Janet Escarcega shares her story about having being born with facial hair and undergoing laser hair removal.

Tell us about you and your story in a nutshell. Who is Janet and which part of your story are you sharing with us today?

I am a fierce, authentic, and joyful Goddess. I love Mama Earth and all the life forces she has created from plant to animal to human. I am believer that nature heals our wholesome being from mind, body, and spirit. I love to dance, to sing, to cook, to read, to learn, and to care for others in need of support. I am of Mexican heritage and proud to be Mexican raised in a household speaking both Spanish and English. I am honored to live in this physical vessel that has taken me to see, smell, taste, hear, touch, and be in stunning places of the world. I am an advocate for self-love, equality, health, respect, and justice.

What inspired you to come out and share your story to the world?

I became inspired to share to the world to bring a conscious awareness to self-love and self-acceptance by bringing to attention facial hair. I came to notice that body hair in general, especially on the face, for a female, is talked about so little in comparison to acne and weight. Yet, when I find myself watching or hearing commercials about razors, waxing, or laser it is subliminally telling me that no hair is meant to exist on the female body. In which to me it means no hair= beautiful. For so long I felt alone in this area of my life because I hit puberty at a young age and many of my friends had little to no hair in comparison to me. When I decided to do laser hair removal, I decided to speak up about it by challenging myself to speak of my vulnerability on social media. Something I have never done before.

You mentioned your affinity with the sunflower especially because of its hairy and beautiful characteristics. Do you always see yourself as a beautiful sunflower?

Oh yes I love sunflowers! It wasn’t until my journey for laser hair removal that I discovered my affinity to sunflowers and identifying myself to them. For a very long time, up until a couple years ago, I did not think of myself as a beautiful flower, much less a sunflower.

Do you think the world will ever be ready to embrace the diversity of beauty everywhere?

While I may have hope that one day everyone will see one another as beautiful humans beings that we already are, regardless of physical characteristics, sadly I won’t live to see that day. At least not in this lifetime.

Beauty is such a subjective topic that varies in meaning depending on the context, culture and  standards and factors attached to it. But for you, what is BEAUTY?

Beauty to me is rawness, authenticity, vulnerability. It is taking a brave risk to opening and showing your heart as it is, whether you are joyful, sad, mad or fiercely passionate.

It varies how it is shown to me, I see it through art in all forms whether its jewelry made from different parts of the world, sculptures, paintings, photographs, pole dancing, or yoga, etc. Recently I have found myself being drawn to naked beauty displayed in so many forms. The art of nudity and posing in front of someone to capture that image in a photo or painting is so beautiful to me. It is so graceful and empowering!

Walk us in your journey to facial Hair Removal. What compelled you to actually do it?

I have always imagined myself without facial hair and always wondered how soft my chin and my jaw would feel without any stubble. I have always imagined how it would feel like waking up only to wash my face and go about my day without a worry of shaving or putting on makeup and taking 20 mins longer .

My family constantly kept encouraging me to do it, yet deep down inside I knew that before I can go for it I simply needed to accept and love myself first as I was no matter how I looked and still find myself beautiful. It took a lot of affirmations, self-care, and constant love and support from my loved ones till I finally decided to do it. I first needed change within me before laser. My crutch was my long luscious mane of curls that everyone complimented me on but little did they know it was the mask I hid behind, so I decided to cut my hair really short (pixie cut short!).

I remember the specific moment that I knew I was ready, that I was accepting and loving of myself enough to make that choice. A man came into the store I worked at the time and questioned whether I was a man or a woman upfront. His words stung because I have been made fun of by men in my teens and early 20’s, how I chose to respond after was to firmly state I am woman and to please continue with his order. After that, I took a moment to myself in the restroom and literally let only a few tears flow out of me. I was proud of myself for the way I responded because his words may have stung but I chose to not let it affect the rest of my day or my life after for that matter.

That test allowed me to finally decide in keeping my facial hair or removing it with laser. I followed my heart and what made my happy and decided to remove it.

Tell us about your journey to self-acceptance. What are the steps and processes that you
did/experienced in order to come to terms with who you are?

One of the steps towards self-acceptance is taking a self-development course that opened me to see what types of limiting beliefs held me back from my true self. I discovered then the hard truth on how low and unworthy I considered myself. I was grateful to be provided with tools and an amazing community that supported me with loving and accepting myself as I was and to continue to love and accept myself in each moment that has followed since then. I believe that movement, such as dance and yoga, also created a foundation to move and transform any type of negative energy I was feeling from the thoughts and feelings I had of myself. Words of affirmation to look at myself in the mirror, naked, and tell myself how beautiful I am have supported me immensely. Also, journaling as much as I can about how I feel really allowed me to get rid of the thoughts and feelings that no longer served me and created space to allow love and acceptance to flow into me. Something else I still incorporate to this day is a Self-care day that I call Sacred Sunday. No matter how busy I may be, I make sure to love myself with either doing a mini spa day with facials and essential oils or treating myself to a nice meal. I go into those moments as a sacred moment to thanking my physical vessel for being healthy and alive and beautiful.

Do you have a message for anyone experiencing any type of beauty and image issues?

You are uniquely designed and beautiful as you are, those stretch marks, scars, love handles, or hairy cheeks (not the ones on your face) make you the masterpiece that you are! The cells that make your very being will never repeat themselves with anyone else! You may have heard this before, and it won’t be until you truly listen that your inner beauty shines far more brightly than your outer, and by inner beauty I mean your heart. I see you, and you are not alone. Speak your own truth from your heart and trust me when I say that you will change a person's life. The world is waiting to experience you and your gifts.

Any memorable experiences that you wanna share about your journey so far?

Honestly, sharing here in this platform has been memorable. Sharing on social media to being given the opportunity to share my story here is something I will forever be grateful.

If you’re a book, what type of book are you and why?

I am an open book with a blank cover leaving you as the reader to interpret and judge as you wish. Being open is receiving and taking on the lessons in life for growth, it is also an act of acceptance. The blank cover is a cover filled with an overflow of imagination that is interchangeable, yet also simple by design.

If you will be given the chance and opportunity to help a specific charity, what would it be and why?

My heart and soul go out to every charity. Yet I know for the moment, if given the chance I would help burned victims, specifically children and women at Burn Rescue.