Men With Beards Are Officially More Desirable To Women

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Facial fuzz is becoming increasingly fashionable and it seems like men everywhere are growing beards.

Whether they’re for warmth or for style, beards are here to stay and, according to science, they might be a welcome way of wearing facial hair as far as women are concerned.

A study published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology discovered that men with beards are universally more attractive than those without.

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Conducting ‘The Masculinity Paradox’ study, researchers asked 8,520 women to rate men, both with and without facial hair, on a spectrum of ‘relationship longevity’.

A mind-blowing 8,520 women preferred their men unshaven.

That’s a 10o per cent success rate for the boys with beards, across a pretty big cross-section of women. You just can’t argue with those stats.

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You’d be forgiven for mistaking a few furry-faced men for Chewbacca cosplayers, but actually, online research found that men with beards are seen as more mature and better long term partners.

The researchers explained: 

Male-typical facial features such as a pronounced brow ridge and a more robust jawline may signal underlying health, whereas beards may signal men’s age and masculine social dominance.

However, masculine faces are judged as more attractive for short-term relationships over less masculine faces, whereas beards are judged as more attractive than clean-shaven faces for long-term relationships.

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This is because beards actually blur the lines between masculinity and femininity.

The research found that an angular jaw is an indicator of high testosterone levels, which aren’t necessarily attractive for women looking for a long term partner.

On the other hand, beards imply maturity and ‘social dominance’.

Francesca Donovan

A former emo kid who talks too much about 8Chan meme culture, the Kardashian Klan, and how her smartphone is probably killing her. Francesca is a Cardiff University Journalism Masters grad who has done words for BBC, ELLE, The Debrief, DAZED, an art magazine you’ve never heard of and a feminist zine which never went to print.