Growing A Beard Has An Unexpected Effect On What People Think Of You

Facial hair has gone in and out of fashion throughout the centuries. At various points, men have sported sideburns, mustaches, and full beards, and if we had to guess why such facial adornments emerged in the first place, we might guess it had something to do with appealing to potential romantic partners. But it turns out that things aren't so simple, as research has shown that growing a beard has just as much, if not more, to do with appearing dominant among other males than it does with attracting the attention of a mate.

Facial hair is a secondary sexual characteristic, in that it emerges during puberty rather than at birth. As Charles Darwin saw it, this particular secondary sexual characteristic related directly to sexual selection (which has also been suggested as an explanation of why people have different hair color) and was there simply to appeal to and attract members of the opposite sex. Such a view makes intuitive sense. While a wild, unkempt beard might not necessarily suggest a man is trying to catch the attention of a potential partner, the finely-quaffed mustaches and designer stubble of today very much do give that impression. When it comes down to it though, these facial hair styles are much more about dudes versus dudes than anything else. In fact, growing a beard may well make other people see you as older, more aggressive, and even more socially elevated than others. But it's not clear that beards increase your attractiveness to the opposite sex.

A 2015 study published in the journal Behavioral Ecology noted how it's not just people in general who assume that beards are a way of catching the attention of potential mates. The research literature has also assumed that many differences between men and women have arisen from intersexual selection — as a result of us humans trying to appeal to the opposite sex, in other words. In this view, facial hair is one such inherited physical trait, but the researchers in this study helped bolster an emerging view of facial hair as the result of competition within a certain sex — i.e. men competing with men.

The study involved six men aged 19 to 21 who were recorded with varying degrees of facial hair, ranging from clean-shaven to full beard. Their clothing was covered to prevent it from influencing viewers' perception of the men, and their facial expressions were kept neutral. The viewers were then asked to watch the footage and rate the men's attractiveness and dominance on scales of one to seven. The results showed what the researchers termed an "equivocal effect" on attractiveness judgments but found that participants rated men as more dominant as their voices decreased in pitch and their beards grew longer.

The findings suggest that the concept of ideal physical masculinity is affected by whether the ultimate goal is social dominance or mate attraction. That is, men with beards might not necessarily seem more attractive to potential mates, but they may seem so indirectly by appearing more dominant among other men. That certainly seems to be backed up by other research which shows that women might not actually care all that much about full beards. 

The literature on heterosexual female attraction to beards isn't exactly clear. Several studies appear to show that women's various perceptions of men improve as a man's facial hair increases. A 1973 study, published in Psychology: A Journal of Human Behavior, involved showing participants photos of eight men with different forms of facial hair. The results showed that as a man's facial hair increased, so too did the participants' perception of him as masculine, mature, attractive, self-confident, courageous, and dominant (participants also thought men with facial hair appeared more liberal, nonconforming, and older). Taken on its face, this study appears to show that women are likely to be more attracted to men the more facial hair they have. But recent research has called that view into question.

For one thing, attractiveness certainly doesn't seem to increase linearly as facial hair increases. A 2013 study published in Evolution and Human Behavior looked at the role played by facial hair in women's perceptions of male attractiveness, as well as health, masculinity, and parenting abilities. Female participants were shown photos of men with various different facial hair: clean-shaven, lightly or heavily stubbled, and fully bearded. The results showed that women preferred heavy stubble in terms of attractiveness, rating all other facial appearances as less attractive — including full beards. Men, however, rated full beards and heavy stubble as the most attractive, lending credence to the idea that beards are just as much about intrasexual competition as they are about intersexual attraction. Interestingly, when it comes to same sex attraction, a study at the University of Queensland found that gay men had a stronger attraction to men with facial hair than heterosexual women. 

This isn't the only study to suggest full beards are a lot less important for attracting women than the big, bearded, IPA-loving guy at your neighborhood pub might claim. In 2012, a Behavioral Ecology study showed that beards increase perceptions of men's age, social status, and aggressiveness, but not their attractiveness. As the researchers note, this provides yet more evidence that beards evolved not as a way to attract female mates, but as a result of competition among men.