Stacey Solomon shares inspirational photo of her hairy pregnancy bump

The star's fans praised her bravery for sharing the photo

panellist Stacey Solomon has stood up for hairy women the world over with her latest Instagram post. The former star is pregnant with her third child – her first with partner Joe Swash – and has grown a little hair on her stomach while expecting. Instead of hiding it away, the star has proudly bared her furry tummy for all to see and asked her Instagram followers for their theories as to why the hair grows there during pregnancy. "I think I’m pregnant with a Furby," writes Stacey. "I need to know... Did anyone else’s belly just suddenly become covered in fur?"

Photo credit: Instagram/ Stacey Solomon

The mum-of-two continued: "I'm not sure if you can see it but all of the grainy little lines are blonde hairs that I’ve never had before and now I’ve now started sprouting some lovely thick, wiry black ones around my belly button. I’ve always had my hair tummy snail trail which is a line of hair that practically goes from my cleavage all the way done to my hoo-ha but never an all over fuzz."

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Stacey added: "I’m not upset by it one bit, I’ve always loved my, furrier than most body. I’m just so fascinated as to why this happens? What does it mean? Is it to keep the Furby warm?"

There were plenty of comments for Stacey, many from women who had experienced a hairy tummy during their pregnancies. One fan posted: "It's just a hormonal thing, should go when bubba arrived, love your confidence, you're amazing." Another said: "Yes mine did! Not sure why but it has gone again now. Do not... I repeat DO NOT shave it! Leave it! Haha."

One follower admired Stacey's post a lot, saying: "Pregnancy hormones [heart emojis] it’s about time we started normalising the fact that it’s normal for women to have body hair so thank you for sharing this mama! You’re an inspiration to us all."

Photo credit: Instagram/ Stacey Solomon

There was even some advice from a midwife who confirmed it's all down to hormonal changes. She posted: "Your body produces androgen hormones… male hormones such as testosterone which are naturally present in females. This hormone increases in pregnancy which alters where the hair grows in the body. This is why many women suddenly have increased hair around the belly button, breasts, or even completely covering the abdomen."

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The midwife added that oestrogen also plays a part in hair growth during pregnancy when hair can go into a resting stage, thus growing thicker. The hair can take between 3-6 months to fall out, she revealed. "Women are amazing, I’m super happy you’ve posted this."

There was also one quite funny message from fellow celebrity Keith Lemon who simply wrote: "Teen Wolf!" We're sure Stacey had a giggle at that.

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