Science Suggests That Women Are More Attracted To Men With Beards

Jan 21, 2019 by apost team

Facial hair trends have changed dramatically over the years, but full beards continue to be popular for men of all ages. In fact, everyone from young hipsters to middle-aged professionals and even retired grandfathers commonly sport a beard today. As popular as beards are for men of all ages, you may be wondering if it is best for you to grow a beard or to remain clean-shaven.

While there are many factors to consider when you decide whether or not to have facial and what style of facial hair to sport, your overall appeal to the opposite sex understandably may be at the top of your list. As you might imagine, heterosexual women have strong feelings about facial hair and about beards in particular.

Finding a mate and settling down may be in your plans for some point in the future, so it makes sense to learn how women feel about beards before you decide what look to move forward with.

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On a biological level, men and women have chosen mates with physical traits that they prefer for reproduction and for survival. A beard has generally indicated a man’s overall maturity as well as his social standing within a community. These are traits that many women have been drawn to either consciously or subconsciously for long-term relationships over many generations.

In a study published in The Journal Of Evolutionary Biology in 2016, 8,500 women viewed photos of clean-shaven men initially. The women then viewed photos of these same men after not shaving for five days, ten days and four weeks.

They were asked to rate the men in terms of their desire to have a short-term or long-term relationship with them at each interval. Other factors related to overall masculinity were also taken into account, such as the man's jawline, brow and more.

The result is that women overwhelmingly selected men with beards and other very masculine traits as ideal mates for long-term relationships.

In addition, men with predominantly masculine facial features were preferred over men with less masculine features for both short-term and long-term mates. Furthermore, the overall appeal of men with less masculine features was improved when the men grew a beard. This may be because the beard hid some of their less masculine features, such as the lack of a strong jawline.

Men may draw on this information in several ways. For example, men may analyze whether or not their natural, unshaven face has very masculine features or lacks significant masculine features. A beard may be grown to improve his masculine look and overall appeal to the opposite sex. This may be particularly important if a man is looking for a serious relationship.

On the other hand, if a man is not ready to settle down and has generally masculine facial features overall, remaining clean-shaven may be helpful for casual dating.

What is your experience with facial hair and romantic relationships? If you are in a short-term or long-term relationship, what do you think about your partner's facial hair? Leave your feedback in the comment section below for other readers to learn from.