Why do I have facial hair when I have barely started puberty?

Last updated on December 11, 2022

Question:

Why is it that I have facial hair even though I’ve barely started puberty? I got a 2.1 on the Tanner Stage Calculator and the hair on the corners of my upper lip is darker now. I thought facial hair doesn’t come until Tanner Stage 4. Is something wrong with me?

Answer:

Hair on the upper lip is generally a sign of being in Stage 3 of development.

Different people develop in different ways. I remember one boy whose first sign of puberty that he noticed was hair on his back. That typically doesn’t appear until stage 5. Everything else about his development was similar to other males. It is possible that your lip hair just got an early start. It is also possible that some of the questions were answered incorrectly in the Tanner Stage Calculator so it gave a lower result than it should have. It is also possible that there is an error in the calculator that I’ve missed. Unfortunately, I can’t say which is most likely because I don’t know your answers and I can’t see you in order to compare your answers to your growth so far.