Beards are a strangely researched topic. Scientists around the world have long studied the effect a bit of bristle has on people other than the wearer - and in particular whether it helps men pursue potential mates.
In particular, researchers from the University of Queensland andUniversity of New South Walesseems to be particularly in love. Their 2017 study found that men withfacial hairto have been foundmore attractive.Full beards also look particularly attractivelong-term relationships.
These preferenceschange with popularityof facial hair. When heavy stubble and full beards became less common, they were considered more attractive. Likewise, when everyone grew a beard and clean-shaven faces became rare, being squeaky clean became attractive.
Aversion to beards can be a perception that it is coarse
Now new research is coming outUniversity of Queenslandthe team has pointed out another reason why some women aren't bothered by hairy faces.
According to the researchpublished in the magazineRoyal Society Open ScienceSome women who find men with beards less attractive may be put off by the potential risk of carrying ticks, insects and lice.
“We found that women's aversion to ectoparasites, such as fleas that live on the skin, negatively impacts preferences for men with beards,” saysBarnaby Dixson, who oversaw the investigation (and has a beard).
In other words, women who are disgusted by ticks are less likely to find beards attractive because they think they contain ugliness.
“This may be due to increased cultural trends among men and women to remove hair on multiple parts of the body, including their face, breasts, arms, legs, and pubic area,” says Dixson.
On the other hand, women with high levels of pathogen aversion actually preferred men with beards, which the authors suggest may be due to the parasite stress theory. This theory suggests that people who have more often encountered things that make them sick are perceived as more attractive, because they are likely to be more resistant to the pathogen.
The study asked more than 900 women about how attractive they found bearded and clean-shaven men for long-term and short-term relationships. But it wasn't all bad news for beards. Overall, they found that women rated beards higher in attractiveness than clean-shaven faces, especially when assessing the potential for long-term rather than short-term relationships.
Overall, the results showed a mixed relationship between attractiveness and beards.
But are beards actually infected fungi?
But are they right? Maybe beards are ugly and should be avoided?
While in 2015 a wave of news stories claimed that men's beards contained a shocking amount of feces – including one headlined 'Shocking new research shows that some beards contain more poop than a toilet”. Fortunately, the headline was better than the reality.
A news report from the US had stroked a handful of men's beards and found that half had Enterococcus bacteria. Because these are found in the intestines, this led to the surprising extrapolation that the beard contained feces.
But it isnot accurate. There is a big difference between the presence of bacteria and describing it as feces. Our skin is home to a wide variety of bacteria, and it's not unheard of that some of these are bacteria that also live in our gut.
In a more renowned (and published) scientific study on beards, researchers discovered that beards actually reduce the risk of antibiotic-resistant bacteriagolden staphylococcuslives on the person's skin.
Development? Hard to say
While some arguments have been made that there is an evolutionary reason for liking or disliking facial hair, this is questionable. Most research is conducted in Western countries, with Australia being a particular hotbed of beard research.
The narrow selection introducesserious cultural differences– beards are seen and perceived very differently in different parts of the world.
Although the researchers try to avoid the pitfall of cultural bias by recruiting online, respondents still tend to be heavily Western, with only a small proportion of respondents from other cultures. In studies that present photos of bearded men, the photos are also often predominantly of white men.
All in all, this very Western white perspective makes it difficult to claim any evolutionary reasoning behind the beard's attractiveness.
(This isn't just a beard science problem, approx96 percentof all psychology studies come from WEIRD countries – Western Educated Industrialized Rich Democratic).
And when it comes to attractiveness, it's not even about other variations of sexuality and attractiveness. Do beards attract other beards, or do they repel like charged particles?
So guys, do whatever you want with your face. After all, it's yours - some people will like it and some won't, and that's totally fine. You'll look great either way.
Author's declared conflict of interest: Ben has a beard.
This article was first published on the Australian Science Channel, the original news platform of The Royal Institution of Australia.
