Do People Actually Find Beards Attractive?

All hipster pretension aside, are beards really attractive? They're prickly, weirdly fluffy, and — worst of all — obscure half of a man's face. As wildly attractive as Chris Evans may be when he's rocking the post-apocalyptic lumberjack look, I'm firmly against anything that covers up my view of his chiseled, ultra-American jaw. Is that weird? Probably. Do I care? Not in the slightest.

Despite my stellar arguments against their existence, though, it's become the fashion recently to grow veritable forests of facial hair, the likes of which haven't been seen since Charles Darwin kicked the bucket more than a hundred years ago. Some men seem to think it makes them look more attractive, but unfortunately, the opposite appears to be true: According to a recent study from eva, the majority of heterosexual women prefer clean-shaven men to the bristly variety. In fact, half of respondents claimed that they wouldn't even consider dating a man with a big beard.

According to the study, beards aren't just physically off-putting; researchers found that men with beards are also more likely to display anti-social behaviors. Almost half of respondents reported being fired at least once, and 47 percent said they had cheated on their partners in the past. In comparison, just 20 percent of clean-shaven men wrote that they'd cheated before.

Does that mean growing a beard automatically turns men into an evil twin version of themselves? I'm no scientist, but all signs point to yes. Sorry, hipsters and lumberjacks of the world, but it's time to break out the razors.

You hear that, Chris Evans? Even science says you should keep up the Captain America look.

Images: Pixabay; Giphy (2)