Bearded Men Make Better Committed Lovers!! Sweet Research

Kind of had a hunch on this, research just proves it. Hehehe. Sweet! Why would a man be smooth and cleanly shaved sef? You'll look like a girl. 

It seems good looks, intelligence and huge pockets are no longer enough to determine what would make a woman to find a man attractive. One other thing that some people seem not to have paid attention to is beard.

Some studies have argued that beards make men look more mature, confident, older, competent and more intimidating in their outlook than those who are clean-shaven. This, perhaps, is one of the reasons why more men are keeping their beards, because Amazon.co.uk also found that sales of beard trimmers have grown by 47 per cent this year.

In a cursory look at some other benefits of keeping beards, a study, published on yourtango.com, has found out that men with beards look wiser, tougher and as much as eight years older than their clean shaven counterparts. While another study found that beards or stubble scares away the bad guys by making their jaw line look bigger, thereby making them look more notorious and aggressive when angry.

“All these put together, whilst maintaining their good looks, represent what most women want in their partner, in terms of security and being a protective father for their children,” one of the studies pointed out.

In another study, it was found that keeping beards gives men a youthful look because it blocks up to 95 per cent of the sun’s ultraviolet rays from hitting the skin directly. “And we all know that over-exposure to the sun means a higher risk of melanoma. Actually, four out of five cases in men appear on the face, head or neck and the sun causes up to 90 per cent of the visible signs of aging. So, beyond the use of sunscreen, keeping beards will make the jaw line spot-free and smooth,” the study added.

Beard is simply the hair growth on the chin and lower cheeks of a man’s face, and, notably, it means different things to different people, which also determines whether they would keep it or not. A variant of beard is stubble, which means short, stiff hairs growing on a man’s face when he has not shaved for a while, say about 10 days.

To some men, beard or stubble is like a confidence badge that they wear on their faces, impacting so much on their courage and poise. It is also instructive to note that not all men keep beards to make them look more mature, some do it for undisclosed reasons, and there is the religious angle as well, which varies widely.

However, a study by some researchers, Barnaby Dixson and Robert Brooks, from the University of New South Wales, Australia, has shown that men with beards look hotter and that women prefer them compared to those who are clean-shaven.

The study, titled “The role of facial hair in women’s perceptions of men’s attractiveness, health, masculinity and parenting abilities,” was published in journal of evolution and human behaviour.

The study, in which 351 heterosexual women and 177 heterosexual men participated, involved the participants rating the health, attractiveness, masculinity and parenting ability of men based on looking at their photographs at different stages of the growth of their beards.

The stages identified included clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble and fully bearded. At the end of the study, it was found that both men and women rated men with beards as more attractive and as better parents than those who were clean-shaven.

The researchers said on ehbonline.org that, “We quantified men’s and women’s judgements of attractiveness, health, masculinity and parenting abilities for photographs of men who were clean-shaven, lightly or heavily stubbled and fully bearded.

“We also tested the effect of the menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive use on women’s ratings. Women judged faces with heavy stubble as most attractive and heavy beards, light stubble and clean-shaven faces as similarly less attractive. In contrast, men rated full beards and heavy stubble as most attractive, followed closely by clean-shaven and light stubble as least attractive because a threshold of density and distribution may be necessary for beards to function as an attractive signal.

“Men and women rated full beards highest for parenting ability and healthiness. Masculinity ratings increased linearly as facial hair increased, and this effect was more pronounced in women in the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle, although attractiveness ratings did not differ according to fertility.

“Therefore, our findings confirm that having beard affects the judgement of male socio-sexual attributes and suggest that an intermediate level of beardedness is most attractive, while full-bearded men may be perceived as better fathers who could protect and invest in offspring.

“Even though some people say that real men can’t grow beards, it seems that for some, a bearded man connotes a tough, aggressive, masculine persona and an ideal romantic partner.”

Apart from the fact that it boosts manliness, promotes the perception of maturity and a man’s stamina, it was also found to be a measure of a man’s level of patience and commitment.

A report on thoughtcatalog.com explained that men with beards show a higher level of commitment and patience, because the ability of such men to wait for the hair to grow, nurture and maintain it say a lot about their patience level.

The report said, “Beards take an incredible amount of time and patience to grow. A man with a thick beard most likely put several months, if not years into growing it out and grooming it. They went through multiple debates about whether or not to shave it off and go back to bare cheeks.

“This dedication to something, even something as seemingly trivial as a hair style, shows that the man sticks to his convictions and will commit to other things as well. Bearded men don’t shy away from commitment.”

Even in terms of romance, it has been observed that beards that are neat and well taken care of offer a soft and pleasant feel, which many women would find attractive and romantic.

However, a microbiologist, John Golobic, once said that while some beards have a normal level of bacteria, the level of bacteria in some other beards could be compared to those in a toilet, noting that good hygiene would be the only key to reduce beard bacteria.

Reacting to the study, a professor of psychology, Oni Fagboungbe, said even though not all women would be attracted to men with beard, the findings of the study would have been more of the respondents’ perception than qualitative research work.

He explained that beard is one of the physiological changes in men that tend to be perceived as a sign of maturity.

He said, “When an adolescent is moving towards adulthood, you would see beard coming out, accompanied by deep voice and some other physiological growth in the body, and generally, people see those physiological properties as sign of maturity. However, it is true that men with beards look more intimidating because of their outlook.

“I don’t have any empirical evidence to support those findings, so I see it as more of people’s perception than the outcome of a study.”

Fagboungbe cautioned that such people could look suspicious, compared to those who are cleaned shaven.

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