Beards Get Respect, But Not Women, Study Finds

from TIME
Hmmmmm
Color me unimpressed...
I wear a thick full face beard so this hits home..not shaving ANY time soon either!

Men, you have a simple choice: If you want respect from other men, grow a beard. Aiming to attract a woman? Shave it off.

A study reported in Behavioral Ecology used pictures of men from New Zealand and Samoa in normal poses and making angry faces, both with full beards (over six weeks of growth with no trimming) and sans facial hair, to determine how the men were perceived. Researchers showed the before and after photos to 200 women, and asked the women to rate the men’s attractiveness. It didn’t matter the country — the women found the clean-shaven men significantly more attractive.

3 Famous men with and without Beards..which is more appealing?

The researchers from Canada and New Zealand didn't stop there. They then showed the pictures, including the angry ones, to other men, who said the beards made the 19 people in the photographs look older and angrier.

But there remains a bit of reason to hang onto the facial hair, as both men and women claimed that bearded men had a sense of “gravitas,” and men said the beard gave an appearance of a higher social status and earned the men more respect.

But this new study left on important group out of the mix: the stubble-adorned man. A full, six-week beard looks entirely different from a few days or even a couple of weeks of stubble. The Daily Mail reports that other research suggests light stubble actually draws the most favorable response from women.

So how many ATSrs out there have a beard? Will this info change the way you view yourself or others? Have you ever been treated differently because of facial hair? Im keeping my beard no matter what the "Ladies" or TIME say! I dig the RESPECT! Oh and im married sooo

I shaved mine off when it went grey. When it gets to white, I may just grow it long. I think the Grand Arcane Master look with long flowing white hair and beard to be something to look forward to in old age.

Besides, then I get to use a staff!

I am sure the survey only catered to a younger age group as is usual for these sorts of trashy, fast, pseudo research papers.

P

I sometimes wish I could grow a decent beard. The best I can manage is a semblance of mange.

A beard doesn't impress me as to the nature of the man, but I do admire one that is thick and full.

personally i keep the 5 o clock shadow, but nothing more than that, my lady doesn't mind, and frankly i haven't shaved it off completely in more than 10 years i wouldn't recognize myself without it.

Question about this study to the smart people:
is it possible the reason why women found men sans beard to be more attractive is because it gives a more "feminine" shape to a man's face and that's why they find it easier to like them? it sorta shortens the gender gap?
kinda like how you tend to instinctively like a person that dresses the same way as you?

I grew mine to cover up scars on my chin, does that make me even more manly? That and I look like a baby when I shave. Sadly its never been a chick magnet but I still love my beard.

a reply to: DjembeJedi

I wish I could grow a proper beard but it's just never really happened for me , I thought Roy Keane's beard made him look even scarier than he already is.

Blame all the Gillette ads.
Blooming beckham and such brainwashed woman to hate facial hair.
I wouldn't shave for no woman.
Keeps me warm and protects my lips from the cold.
Long live facial hair!.

I prefer men that have facial hair and always have. I hate it when my husband breaks down and shaves. Usually it occurs accidentally when he messes up trimming it so badly that it can't be rescued.

I like manly men though and some women don't. I like the burly, hairy, callus handed man that isn't afraid to work, get dirty, etc. I don't care for the whole metrosexual thing where men need their nails done, their hair done, their body waxed, and their jeans skinny.

Give me the brawny paper towel guy any day.

a reply to: DjembeJedi
I've long had a theory that shaving can be used as an indicator of feminine influence in society, on the assumption that historically men have not shaved except in obedience to what women were expecting from them.

On that basis, the bearded middle ages can be seen as a male chauvinist age, as you might expect.
On the same basis, signs of feminine influence can be detected in many historical eras earlier than we might have thought. Such as the Augustinian period in Rome.
European men tended to be clean-shaven in the eighteenth century and for most of the period since then.
There was a lot of beard growth in the Victorian era, and that figures.
Also the hippies of the Sixties were notoriously bearded. And I've heard it said that the hippies of the Sixties were not particularly feminist.

Going by the "Do men feel obliged to shave?" test, women have had a share in power, if only behind the scenes, for longer stretches of history than feminists would admit.

I do not trust men with beards, what are they trying to hide?

I trust bearded men with glasses even less.

And left handed men with glasses and a beard work for the devil.

..and I hate kissing blokes with stubble - Beards ? Forgeddit !

The reason I kept my beard was because I was getting a lot more respect at work for the same performance and my ideas were taken more seriously

I don't mind the beard, I really don't.. but I can't stand when the wife doesn't shave her mustache. ( true.. shh don't tell)

I have one too that i shave now and then. Mostly i shave because at 47 i have more grey/white in my beard than I'd like and it literally makes me look 10 to 15 years older. I shave my head too and that takes off another 5 years. I can easily pass for 35 without the hair on face and head. That's why my woman likes me to shave - she wants to be seen with the Hot looking me and not the Not looking me.

i'm female, and i think the first two look better without, and the last one, looks better with. beards on the person you love and kiss regularly, however, is a whole different topic.

Ya know.... I have no problem getting girls but, I swear, once I do, 8 out of the last 9 asked me to shave off my beard. And, the only one who didn't was Australian so maybe it's a cultural thing.

God, the statement above made me sound like a whore, didn't it?

originally posted by: InSatanIsisServes
The reason I kept my beard was because I was getting a lot more respect at work for the same performance and my ideas were taken more seriously

Very interesting.. Is your boss male or female and do you work with more males or females?

a reply to: DjembeJedi

Women think bodies should be nurtured and groomed for beautification, because they, themselves, are the body of the relationship.

Men are the opposite, they think the mind should be nurtured, and groomed, or controlled, because they, themselves, are the head of the relationship.

All the nagging over the beautification of the bodies, and houses, are because the women are the house of the seed (the seed is what is perceived by the head/what is seen.)

Easy way to understand it is by looking at male and female plants and/or animals. Males have to go and get stuff for the females to build up the nest/body, to make good works (fruit) for the awareness/seeds. The stuff is sticks, or whatever is else is perceived to be needed for the seed to be conceived, the conception of offspring, the conception of good awareness (the conception of what is perceived to be "good").

The fruit nourishes the seed - they want to see good fruit.

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

My wife shares your sentiments... Thankfully!

Men only grow beards because they hide the razors behind the counter at the drug store ..and to piss of their wives/girlfriends. LOL!

originally posted by: nerbot
I do not trust men with beards, what are they trying to hide?

I trust bearded men with glasses even less.

And left handed men with glasses and a beard work for the devil.

"Pleased to meet you, hope you guessed my name"