If you have a beard, you might not want to read this.
(Just kidding, please keep reading. Seriously, please stick around.)
Anyway—if you're bearded, folks generally don't seem to like your facial hair as much as you may have hoped, a new poll from YouGov has showed.
Pretty much across the board, more respondents in the survey ascribed positive attributes to men without facial hair compared to those with facial hair.
Upon being asked, "all other things being equal, would you say a man wearing a beard gives you...", 15 percent responded a less favorable impression while eight percent responded more favorable (77 percent were unaffected). Asked who they found most attractive, 35 percent of all respondents said clean-shaven, 14 percent said a man with a beard and mustache, eight percent said only a mustache and four percent said only a beard.
And it wasn't just looks or first glance impressions—people are actually more likely to judge character positively based on a lack of facial hair, the poll showed. Asked who they found most trustworthy, 20 percent said those who were clean-shaven, 6 percent said people with a beard and mustache, five percent said those with only a mustache and three percent said only a beard. Asked who is most intelligent, 18 percent said clean-shaven, six percent said beard and mustache, four percent said only a beard and four percent said only a mustache.
There was a slight silver lining for bearded men who are going for that whole masculine vibe, however. According to YouGov, 24 percent of respondents said a clean-shaven man felt most masculine to them, compared to 19 percent with a beard and mustache—so it was at least kind of close. Twenty-two percent of men thought a beard and mustache combo was the most masculine, compared with 18 percent for clean-shaven. A lot of women, however, also found being clean-shaven manly. Twenty-nine percent said they found that look the most masculine compared with 17 percent for the beard plus 'stache combo.
There is a catch for all this clean-shaven love, however. Consider that young people have increasingly been growing beards and even buying products like beard perfumes. It would stand to reason, then, that young people are more prone to digging beards. The YouGov data backs that up. In the age bracket of 18-29 years old, 19 percent of respondents said a beard would give them a more favorable impression compared with 16 percent for clean-shaven.
Twenty-five percent of that young bracket found a beard/mustache combo most attractive, compared with 21 percent for clean-shaven. A full third of the 18-29-year-olds felt a beard and mustache was the most masculine compared with just seven percent for clean-shaven. The young folks still were more likely to find clean-shaven men more intelligent and trustworthy, however.
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