Short answer
Yes. If a woman grows hair on her chin, upper lip or cheeks, removing it is not only allowed but recommended in the Hanafi school, by shaving, threading, waxing, cream or laser. The one exception is the eyebrows: plucking or thinning them for beauty is haram unless they are abnormal.
Removing a beard or moustache that grows on a woman is mustahabb, and removing other facial hair is permitted. The forbidden nams (plucking) refers to thinning or shaping the eyebrows for beauty. Any method of removal is allowed.
The four schools agree on this.
Explanation
The Prophet ﷺ cursed women who pluck and have their hair plucked (al-namisat wal-mutanammisat), along with those who tattoo and those who change Allah's creation for beauty. The Hanafi scholars explain that this refers to the eyebrows, and to changing what is normal for a woman. Hair growing on a woman's chin or lip is not normal for her, and removing it restores her natural appearance, so Ibn Abidin says it is recommended rather than forbidden.
In practice:
- Upper lip, chin, jaw, sideburns, cheeks: allowed to remove by any method. Removing a beard or moustache is recommended.
- Fine facial hair: allowed to remove, especially to beautify yourself for your husband.
- Hair between the eyebrows: many Hanafi muftis allow removing a unibrow, since it is not the eyebrow itself. Some are more cautious.
- The eyebrows themselves: plucking, threading or shaving to thin or shape them is haram, unless they are so thick or uneven that they look abnormal. See is plucking eyebrows haram.
- Laser or electrolysis: allowed, by a female practitioner.
Excess facial hair can also be a sign of a medical condition such as PCOS, so it is worth seeing a doctor. For other body hair, see shaving and laser for body hair, and for eyebrow shaving trends, eyebrow slits.
The evidence
Quran, Surah An-Nisaa 4:119
وَلَأُضِلَّنَّهُمْ وَلَأُمَنِّيَنَّهُمْ وَلَءَامُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُبَتِّكُنَّ ءَاذَانَ ٱلْأَنْعَٰمِ وَلَءَامُرَنَّهُمْ فَلَيُغَيِّرُنَّ خَلْقَ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَمَن يَتَّخِذِ ٱلشَّيْطَٰنَ وَلِيًّۭا مِّن دُونِ ٱللَّهِ فَقَدْ خَسِرَ خُسْرَانًۭا مُّبِينًۭا ﴿١١٩﴾
And I will mislead them, and I will arouse in them [sinful] desires, and I will command them so they will slit the ears of cattle, and I will command them so they will change the creation of Allah." And whoever takes Satan as an ally instead of Allah has certainly sustained a clear loss.
The prohibition is on changing what is natural, which removing abnormal facial hair does not do.
Sahih Muslim 2125
Sahih... لعن الله الواشمات والمستوشمات والنامصات والمتنمصات ...
"Allah has cursed the women who tattoo and are tattooed, and the women who pluck and have their hair plucked."
The basis for the ban on plucking the eyebrows, which the jurists limit to the eyebrows and normal features.
Where the ruling is recorded
- Radd al-Muhtar (Ibn Abidin), Kitab al-Hazr wa al-Ibaha, on nams. If a woman grows a beard or moustache, removing it is not forbidden but recommended.
Checked by our team. For a more accurate answer to your own situation, consult a scholar. Quran translation by Sahih International. Hadith Arabic from the standard editions of the six books and the Muwatta, with gradings as recorded there; the English is our own rendering. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.