The role of facial hair in women's perceptions of men's attractiveness, health, masculinity and parenting abilities

Abstract

Facial hair strongly influences people's judgments of men's socio-sexual attributes. However, the nature of these judgments is often contradictory. The levels of intermediate facial hair growth presented to raters and the stage of female raters' menstrual cycles might have influenced past findings. We quantified men's and women's judgments of attractiveness, health, masculinity and parenting abilities for photographs of men who were clean-shaven, lightly or heavily stubbled and fully bearded. We also tested the effect of the menstrual cycle and hormonal contraceptive use on women's ratings. Women judged faces with heavy stubble as most attractive and heavy beards, light stubble and clean-shaven faces as similarly less attractive. In contrast, men rated full beards and heavy stubble as most attractive, followed closely by clean-shaven and light stubble as least attractive. Men and women rated full beards highest for parenting ability and healthiness. Masculinity ratings increased linearly as facial hair increased, and this effect was more pronounced in women in the fertile phase of the menstrual cycle, although attractiveness ratings did not differ according to fertility. Our findings confirm that beardedness affects judgments of male socio-sexual attributes and suggest that an intermediate level of beardedness is most attractive while full-bearded men may be perceived as better fathers who could protect and invest in offspring.

Full text

Original Article
The role of facial hair in women's perceptions of men's attractiveness, health,
masculinity and parenting abilities
Barnaby J. Dixson ⁎, Robert C. Brooks
Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Kensington, Sydney 2052 NSW, Australia
abstractarticle info
Article history:
Initial receipt 23 August 2012
Final revision received 24 February 2013
Keywords:
Sexual selection
Human evolution
Facial hair
Facial hair strongly influences people's judgments of men's socio-sexual attributes. However, the nature of
these judgments is often contradictory. The levels of intermediate facial hair growth presented to raters and
the stage of female raters' menstrual cycles might have influenced past findings. We quantified men's and
women's judgments of attractiveness, health, masculinity and parenting abilities for photographs of men who
were clean-shaven, lightly or heavily stubbled and fully bearded. We also tested the effect of the menstrual
cycle and hormonal contraceptive use on women's ratings. Women judged faces with heavy stubble as most
attractive and heavy beards, light stubble and clean-shaven faces as similarly less attractive. In contrast, men
rated full beards and heavy stubble as most attractive, followed closely by clean-shaven and light stubble as
least attractive. Men and women rated full beards highest for parenting ability and healthiness. Masculinity
ratings increased linearly as facial hair increased, and this effect was more pronounced in women in the fertile
phase of the menstrual cycle, although attractiveness ratings did not differ according to fertility. Our findings
confirm that beardedness affects judgments of male socio-sexual attributes and suggest that an intermediate
level of beardedness is most attractive while full-bearded men may be perceived as better fathers who could
protect and invest in offspring.
© 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
Androgen-dependent facial and bodily traits are positively associ-
ated with men's health (Thornhill & Gangestad, 2006), immunity
(Rantala et al., 2012), dominance and competitive ability (Archer,
2009). Masculine men may also achieve greater mating and repro-
ductive success (Rhodes, Simmons, & Peters, 2005). Yet averaged
across experiments, women either prefer less masculine faces (Perrett
et al., 1998) or weakly prefer masculine faces (Rhodes, 2006).
However, women's preferences for facial cues of masculinity vary,
growing strongest when men are rated for short-term relationships
(Little, Connely, Feinberg, Jones, & Roberts, 2011), and during the most
fertile part of their menstrual cycle (Gangestad & Thornhill, 2008).
The beard is a highly sexually dimorphic androgen-dependent trait
that varies markedly among men (Randall, 2008). While this implies a
sexually selected origin for beardedness, there is no consensus on the
relative importance of female mate choice and male-male competi-
tion in shaping facial hair. Given that facial hair growth begins at
puberty and continues throughout adulthood, it is not surprising
that beards augment perceptions of maturity and masculinity
(Addison, 1989; Neave & Shields, 2008). However, associations
between other personality traits and beards are highly polarized. On
the one hand, bearded men are ascribed positive attributes such as
self-confidence, courage, sincerity, generosity and industriousness
(Kenny & Fletcher, 1973; Pellegrini, 1973; Hellström & Tekle, 1994).
