Men Researchers Women Hair Research Study Eslpod 0060 Cn Eslpod

A 2012 article in the Los Angeles Times reported research on people's opinions about men with beards. The researchers showed the men and women in the study pictures of the same men when they were "bearded" (with hair on the cheeks and below the mouth) and "clean-shaven" (with no hair on the face). The men had smiling, "neutral" (no expression), and angry facial expressions. The people in the research study were then asked about the men's age, "attractiveness" (good looking or not), "social status" (whether he is respected in society by other people), and "aggressiveness" (willing to confront other people; willing to use force to get what he wants).

Both men and women said that with beards, the men looked older, more aggressive, and of higher social status. What the researchers also found was that women rated men who were clean-shaven as more attractive. The researchers wrote that "natural selection" - Charles Darwin's idea that the more "adaptable" (able to change with the circumstances) we are, the more likely we are to survive - "favored" (gave the best chances to) bearded men because men with more hair were more likely to be seen as aggressive and better able to protect themselves and their families.

So, at least in the early days, it was the scarier ones, the ones who could frighten away dangers, who got the girls and who survived and "thrived" (grew or developed well; prospered).