A man has revealed how he was repeatedly mistaken for a woman before the age of 20, until he finally grew a beard and grew five inches thanks to testosterone injections.
Ashley Hemming, 22, from Worcester, said he always felt behind his classmates at school when they started going through puberty and surpassed him in height.
When his friends’ voices began to crack in his teens, he was left “sounding like a girl” with a high-pitched voice and was teased mercilessly for it.
While working in a cafe when he was 19, Ashley says customers often mistaken him for a girl and called him “miss,” “she” or “sweetheart.”
Ashley said she first noticed his “differences” at age 13 and always felt something was wrong with him, but was too embarrassed to go to the doctor.
Ashley Hemming, from Worcester, Worcestershire, was repeatedly mistaken for a woman until he was 20, until testosterone injections finally gave him a beard and he grew five inches (pictured, aged 20).
It wasn’t until he finally plucked up the courage to make a GP appointment in August 2020, with the support of his family, that he was diagnosed with male hypogonadism due to a hormonal condition and started receiving help.
According to the Mayo Clinic, male hypogonadism is a condition in which the body does not produce enough testosterone, which plays a vital role in male growth and development during puberty.
A man may be born with this disorder or it may develop later in life, often caused by injury or infection.
Ashley, now with a deep voice, a beard and a height of 6ft 3in, shared his experience on TikTok to raise awareness about his condition and encourage other guys to seek help.
Ashley said: “I was about 13 when my friends’ voices at school started getting deeper and growing taller than me and growing facial hair, and I wasn’t.” She was still a little boy with a high-pitched voice.
‘At first I thought I was overdue for puberty and thought I’d give it some time, but as I got older, I felt ashamed to talk about it.
“It made me feel very depressed and there was nothing anyone could do. I thought it was going to be like this my whole life.
‘There were some people who liked to make fun of my voice. He was very tall and sounded like a girl.
Ashley, pictured aged 15, claimed he always felt behind his classmates at school when they started going through puberty and surpassed him in height.
Ashley, 21, says he has grown five inches, from 5ft 10in to 6ft 3in, and has become more confident as he continues to receive hormone injections.
Ashley says that after two months of taking hormone boosters in 2021, her voice began to fail and nine months later she began developing facial hair (pictured now 22 years old).
‘I was embarrassed to go to the doctor and didn’t feel like I could talk about it.
‘During Covid I lost my job so I spent a lot of time lying in bed and thinking about my life and how it would be different if I had spoken up. [about how I was feeling].
‘I never had the confidence to ask a girl out as I struggled with my looks and voice.
‘I grew my hair during Covid and got a new job in a cafe and when I used to serve people they would say ‘thank you miss’ or ‘thank you love’.
‘This made me feel very depressed because I am a man and people looked at me as if I were a woman. I was really depressed and just didn’t feel happy.
“I went to the GP and he scheduled me for blood tests and this showed I had low levels of the hormone testosterone.
“I also had an MRI, which showed that the signal in my brain that normally releases these hormones was not working.”
After her initial doctor’s appointment, Ashley met with a hormone specialist and was prescribed biweekly hormone injections to increase her testosterone levels.
Ashley says that after two months of taking hormone boosters in 2021, her voice began to fail and nine months later she began developing facial hair.
Ashley, now with a deep voice, a beard and a height of 6ft 3in, shared his experience on TikTok to raise awareness about his condition and encourage other guys to seek help (pictured now 22 years old).
The support worker, pictured when he was 19, claims he was left “sounding like a girl” with a high-pitched voice and was mocked mercilessly for it.
Ashley said she first noticed his ‘differences’ when she was 13 (pictured) and always felt something was wrong with him, but was too embarrassed to go to the doctor.
Ashley, pictured aged 17, said she had a hard time talking to girls because she didn’t have confidence growing up.
After her initial doctor’s appointment, Ashley met with a hormone specialist and was prescribed biweekly hormone injections to increase her testosterone levels (pictured, now 22 years old).
Ashley now recommends other men seek professional help if they feel their hormones are out of balance and says he wishes he had visited a doctor years before he finally did (pictured, now 22).
He also claims he grew five inches, from 5-foot-10 to 6-foot-3, and has become more confident as he continues to receive hormone injections.
Ashley now recommends other men seek professional help if they feel their hormones are out of balance and says he wishes he had visited a doctor years before he finally did.
Ashley said: “It was a relief to find out something was wrong and I wasn’t thinking all this in my head.”
‘I would tell other people that if they feel something is wrong they should go to the doctor because I wish I had done it four years earlier.
“My confidence has improved a little, but I’m still not at the stage where I feel ready to date.” I am never mistaken for a woman again. It feels good to be called “sir” or “sir” now.
‘The reason I didn’t go to the doctor is because I felt embarrassed and like I was making it up. [how I was feeling].
‘Also, since I was a man, I thought I shouldn’t feel that way. Many men go through this and don’t talk about it.
‘Too many men suffer without saying how they feel and need to talk and go to the doctor.
“Before I was diagnosed with this, I had never heard of this, but recently I have heard of more people who have gone through this.”