On the other hand, beards are judged as less socially appeasing and
more aggressive (Addison, 1989; Muscarella & Cunningham, 1996;
Neave & Shields, 2008).
Findings on the attractiveness of facial hair are equally mixed. In
some cases full beards increased male attractiveness (Pellegrini, 1973;
Hatfield & Sprecher, 1986; Reed & Blunk, 1990), while others found
they did not (Feinman & Gill, 1977; Wogalter & Hosie, 1991;
Muscarella & Cunningham, 1996; Dixson & Vasey, 2012). These
mixed findings may have resulted, in part, from using written
questionnaires (Feinman & Gill, 1977), fake beards (Wood, 1986)or
facial hair created using make-up pencils (Muscarella & Cunningham,
1996). Where natural photographs have been used, typically only full
beards or clean-shaven faces were presented (e.g. Dixson & Vasey,
2012), which does not capture variation in men's ability to grow facial
hair. Interestingly, Neave and Shields (2008) found using computer-
generated images that varied in grades of facial hair that light stubble
was most attractive to women.
In the present study, a sample of men, each of whom were
photographed as clean-shaven, lightly stubbled, heavily stubbled and
fully bearded, were rated for attractiveness, healthiness, masculinity
Evolution and Human Behavior 34 (2013) 236–241
⁎Corresponding author. Evolution & Ecology Research Centre, School of Biological,
Earth & Environmental Sciences, The University of New South Wales, Kensington,
Sydney 2052 NSW, Australia.
E-mail address: b.dixson@unsw.edu.au (B.J. Dixson).
1090-5138/$ –see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2013.02.003
Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect
Evolution and Human Behavior
journal homepage: www.ehbonline.org

and parenting abilities. Analysis 1 compared ratings between men and
women. We predicted that men would judge full beards more favorably
than women because of the strong role of beards in judgments of social
dominance and threat (Dixson & Vasey, 2012). Conversely, we
predicted that women may judge more bearded faces to be more
attractive than clean-shaven faces but that a threshold of masculinity
may be preferred, with lightly stubbled faces considered most attractive
(after Neave & Shields, 2008). Women's preferences for masculine traits
are known to become stronger during the late follicular, more fertile,
period of the menstrual cycle when any benefits of mating with a more
masculine partner can be realized (Gangestad & Thornhill, 2008). Thus,
in Analysis 2 we tested the prediction that heavier stubble and hence
greater masculinity would be more attractive at the period of the
menstrual cycle when conception is more likely.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Stimuli
Ten men of European descent (mean age ± SD = 23.50 ±
3.57 years), each of whom had dark brown head and facial hair
were photographed in each of four conditions in the following order:
fully bearded (at least 6 weeks without shaving), clean-shaven, with
5 days (light stubble) and 10 days of beard growth (heavy stubble).
Men posed smiles generated using the Facial Action Coding System
(Ekman, Friesen, & Hager, 2002). Photographs were taken using a
Canon digital camera (8.0 megapixels resolution), 150 cm from the
participant under controlled lighting. Images were cropped so only
the face and neck were shown (Fig. 1).
2.2. Procedure
Studies were completed online at www.bodylab.biz. Participants
viewed each of the 10 faces once, with 4 faces clean-shaven and 2
faces in each of the other three categories of facial hair. Which faces
were assigned to which condition was determined at random for each
participant, as was the order in which faces were presented. Subjects
rated each face for attractiveness, healthiness, masculinity and
parenting abilities using six-point Likert scales (0 = very low–5=
very high). After completing the ratings participants provided details
on their age, sex, ethnicity and sexual orientation. Female participants
also stated how many days ago their most recent menstrual bleeding
began, whether they were pregnant, post-menopausal or using
hormonal contraceptives.
2.3. Statistical analyses
Attractiveness, health, masculinity and parenting ability ratings
were dependent variables in a MANOVA where facial hair was the
within-subject factor. Sex in Analysis 1 and reproductive status in
Analysis 2 were entered as between-subject factors.
