for you.) Dr. Lissa will answer anything – really, anything – about sex and other lady things. Don’t be shy; she’s waiting for ya!

Q: A few months ago I was sitting with my BF and he thought I had something on my cheek. He went to pull it off and…it was a long, dark hair….growing out of my face. I was mortified, but figured it was a one-time deal. But now I’m finding these hairs popping up more often. They are dark and big and show up on my cheek and neck. Do I have too much testosterone or something? Is this fixable??

Help – it’s really embarrassing.

A: I know how you feel. In fact, I have a few sprouters myself.  Nothing like a big black facial hair to spoil the mood. I wish I knew more about what else is going on with your hair growth. Are the hairs growing out of moles? How many are there? Do you have hair on your chest, under your belly button, or around your nipples? Are your arms hairier than normal? Do you tend to get acne?  These would all give me some idea of how much testosterone you may have in your body.

Finding the occasional facial hair is not uncommon for a woman.  An individual’s hair distribution is influenced by androgens like testosterone, the hormones we typically think of as being exclusively male.  Androgens also exist in females, though in lower concentrations.  Androgens can be produced by the adrenal glands, as well as by the ovaries, and higher levels of androgens lead to more hair growth. Each woman’s hair distribution may change over time, since hormones fluctuate widely from puberty, through the reproductive years, to menopause, and beyond.

If you tend to be on the hairier side, you may also have hair on your upper lip, chin, around your nipples, and below your belly button.  Check out Mom. If she looks like you, chances are everything is fine. But if you’ve been relatively hairless and suddenly you feel like a monkey, see your doctor. You may have a condition we call hirsutism. Your doctor will examine you, check hormone levels, and evaluate whether you’re taking medication that can cause hair growth as a side effect. Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) can cause excessive hair growth, as can hormone-producing tumors and rare conditions such as congenital adrenal hyperplasia and Cushing’s syndrome.

If your hair growth is the result of a medical condition, the condition may be treatable. For example, facial hair resulting from PCOS sometimes responds to the medication spironolactone. Otherwise, there’s always plucking, waxing, or electrolysis.  Keep in mind that a few facial hairs shouldn’t get in the way of your confidence and is nothing to be embarrassed about. You’re beautiful just the way you are.

–Dr. Lissa Rankin’s book, What’s Up Down There? Questions You’d Only Ask Your Gynecologist If She Was Your Best Friend, will be published by St. Martin’s Press in Fall 2010. She invites you to join her Pink online community (www.owningpink.com/forum) or read more of her writing at Owning Pink (www.owningpink.com).

We all know we don’t want hair down there, but red bumps; not really the look I am going for. Not to mention the in-grown hairs, the itchiness, or all the other problems that come with taking care of the situation. As if getting our bodies bikini-ready wasn’t challenging enough – now we are stuck with what is often times a force to be reckoned with: Bikini Hair Removal.

So in efforts to prepare you to grin and bare it this summer (hey, you didn’t spend all that time doing extra crunches for nothing, lady!) here are some pro/cons on the latest – as well as the tried and true – hair removal tips for your bikini line.

Shaving:

Pros: This method is great if you are in a pinch. It’s quick, easy and cheap.

Cons: Shaving only removes the hair above the surface, so hair can show up again the very same day (thank your foreign, hairy grandmother for inheriting her genes). Shaving often times leads to in-growns and those icky razor bumps. If you choose to go this route: hold skin taught while shaving, change the razor often, and trim before shaving, if needed. Also, shave in the direction that hair grows and wait to shave until after the shower when your skin has been softened by the warm water.

Waxing: While I personally do not recommend do-it-yourself waxing, there are people (crazy bitches) who do it. Waxing is best accomplished by a professional.

Pros: Since waxing removes hair from the root, it should last anywhere from 4-8 weeks, and the more often you do it, the slower the hair grows back.

Cons: No one ever said pain was cheap (though I constantly wonder why I spend so much to be abused)… bikini waxes can run from $30-100 dollars per wax, depending on how much you take off. Waxing can also cause in-growns, so it’s important to exfoliate. Other things to consider: Not only is it painful (take a pain reliever an hour before you go and avoid waxing a week before your period when you are the most sensitive, due to heightened levels of estrogen), it can be nerve wracking if you are a first-timer and relatively modest. What I tell my friends: your waxer has seen more vagina’s than she can even remember. So just put your dignity aside and (try to) relax.

Depilatory Creams: Depilatories use chemicals that react with the protein structure of the hair to literally melt the hair away. I am sure everyone remembers those lovely commercials, “Nair wears short shorts!”

Pros: Hair removal creams (like Nair) are inexpensive, easily accessible, quick and painless (you leave them on for 3-15 minutes and then wash off).

Cons: The awful smell. Seriously, it is like rotton eggs on your hoohah. Not sure it is worth the misery. Also, many people find that their skin becomes irritated from Depilatories, so make sure to do a skin test before using it.

Laser: How it works: the laser targets melanin, which is found in the hair, and breaks the follicle preventing further hair growth. Laser is said to work best on light skin/dark hair combination and is not recommended for those with darker skin tones.

Pros: An effective way to completely remove bikini hair once and for all. Relatively pain free (it’s said to feel like a small rubber band snapping your skin), and sessions are usually pretty quick.

Cons: Very expensive. Laser costs around $400 a session – and the average woman requires 5 sessions, plus once a year maintenance. You also can’t shave or be exposed to the sun in between sessions, which totally ruins your summer plans of sitting poolside. This would be a good option to consider starting in the winter, so that, come bikini season, you are already swimsuit ready.

Interested in laser? Visit the hair removal forum to get all the information you need before you go. Seriously, you don’t want any surprises. They even have a full list of local providers so you can find someone now and get that business taken care of.

Whatever option you choose, there is one must-have product for bikini zone happiness: Tend Skin. When that hair starts making a comeback, this is the best product for reducing and preventing those infamous in-grown hairs.

Got any other bikini zone tips to share? We can use all the help we can get…

[Photo courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald]