Beard Fashions Are Governed By Darwinian Selection
Darwinian whiskers Darwin had a righteous beard. Julia Margaret Cameron via Wikimedia Commons By the beard of Darwin! Some studies have shown that women generally like beards, while others show that whiskers make men appear older and more aggressive. New research suggests that it's all relative, though, and that men's beard fashions follow a pattern of Darwinian selection, becoming most attractive (to both women and men) when they are rare. In the study, published in the journal Biology Letters, the scientists asked 1,453 women and 213 men to rate the attractiveness of men with four different levels of "beardedness," with the extremes being clean-shaven and fully bearded. Study participants were either shown mostly full beards, mostly clean-shaven countenances, or a mixture of all four (with intermediate levels of light and heavy stubble). Both women--and men--said that heavy stubble and full beards were...