2.4. Analysis 1: Male and female perceptions of beardedness
2.4.1. Analysis 1: Participants
Self-identified homosexual and asexual participants were exclud-
ed from analyses, as were female participants that were pregnant,
were post-menopausal or used hormonal contraceptives. Eight
percent of the female sample were bisexual and were retained, as
they are sexually attracted to men as well as women. Their inclusion
did not interact with any dependent variables (all Pvalues ≥0.249).
The final sample size was 177 heterosexual men (mean age ± SD =
32.18 ± 10.30 years) and 351 women (27.94 ± 8.23 years), of
whom 79.9% were European, 8.4% were Asian, 4.2% were Native
American, 1.8% were African, Middle Eastern or Australasian and 5.7%
elected not to define their ethnicity.
2.4.2. Analysis 1: Results
There was a significant main effect of facial hair and a significant
sex × facial hair interaction for attractiveness ratings (Table 1).
Women rated heavy stubble as significantly more attractive than
clean-shaven, light stubble and full beards (all t
351
≥3.51, all
Fig. 1. An example of the stimuli used in this study. Images show the same man when
clean-shaven, with light stubble, heavy stubble and a full beard.
Table 1
Multivariate repeated-measures analysis of variance of the effects of facial hair and sex on perceptual ratings.
Within-subject effects
Facial hair Facial hair × sex
Pillai's trace 0.373 0.040
Fdf
n
df
d
Pη
p2
Fdf
n
df
d
Pη
p2
MANOVA 25.55 12 515 b0.001 0.373 1.80 12 515 0.045 0.040
Attractiveness
a
7.02 2.8 1491.6 b0.001 0.013 2.66 2.8 1491.6 0.050 0.005
Parenting
a
44.74 2.9 1521.1 b0.001 0.078 1.09 2.9 1521.1 0.349 0.002
Health
a
14.03 2.9 1548.5 b0.001 0.026 2.58 2.9 1548.5 0.053 0.005
Masculinity
a
50.19 2.9 1525.4 b0.001 0.087 0.57 2.9 1525.4 0.631 0.001
Between-subject effects
Sex
Pillai's trace 0.053
Fdf
n
df
d
Pη
p2
MANOVA 7.30 4 523 0.000 0.053
Attractiveness 5.84 1 526 0.016 0.011
Parenting 5.17 1 526 0.023 0.010
Health 1.23 1 526 0.267 0.002
Masculinity 2.67 1 526 0.103 0.005
a
Greenhouse–Geisser adjusted df (rounded to one decimal place).
237B.J. Dixson, R.C. Brooks / Evolution and Human Behavior 34 (2013) 236–241

Pb0.001). In contrast, men rated full beards, heavy stubble and
clean-shaven as more attractive than light stubble (all t
176
≥2.17, all
Pb0.05). Men gave higher attractiveness ratings than women for full
beards (t
526
= 2.97, P= 0.003) and clean-shaven faces (t
526
= 2.83,
P= 0.005), but not for light (t
526
= 1.09, P= 0.274) or heavy
stubble (t
526
= 0.04, P= 0.968; Fig. 2A).
Facial hair significantly affected ratings of parenting abilities, health
and masculinity. However, the only main effect of sex was for parenting
Fig. 2. Mean ratings (+SD) for clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble and full beards when judging physical attractiveness (A), parenting skills (B), health (C) and masculinity
(D). White bars show female ratings and gray bars show male ratings.
Table 2
Multivariate repeated-measures analysis of variance of the effects of facial hair and fertility on ratings.
Within-subject effects
Facial hair Facial hair × fertility
Pillai's trace 0.478 0.071
Fdf
n
df
d
Pη
p2
Fdf
n
df
d
Pη
p2
MANOVA 32.72 12 428 b0.001 0.478 1.32 24 858 0.139 0.036
Attractiveness
a
8.08 2.9 1267.0 b0.001 0.018 0.26 5.8 1267.0 0.952 0.001
Parenting
a
38.83 2.9 1284.6 b0.001 0.081 1.20 5.9 1284.6 0.306 0.005
Health
a
3.18 2.9 1288.9 0.024 0.007 1.07 5.9 1288.9 0.379 0.005
Masculinity
a
55.56 2.9 1264.4 b0.001 0.112 2.05 5.8 1264.4 0.059 0.009
Between-subject effects
Fertility
Pillai's trace 0.020
Fdf
n
df
d
Pη
p2
MANOVA 1.10 8 874 0.364 0.010
Attractiveness 0.48 2 439 0.619 0.002
Parenting 0.07 2 439 0.931 0.000
Health 0.30 2 439 0.740 0.001
Masculinity 3.00 2 439 0.051 0.013
a
Greenhouse–Geisser adjusted df (rounded to one decimal place).
