Some sympathy for those unfortunate men who can’t grow beards is in order. Because, according to a new study, men sporting full beards are considered more attractive than those with some light stubble.
In other words, there’s a reason thick-bearded celebrities like Jake Gyllenhaal, Chris Hemsworth, and Jamie Dornan elicit affection from all female demographics. As the research paper published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology reports: “Beards consistently render men with an older, more masculine, socially dominant and aggressive appearance.
What’s more, the study finds, “Beards may be more attractive to women when considering long‐term than short‐term relationships as they indicate a male’s ability to successfully compete socially with other males for resources.”
To conduct the study, male subjects were photographed in four different beard lengths: clean shaven, five days post-shaving, 10 days post-shaving, and four weeks without shaving. Around 8,500 women were then polled, rating the men’s picture for attractiveness as a long-term romantic partner.
Heavy stubble (10 day post-shaving) was deemed most attractive, as men with full beards (4 weeks) and those with light stubble were ranked second and third, respectively. Cleanly shaven gentlemen were considered least attractive.
So next time you’re thinking of trimming that stubble from you face, maybe let it go a few more days. You just might grab more attention that way.
