Sunday, June 15, 2014

A Study of Men's Facial Hair in Honor of Father's Day

By Michelle Lee
BWL Art Director

If you've been on facebook in the last year, then you have probably seen the results of a study that had been done on men's facial hair and what women find attractive.  Given that the results were only gathered in one country, the scientist in me questions a little bit the overall validity of it, since each culture (and sub-culture, as well as each country) has their own ideas of beauty and what is attractive.  Other "groups" since then have conducted their own "studies", but I am not going to go into all of the various different findings.

Instead ... let's take a look at some different images and see what we, as authors, readers, and cover artists from all over the world think is sexy (or attractive).

Exhibit A:

This is one of the images used in a study of men's facial hair.  Which option, 1-5, do you find the most attractive?

* * *

Exhibit B:
How about in this image, between options 1 and 4?

* * *

Exhibit C:
This is one of my favorite images for looking at a contrast between clean shaven, stubble, and a mustache.  Although the study didn't address mustaches, when looking at male facial hair, it needs to be considered (I think).

Well?  Which one?

* * *

Ok, so let's consider a few different examples, shall we?

How about Ben Afleck?


Bradley Cooper?


Ryan Gosling?


George Clooney?


Liam Hemsworth?



Well?

Some articles on the study:   Article 1   *   Article 2   *   Article 3

If you are interested in reading the actual study article, here is the citation information.
The role of facial hair in women's perceptions of men's attractiveness, health, masculinity and parenting abilities, Evolution and Human Behavior, Volume 34, Issue 3, May 2013, Pages 236–241.

* * *


One final thought ...



5 comments:

  1. Hi Michelle,
    Have to confess, I love a clean shaven man, although the 5 oçlock shadow isn't too bad either.

    regards

    Margaret.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi Michelle:
    My husband has worn many styles over our 50 years of association, but clean shaven always seems best, so I'm with Margaret on this one. Maybe it's a generational preference, but the 5 o'clock shadow look, biker beard, etc. does nothing for me.

    Nice post--original!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I'm going against the flow - I like beards and moustaches but I can't abide stubble, heavy or otherwise. My Dad always wore a moustache, as did several uncles - and my son has been through every style possible, so I guess my preference has a family familiarity bias. I preferred the beards in most of your comparison pictures though, although in George Clooney's case no comparison was necessary:-)

    ReplyDelete
  4. It depends on the man. Some guys just look better clean shaven. Men with "weak" chins benefit, but personally, I never liked beards or scratchy faces :-)

    ReplyDelete
  5. I dunno, I loves me some 5 o'clock shadow. I am not much on beards, and yeah, some guys do look good clean shaven, especially in the right clothes. But I totally go for the neat and trimmed goatee with mustache and/or some stubble. Not much on mustaches by themselves - might have been all of those '80 Strange Danger videos we watched in school. LOL

    ReplyDelete

I have opened up comments once again. The comments are moderated so if you are a spammer you are wasting your time and mine. I will not approve you.

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