238 B.J. Dixson, R.C. Brooks / Evolution and Human Behavior 34 (2013) 236–241

abilities, with women giving significantly higher ratings than men
(t
526
=2.27,P= 0.023). There was a marginally significant interaction
between sex and facial hair for health ratings (Table 1), so that
comparedto men women gave higher health ratings for light and heavy
stubble but not clean-shaven or full beards (Fig. 2C). However, none of
the paired comparisons were statistically significant (all t
526
≤1.82, all
PN0.05). There were no other interaction effects involving sex
(Table 1). Full beards were rated significantly higher than other facial
hair categories for parenting abilities (all t
527
≥6.78, all Pb0.001;
Fig. 2B), healthiness (all t
527
≥2.87, all Pb0.01; Fig. 2C) and
masculinity (all t
527
≥3.91, all Pb0.001; Fig. 2D).
2.5. Analysis 2: Female fertility and perceptions of beardedness
2.5.1. Analysis 2: Participants
Analysis 2 used a sub-sample of Analysis 1 in which only the
responses of regularly cycling women who reported the onset of
menstrual bleeding between 0 and 28 days ago were used. Participants
whose menstrual bleeding fell between 0–5and15–28 days before the
trial were categorized as the “low-fertility”phase and those whose
bleeding fell between days 6 and 14 were classed as the “high-fertility”
phase (Penton-Voak et al., 1999; Little, Jones, & DeBruine, 2008). A total
of 182 women were in the low-fertility category (mean age =28.80 ±
8.53 years), 100 women were in the high-fertility category (mean
age = 27.93 ± 6.94 years) and 160 women used hormonal contra-
ceptives (mean age = 27.12 ± 6.63 years). More than half of the
participants (78.3%) were European, 8.6% were Asian, 3.9% were Native
American, 1.5% were African, Middle Eastern or Australasian and 7.7%
elected not to define their ethnicity.
2.5.2. Analyses 2: Results
Facial hair significantly affected women's ratings of attractiveness,
parenting abilities, health and masculinity (Table 2). Fertility and its
associated interactions with other factors did not alter ratings, apart
from a marginal effect on masculinity ratings. Rated masculinity
increased linearly as facial hair increased, with full beards receiving
significantly higher ratings than clean-shaven, light and heavy stubble
(all t
441
≥4.29, all Pb0.001). However, high-fertility participants
gave significantly higher ratings for full beards than low-fertility
participants (t
280
= 3.68, Pb0.001) and contraceptive users (t
258
=
2.62, P= 0.009; Fig. 3D).
Irrespective of fertility, women's attractiveness ratings were
significantly higher for heavy stubble than other degrees of
beardedness (all t
441
≥3.63, all Pb0.001; Fig. 3A). Full beards
received significantly higher parenting skill ratings than other levels
of facial hair (all t
441
≥5.67, all Pb0.001; Fig. 3B). Full beards also
received higher health ratings than light (t
441
= 2.81, P= 0.005)
and heavy stubble (t
441
= 2.24, P= 0.025), but not clean-shaven
faces (t
441
= 0.97, P= 0.335). Clean-shaven faces were judged as
healthier than light stubble (t
441
= 2.13, P= 0.033) but not heavy
stubble (t
441
= 1.56, P= 0.121; Fig. 3C). Very similar results
were found using a measure of likelihood of conception (see
Supplementary material, available on the journal's website at
www.ehbonline.org).
Fig. 3. Women's mean ratings (+SD) for clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble and full beards when judging physical attractiveness (A), parenting skills (B), health (C) and
masculinity (D). Data are split by participant's fertility with white bars depicting low fertility, gray bars representing high fertility and black bars indicating ratings by participants
who were using hormonal contraceptives.
