While some women are attracted to men with beards, others are more pulled to clean-shaven men – and now a study has uncovered why this could be the case.
A team of scientists at the University of Queensland has found that women who dislike beards may be put off due to their potential to carry ticks, bugs and lice.
Dr. Barnaby Dixson, one of the Sr. author of the study, detailed:
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We found women’s disgust towards ectoparasites – such as fleas that live on the skin – negatively affects preferences for men with beards.
This could be due to the increased cultural trends for men and women to remove hair in more regions of the body including their faces, chests, arms, legs and pubic region.
This is the first study to provide evidence to support the ectoparasite avoidance hypothesis which argues that hairlessness evolved partly in response to parasite abundance to reduce the likelihood of hosting disease carrying parasites.
To carry out the study, the team reviewed 919 women about their relationship status and opinions towards beards.
The results of the study showed that single women who wanted to have children preferred me with clean-shaven faces, while married women’s preferences were not linked to their desire for children.
While you might think that women’s worries about lice in beards are unfounded, a recent study suggests that there could be some truth to it.
A study by Switzerland’s Hirslanded Clinic recently found that men with beards carry more germs than dogs.
In the study, the team sampled the beards of 18 men, as well as the necks of 30 dogs.
The analysis revealed that nearly half (7) of the beards sampled contained germs known to be dangerous to human health.
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Meanwhile, all 18 men had high microbial counts in their beards, while just 23 of the dogs did so.
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