In two studies examining the perceptions of male beardedness, U.S. Hispanic women tended to assign the highest attractiveness, masculinity, fighting ability, and partner quality to drawings of male faces with light and moderate-length beards rather than clean-shaven and long beards. They also had stronger preferences for bearded men (in the drawings) than Iranian women. The paper was published in Adaptive Human Behavior and Physiology.
Facial hair, or beardedness, is a secondary sexual characteristic in men. Beard growth is influenced by androgens, a group of hormones including testosterone, which are crucial in developing male sexual characteristics. Researchers suggest that due to the biochemistry governing its growth, a beard may serve as a reliable indicator of a man’s fitness, health, and parenting ability.
In various cultures and historical periods, beardedness has been seen as a symbol of maturity, wisdom, masculinity, or social status. The perception and social significance of beardedness can vary greatly. In some contexts, a beard is considered fashionable or attractive, while in others, bearded men may be seen as unkempt or unconventional. Women often use multiple cues to assess the qualities of a potential mate, and studies suggest that beardedness, including the characteristics of a beard, might be one of these cues.
Study authors Ray Garza and his colleagues wanted to explore women’s perceptions of men’s beardedness. They conducted two studies in which they collected responses from Hispanic and Iranian women.
In the first study, the researchers asked women to select the beard profile they found most attractive, masculine, capable in a fight, reliable as a partner, and suitable as a father. They presented the participants with seven drawings of male faces, each with different beard lengths, ranging from clean-shaven to very long. The women were asked to choose a face for each mentioned characteristic.
The participants in the first study were 152 heterosexual female students from Texas A&M International University, primarily of Hispanic, Mexican-American descent. The average age of the participants was 24 years. They received course credit for their participation and completed assessments on disgust sensitivity (the Three-Domain Disgust Scale) and disease vulnerability (the Perceived Vulnerability to Disease Scale).
The second study involved 127 heterosexual women from Iran and 77 heterosexual female students from Texas A&M International University. The study design replicated the first study, but instead of choosing the most representative beard for each characteristic, participants rated each profile on a scale to indicate the degree to which each trait was present in an individual with such a face.
The results of the first study indicated that women most commonly selected faces with light or moderate beards as best representing the characteristics of interest. Faces with light beards were most frequently chosen as the most attractive, reliable as a partner, and suitable as a father. The moderate beard was most commonly selected as the most masculine and the most likely to win in a fight. It’s important to note that these choices were not unanimous, as some women chose other beard types for these characteristics.
Women who reported higher levels of disgust were more likely to prefer clean-shaven and light beard faces as attractive. Those with a greater perceived vulnerability to disease tended to choose light beards.
Overall, the findings of the second study largely echoed those of the first, particularly regarding the characteristics associated with various beard lengths. Profiles with moderate amounts of facial hair generally received the highest ratings. Notably, Hispanic women demonstrated a stronger preference for bearded men compared to Iranian women.
“The findings showed that women generally perceive some degree of facial hair as being associated with attractiveness, masculinity, fighting ability, and parental quality, with Hispanic women showing a stronger preference for bearded men compared to Iranian women. Further, we showed that preferences for bearded men may be moderated by trait pathogen proneness across both samples, which is an avenue for future research to explore,” the study authors concluded.