239B.J. Dixson, R.C. Brooks / Evolution and Human Behavior 34 (2013) 236–241

3. Discussion
While ratings of masculinity rose monotonically with beardedness,
the effects of facial hair on attractiveness, health and parenting ratings
were non-linear. In almost all cases, light stubble received the lowest
ratings, with heavy stubble or full beards judged more favorably and
clean-shaven faces faring as well or almost as well. Attractiveness was
the only property that males and females rated differently, but the
interaction between sex and health ratings was marginally significant
as women gave higher health ratings for light and heavy stubble than
men. Both men and women rated light stubble as least attractive and
heavy stubble as most (women) or equal most (men) attractive.
However, women rated clean-shaven and fully bearded faces less
attractive than heavy stubble. The fact that women and men differ
significantly in how they rate the attractiveness of different levels of
beardedness may reflect dual signaling functions of male facial hair.
Facial hair correlates not only with maturity and masculinity, but
also with dominance and aggression (Neave & Shields, 2008). Men,
judging other men, might be sensitive to the overall level of masculine
threat and aggression signaled through full beards (Dixson & Vasey,
2012). Women, by contrast, may balance the benefits of an intra-
sexually competitive masculine partner against the costs of mating
with a too-masculine partner. Our finding that women prefer heavy
stubble contrasts with previous studies in which attractiveness
ratings were highest for either clean-shaven faces (Feinman & Gill,
1977; Wogalter & Hosie, 1991; Muscarella & Cunningham, 1996)or
full beards (Pellegrini, 1973; Hatfield & Sprecher, 1986; Reed & Blunk,
1990). However, it is similar to Neave and Shields (2008), who found
women preferred light stubble, with the lowest ratings given to fully
bearded and clean-shaven faces. Neave and Shields (2008) found, as
we did, that perceived masculinity rose linearly with facial hair. They
concluded that light stubble is preferred over clean-shaven faces as an
unambiguous signal of post-pubertal sexual maturity, while not
achieving the overly masculine appearance of heavy stubble and full
beards. Interestingly, in our study light stubble was perceived as the
least healthy, particularly by men, lowest on parenting skills and the
least attractive. Although these effects are subtle and further research
is necessary, it may be that these negative ratings reflect discrimina-
tion against the more patchy light stubble and suggests a threshold of
density and distribution may be necessary for beards to function as an
attractive signal. Our study does not include a sufficiently broad
sample of males to tease apart this interaction and future research
that includes a greater sample with a wider range of natural variation
of beardedness would be valuable.
Women's discrimination against full beards in attractiveness
ratings may be due to costs of mating with a too-masculine man.
Highly masculine men tend to have lower romantic attachment, less
interest in long-term relationships and report engaging in more short-
term relationships (Rhodes et al., 2005; Boothroyd, Jones, Burt,
DeBruine, & Perrett, 2008). While a highly masculine partner might
impose costs, women's preferences are known to shift more towards
masculine men when the likelihood of conception is higher (Gang-
estad & Thornhill, 2008). We found that participants with higher
potential fertility gave full-bearded faces higher masculinity ratings
than did low-fertility participants, suggesting a sensitivity of women
in the fertile phase to masculinity. However, fertility was unrelated to
attractiveness ratings, as thick stubble was always most attractive and
light stubble always least attractive. Our findings are similar to a
recent study demonstrating that women's preferences for facial hair
do not change with fertility or among pre-menopausal, post-
menopausal or pregnant women (Dixson, Tam, & Awasthy, 2012).
Thus, although facial hair is a clear signal of sexual maturity and
masculinity, preferences among women appear not to be linked to
reproductive status or fertility, as is the case for numerous sexually
dimorphic androgen-dependent traits. However, our study used a
count-back system to estimate fertility. While this is common in
studies of women's mate preferences, such procedures are prone to
measurement error, inaccuracies in recalling the onset of bleeding and
natural individual variation between participants in onset and
duration of the period of high fertility (Fehring, Schneider, & Raviele,
2006; Small, Manatunga, & Marcus, 2007). Future studies would
benefit from using more direct measures of fertility to fully test shifts
in preferences for facial hair over the menstrual cycle.
