Women Prefer Men with Stubble, Says Beard Study - HackCollege

Women Prefer Men with Stubble, Says Beard Study - HackCollege: "Gentlemen, put down your razors.

If you’re a college-aged man, chances are you’ve found shaving to be a task that’s just a bit too time consuming to fit in the five minutes you have between waking up and going to class. Thankfully, a new study from Australia says that your 10 o’clock shadow may actually help you land a date after finding that most women like men with heavy stubble over clean-shaven, lightly-stubbled or fully-bearded men.

Not only has the study found that women prefer men with stubble, the study also discovered that other straight men are partial to the heavily-stubbled as well, although they also ranked their peers with full-beards higher than most women.

The study, conducted by professors Barnaby J. Dixson and Rob C. Brooks of the University of New South Wales, involved 177 heterosexual men and 351 women who were shown photos of 10 men who were smiling. Each man was then shown at four stages of beard growth: first clean shaven, then lightly-stubbled after five days without shaving, then heavily-stubbled after 10 days of growth, and then with a full beard.

After being shown the photos, both the men and women were asked to rank the men in order of perceived attractiveness. Among women, heavy stubble edged out as the decisive winner. According to Dixson and Brooks, the reason why lies in how facial hair gives men a more mature, dominant, and aggressive appearance.

“Our findings confirm that beardedness affects judgments 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,” said the study.

But, why do straight men prefer the company of the fully-bearded to the clean shaven? Dixson and Brooks suggest that the suggestion of masculinity provided by a full-beard alerts other men of a potential “Alpha male,” something that women may actually seek to avoid for being overly-dominant.

“Men, judging other men, might be sensitive to the overall level of masculine threat and aggression signaled through full beards,” wrote the researchers. “Women, by contrast, may balance…a competitive masculine partner against the costs of mating with a too-masculine partner.”"



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