Most of the time, a bearded face is associated with more masculinity and maturity in contrast to a clean shaved face. It is therefore probably one of the reasons why most of the men out there like embracing their beard. However, to be honest, it is not only men who decide on the beard to grow but their female spouses or counterparts make this decision for them.
When it comes to the topic of beards, many women have different opinions on the type of beard they would like their male counterparts to have. Since there is no unanimously agreed type of beard preferred by women, we are therefore going to look at their different preferences and their reasons as well.
Some of the Women Prefer a Clean Shaved Face
If you really love your beard and believe that it makes you look more tough and masculine, there is no reason to panic. This is just a preference that some women have, not all. In fact, the women who love a man with a clean shaved face say that it makes them look more attractive and sexier.
However, most of the women who claim to love a smooth faced[1] guy claimed that they also liked it when he had short hair on the head.
Women who love clean shaven men also claim that bearded face men look disgusting and older than they really are. This is especially for men who like men who look young, free spirited and who looks like he takes an effort in thinking about his grooming.
Some of the Women Prefer Bearded Guys
This is just another bunch of women who claim that they love guys with beards as it makes them look sexier than those who do not have beards. Many of them claim that, clean shaven guys look young, childlike, and less attractive to them.
There is a subconscious perception that women have acquire over time which connects bearded face men with masculinity, attractiveness and being mature and responsible fathers. In fact, most women in this category believe that bearded face men have the desired characteristics of being having babies with them.
A study conducted By the University of new wales found out that, when asked to rate clean shaved and bearded men on a scale of 1-10, both men and women claimed that they found bearded face men more attractive than smooth faced men.
In addition, the research also found out that bearded men were perceived as better and more protective fathers. However, there were discrepancies between the opinions of men and those of women.
This is simply because, men claimed that a clean shaved looked much better than short, and five-day beard. However, women found clean shaved and smooth faces to be the least attractive. They associated bearded men with being tough, masculine, and better romantic partners.
Various Preferences on Clean-Shaved and Bearded Men
While most of the men grow beard in order to avoid the bother of daily shaving, it serves as a distinguishing mark of male dominance[2]. Although back in the days beards were not widely accepted by both men and women, facial hair is becoming more of the norm nowadays.
In order to conform to women preferences, men are now slowly changing their preferences in order to suit the female perception on beards. Men now are considering anything close to short stubbles, to long wizard beards. Once I was asked whether facial hair made a man look more or less attractive.
My take was that beards had a polarizing effect in that, some women may like smooth shaved faces while some of them like bearded face men. This is a subject that is solely dependent upon the woman’s preferences especially when it came to mating goals.
However, it is apparent that most of the women prefer a well groomed and a man who has desirable masculine characteristics and a beard is one of the prerequisites.
Therefore, guys who seek to be noticed should prefer to grow short stubble and maintain masculine characteristics such as being nicely dressed. Therefore, by changing the facial hair, a man by dynamic enough to attract and find the exact type of relation partner he is always seeking.
Studies and Research on Women Perceptions on Both Bearded and Smooth Faced Men
A study by Neave and Shields[3] in the year 2008 on the effects of beards on women’s perception of masculinity and attractiveness showed that indeed, women had varying perceptions. The researchers gave photos of clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble, short beard, or full-bearded face men to female participants.
The women were asked to rate the men according to their perceptions of masculinity, attractiveness, dominance and social maturity. In addition, the participants were also asked to rate the men on who they would like to become either their long-term or long term partners.
This specific study found out that, women found men with light stubble to be the most attractive. This was both for long and short term partners.
On the other hand, women indicated that they found men with long beards to be more masculine, aggressive and socially mature. In addition, long bearded men were perceived to be more responsible fathers.
On the other hand, another study by Dixson and Brooks[4] in the year 2013 used the same methods and procedures and recorded the perception of women on beards.
As the first study found out, women perceived men with short and well-trimmed beards as the most attractive and romantic sexual partners. On the other hand, women rated long bearded men as the most responsible fathers and the most secure in forging a long term partnership.
Read Next: 5 Tricks to Make a Woman Become Obsessed with You
Conclusion
We can therefore conclude that, the preferences of whether a man will grow a beard depend on his own relationship and his goals in terms of finding a partner. However, as both studies have shown, men seeking to be more sexually appealing should grow light stubbles while those who seek to be perceived as responsible fathers and candidates for a long term partnership should grow long beards.
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