A research has suggested that facial hair is a plus point that most women look out for in romantic interests, adding that most ladies consider bearded men more suitable for long-term relationships than the clean-shaven ones.
The study was published in the ‘Journal of Evolutionary Biology’.
The research which was carried out by researchers from the University of Queensland and titled “The Masculinity Paradox”, quizzed 8,520 women to rate men, with and without facial hair, on the basis of ‘relationship longevity’.
Of the 8,520 women quizzed on their preferences, every one of them preferred their men unshaven.
“Male-typical facial features such as a pronounced brow ridge and a more robust jawline may signal underlying health, whereas beards may signal men’s age and masculine social dominance,” the study read.
“However, masculine faces are judged as more attractive for short-term relationships over less masculine faces, whereas beards are judged as more attractive than clean-shaven faces for long-term relationships.“Masculinized and, to an even greater extent, feminized faces were less attractive than unmanipulated faces when all were clean‐shaven, and stubble and beards dampened the polarizing effects of extreme masculinity and femininity.”
“Our findings suggest that beardedness may be attractive when judging long-term relationships as a signal of intrasexual formidability and the potential to provide direct benefits to females.”