In addition to being perceived as less invested in long-term
romantic relationships, masculine-looking men are perceived as likely
to provide low paternal investment (Perrett et al., 1998; Kruger,
2006). Our results suggest that this does not generally hold for beards.
Indeed, little is known regarding the socio-sexuality of men who
typically choose to wear beards and whether or not they are less
romantically committed to long-term relationships than men who opt
to be clean-shaven. Despite the strong association between beards
and perceptions of social dominance, threat and aggressiveness
(Neave & Shields, 2008; Dixson & Vasey, 2012), we found that
women rated parental abilities of men with full beards highest.
However, beards augment perceived age, social maturity, industri-
ousness, sincerity and ambition (Kenny & Fletcher, 1973; Pellegrini,
1973; Hellström & Tekle, 1994), all of which are strongly valued by
women in long-term partners (Buss, 1989). Further, masculine traits
associated with aggression and dominance may provide direct
benefits such as protection to long-term mates (Snyder et al., 2011),
which could explain why beards received higher parental ability
ratings. Alternatively, our use of smiling stimuli may have offset the
negative effects associated with higher masculinity attributed to full
beards. Thus, compared to neutral facial expressions, a posed open
smile is judged as significantly more attractive, kind, sympathetic,
ambitious and intelligent (Otta, Abrosio, & Hoshino, 1996). Facial hair
is known to interact with facial expression in perceptions of emotional
states (Dixson & Vasey, 2012). Thus, the combination of pro-social
attributes ascribed to smiling faces could explain why full beards in
concert with smiling facial expressions were judged to have greater
parenting skills despite the higher ratings for masculinity.
It is possible that prevailing cultural perceptions of facial hair also
contribute to how beardedness was judged in our study. Frequencies
and styling fashions of men's beards varies over time and among
cultures. For example, the frequency of mustaches, sideburns, full
beards and clean-shaven appearances among men in London from
1842 to 1972 each had distinct peaks in popularity (Robinson, 1976).
While this may merely reflect arbitrary trends in tastes, Barber (2001)
found using Robinson's data that men were more bearded when there
were more men of marriageable age in the mating market.
Preferences for masculine facial shape are known to be greater
among women living in countries with the lowest standards of
healthcare (DeBruine, Jones, Crawford, Welling, & Little, 2010) and
highest-income inequality (Brooks et al., 2011), and it would be
interesting to know if a similar pattern pertains to facial hair.
Although our sample was large, both men's and women's responses
to the stimuli might reflect the aggregate outcome of preferences
across the sample and future studies testing whether or not
judgments of facial hair vary across demographic and ecological
settings would be valuable.
Our repeated-measures design, while powerful, did not include
individuals unable to grow full beards, nor did it account for the actual
levels of the target's testosterone, which influences men's potential to
grow full beards (Randall, 2008). Further, we cannot account for the
effects of the experimental procedure of removing facial hair on men's
confidence, which could have influenced how they were rated. Subtle
effects of this kind are known to influence experimental results; for
example, women rate photographs of men wearing red t-shirts as
more attractive than men wearing other colors of shirt, even when
shirts are not visible in the photograph (Roberts, Owen, & Havlicek,
2010). Likewise, wearing a false beard augments men's feelings of
masculinity and confidence (Wood, 1986).
240 B.J. Dixson, R.C. Brooks / Evolution and Human Behavior 34 (2013) 236–241

As a further caveat to our study, photographs of each subject were
all taken in the same sequence of beard growth, beginning with the
full-beard condition, followed by clean-shaven and the two interme-
diate stages of natural re-growth. It is therefore possible that because
the photographing sessions were not counterbalanced that the
target's confidence or even level of interest in participating changed
from one photographic session to another, which would confound the
clean-shaven and light stubble compared to the heavy stubble and full
beard conditions. Thus, we cannot tell the extent to which our results
depend on the beards themselves or the targets' self-confidence as a
result of the beard manipulation. Our results do support the view that
facial hair significantly affects perceptions of male socio-sexual
attributes. The challenge for future research is to uncover how
individual differences among men choosing to wear beards and how
pattern, density and distribution of their beards are perceived using a
larger and more variable sample of men.
Supplementary Materials
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at http://dx.
doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2013.02.003.
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