And that’s great news for wolves, bears and otters!
We love men with beards around this blog. In fact, we dig any kind of facial hair period! That’s why we were fascinated by a recent study that appeared in the Evolution of Human Behavior that explored the perceived masculinity, dominance and sexiness of guys with beards.
That’s not to say that clean shaven men aren’t attractive because many are. But this line of research does seem to confirm something we’ve suspected all along – the popularity of beard wearing guys is trending upwards!
Plus, if you are a wolf, bear or otter, it’s awesome sauce for your day (sorry clean shaven gay twinks and twunks!).
We’ll give you the basics from the study and break down the particulars. Just for fun, we’ve also included several choice pics of men with facial hair because – hey – the guys are hot!
Curious about who the guy is in the main photo? Well it’s none other than Kevin Kiermaier – the ridiculously hot Tampa Bay Rays baseball stud we profiled in our man crush section! Isn’t he yummy?
OK, back to the study. Let’s jump right in!
What was the study about?
At its core, this line of research assessed the perceptions of men and women regarding male facial hair.
Related: 7 signs you have a beard fetish
Specifically, the principle researchers (Dixson, Lee, Sherlock & Talamas) wanted to know if guys with beards were seen as more masculine, dominant and sexy as opposed to men who were clean shaven.
Male jawlines were assessed as well with the goal of assessing amplification of attractive traits.
Who took part in the study?
A total of 751 participants were recruited for this study. While the raters ranged in age from 18 – 86 years old, the medium age was 35. Grinding down to the micro details, 398 participants were men and 353 were women.
Directly quoted from the study:
“The sample was predominantly heterosexual (89.5% reported Kinsey scale #1 or 2), 3.3% were heterosexual but more than incidentally homosexual (Kinsey scale #3), 2.5% were equally attracted to men and women, 0.7% were homosexual but incidentally heterosexual, and 4.0% were exclusively homosexual. Participants were all from the U.S.A.”
How was the research conducted?
Study participants were shown a collage of photographs featuring 37 men of European ethnicity. The medium age of the men as presented in the pictures was 27 years old.
Related: Men with beards kissing!
What’s interesting here is that the photographs of each man showed him completely clean shaven right next to a picture of the same man with 4-8 weeks of natural beard growth.
Using a series of mixed effects modeling (a kind of linear regression model used in statistical group analysis) the principles used what’s called an Imer Package for data-mining.
What did the study reveal?
According to the results, there was a significant positive correlation between how attractive men with beards were perceived when compared to men who were clean shaven.
Related: Got a gay face?
Additionally, men with beards were seen as more dominant and more masculine.
Here’s a rough breakdown:
- Over 60% of study participants thought guys with facial hair were more attractive.
- Nearly 80% of participants saw bearded men as more masculine.
- Over 62% of those surveyed thought the men sporting face fur were more dominant.
Bearded Men Poll
We’re just going to come right out and say that we’re completely bias when it comes to facial hair. All the same, we’re publishing a poll for you to partake in below.
What’s your preference? Do you like guys with facial hair?
