Most women try to take meticulous care of the way our faces look. We like to put on makeup, pluck our eyebrows, and do our best to cover up any blemishes and imperfections.

Now imagine if, while looking closely in the mirror, you discovered a dark hair jutting from your chin. While we may think that will never happen to us, there are some women that have to deal with it every single day.

Although it’s hard to pinpoint the exact cause why some women start growing bristly chin hairs and others don’t, there are a few things that can cause the embarrassing problem, but most of them have some sort of remedy.

Hormones are one of the first things that can play a role in developing a chin hair problem. If our hormones get out of balance and we produce too many male hormones, the result can be chin hair. Women going through menopause are more likely to experience this problem than most younger women.

Two health conditions that affect hormones have also been known to cause chin hair growth. Polycystic Ovary Syndrome affects the way your ovaries work and how your body produces hormones. Cushing’s Syndrome causes your body to produce extra stress hormones called cortisol. This hormone can cause an increase in facial hair production.

Being obese or overweight can affect how your body produces hormones and cause an increase in facial hair production, as can Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia. This condition affects one in every 15,000 children but causes their bodies to produce extra male hormones and may result in chin hair.

Genetics can play a role in whether you develop chin hair too. If your mother had it, you are more likely to develop it. Some ethnicities are more prone to developing excess facial hair as well. Pregnancy, which sends your hormones on a roller coaster ride, can also cause a stray chin hair or two to appear.

Certain medications, like birth control pills, can cause your hormones to change resulting in facial hair too. The last thing you want to do if you see a stray hair on your chin is pluck it, because overplucking can actually darken the hair and cause an increase in growth.