“Did you shave your face today?” This may seem like an innocent enough question, but I was floored that someone was asking me that. I was at my first appointment to get laser hair removal and I thought my unwanted hair was under control. I hadn’t ever even considered shaving my face before, but having the technician ask me if I had shaved, made me feel as if I had failed, not only in my hair battle but as a cis female. Luckily, models like Sophia Hadjipanteli are making facial hair on women a trend worth keeping.

One day, Sophia Hadjipanteli, a business school student, unsigned model, and social media influencer, failed horribly at tinting her unibrow. She thought her haircare blunder would receive a negative response but quite the opposite happened. Her unique look and accidental embracing of her facial hair caused her Instagram account to explode. Overnight she took the beauty world by storm and started booking work as the “unibrow model” or our IRL Helga G. Pataki. The popularity of Sophia Hadjipanteli and her social media gave women who struggle with excess body hair some hope that facial hair on women could become “a thing.”

As women, it seems as if we spend half our lives on hair removal. We wax, thread, pluck, electrolyze, shave, laser, and anything else that promises to remove our unwanted hair on our bodies. For much of our hair removal, we have to go to professionals to eradicate it. When we try to do it ourselves, there always are nicks, cuts, and blood drawn, and the truth is, we aren’t trained in hair removal and it shows. Making facial hair on women trendy would mitigate all of the strife.

Seeing facial hair on women is common with PCOS (Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome,) adrenal gland disorders, genetic conditions, medications—and anything that creates changes in hormone balance. And, you won’t just find facial hair on women who are older or overweight. It happens to any woman at any time and that goes for transwomen too. For some transwomen, getting rid of facial hair is integral to the transitioning.

Have you ever been watching T.V. or sitting at your computer, and you suddenly discover a long hair sprouting out of your face? You’ve had a little peach fuzz on your face, but you never thought that someone under the age of 70 could sprout a chin-hair. You’re horrified and think of all the other things that could be affecting your appearance that you’re not even aware of. You promise yourself to be more diligent about making sure there are no random hairs on your face or anything else embarrassing. However, sometimes, that one chin hair is just the beginning of a losing battle of hirsutism (the condition of excessive and unwanted hair) and you’re looking at decades of fighting unwanted hair growth. But, if those decades worth of hair growth can lead to a modeling contract, then c'est la vie. Let’s celebrate facial hair on women so we can all receive our “come up.”

Sometimes facial hair on women is caused by medication. The meds I take for my endometriosis have caused me to experiences excess facial hair growth. So, no matter how hard I try, I still feel like I’m losing the facial hair battle. When I see facial hair on women who have surrendered like Sophia Hadjipantel and motivational speaker, Harnaam Kaur, or proud bearded lady Annalisa Hackleman, I’m impressed. In fact, women who rock beards, makes me want to start a rebellion where facial hair on women is a movement of women slaying all different kinds of facial hair fashion.

So, ladies, don’t wax that stache, or unibrow—instead of hiding our facial hair, let’s make facial hair on women a trend. The last thing you want is hair boredom of any kind, and one way to take your power back is to own your facial hair and make it cool.

5 Beauty Trends That Would Embrace Facial Hair on Women

Beards, beards, beards: come on ladies, let’s have some fun with those beards. Put beads, glitter, and tiny toys inside your beard, weave jewelry in them and create different looks with colorful hair accessories like barrettes, rubber bands, and hair clips. Braid your beard in fun ways such as a fishtail, French, or add extensions and make waterfall braids. Let your creativity go wild. Dress your beard up or down for the occasion. If you want to be wacky and out there, try putting Mardi Gras beads, cocktail umbrellas, Fruit Loops cereal, and Legos in your beard. You’ll definitely stand out in a crowd.

Don’t forget your toothbrush mustache: Charlie Chaplin was known for sporting a “toothbrush mustache,” so let’s prettify that hair above your upper lip. You may have tried bleaching your mustache before, how about dying it all the colors of the rainbow and having a unicorn-stache? Another idea is to cut tiny lines into your mustache like eyebrow slits. Eyebrow slits had their moment on Instagram, why shouldn’t female mustache slits blow up the internet too?

It’s all about the ombre: A popular facial hairstyle for men is the Van Dyke, the growth of both a mustache and goatee with all the hair on the cheeks shaven. Women can be more imaginative than that. Why not use the ombre technique on your facial hair, gradually going from color hue to another, moving from light to dark so that the lightest part is the mustache and the darkest part is the tip of the goatee.

Gorgeous Goatees: Cut that small patch of hair on your chin in fun shapes or words. You make twice the statement when you do something creative with that chin-hair. Think of it as a tattoo only you’re making a personal statement using facial hair.

Behind the Chin Curtain: A chin curtain (aka an Amish beard) is facial hair along the jawline (sometimes including the chin itself) that is long enough to hang below the jaw—just like a curtain that hangs from a rod. Think of it as fringe for the face. The wearer can cut the hair so that it hugs the chin line or let it grow long enough so that it sways like a curtain. Attach small bells to the chin hair and become your own portable wind chimes.

Unibrows: Channel your inner Sophia Hadjipanteli and let your unibrow grow in thick and bushy. Play around with different temporary dyes for an ever-changing fashion-forward look.

Men have long cornered facial hair fashion, now it’s time for everyone (regardless of gender) to get in on the fun and turn something that causes frustration, shame, and can negatively affect our feelings of self-esteem and confidence, into a form of self- expression.

So, throw away those tweezers, cancel your appointment at the laser clinic, embrace facial hair on women, and maybe one day someday someone will tell you, “Girl, your facial hair is on point.”