Longer beards often signify maturity and wisdom, while shorter trimmed styles suggest an adventurous nature. Neatly groomed
In many Western cultures, facial hair is often associated with masculinity, as it can signify maturity, strength, or ruggedness. Conversely, a clean-shaven face might be seen as more youthful or polished, which can sometimes be associated with femininity or a more refined masculine appearance.
In some cultures, specific facial hair styles can signal social status, dominance in male-male competition, or even age, as young individuals with facial hair tend to appear older. Studies have found that people associate facial hair with biological characteristics such as sexual maturity, age, and masculinity.
This man is often seen as trustworthy, reliable, and someone who takes his commitments seriously. Why Women Love It: There's a timeless appeal to the clean-shaven look. It suggests a man who is confident without needing to rely on facial hair to make a statement.
Facial hair is considered an inherently masculine characteristic in our culture. Men with facial hair are perceived as being angrier, stronger and more masculine than men without facial hair.
This study asked over 8,500 women to rate men with different lengths of facial hair. The ladies were presented pictures of men who were clean shaven, wearing light stubble, heavy stubby, and a full beard. Once again, the results showed women were more attracted to those who had some sort of facial hair.
Hirsutism is excess hair most often noticeable around the mouth and chin. With hirsutism, extra hair growth often arises from excess male hormones (androgens), primarily testosterone.
Summary: Cut Throat Club carried out a study, surveying over 100 women and found that overall women preferred men either clean shaven or with a well groomed beard.
Maturity, Masculinity, and Style
A full and well-groomed beard can clearly convey an image of masculinity and maturity. Sporting this beard style is often associated with experience and wisdom. Men who have a full beard tend to project an image that exudes seriousness, confidence, and sometimes even power.
Someone with pogonophobia may feel severe anxiety or panic around people with beards. They may also feel this way if they see a photo or video of someone with a beard. They might fear long, full beards, or any type of facial hair such as a mustache, goatee or “five o'clock shadow”.
Studies show that beards intimidate other men, reducing their subliminal dominance behaviors towards you and thus increasing your own subconscious dominance behaviors. In regular terms, beards help you step into a far more confident frame.
Throughout history, beards have held significant religious symbolism, often representing masculinity, wisdom, and divine favor. In various cultures, the length and fullness of a beard were indicators of a man's status and strength within the community.
Women and men from both cultures judge bearded faces to be older and ascribe them higher social status than the same men when clean-shaven. Images of bearded men displaying an aggressive facial expression were also rated as significantly more aggressive than the same men when clean-shaven.
There is no specific ethnicity that can't grow facial hair, but East Asian individuals, such as Japanese and Chinese, tend to have less facial hair and slower growth rates compared to other ethnicities.
Not surprisingly, bearded faces were rated higher on masculinity and aggressiveness. But here's where it gets interesting: The researchers also found that bearded faces were rated as more prosocial than clean-shaven faces. Specifically, bearded happy faces were rated as more prosocial than clean-shaven happy faces.
As facial hair is related to the level of androgens (Randall, 1994, 2008) it may enable adult men to display their sexual maturity to enhance their intersexual attractiveness. Facial hair augments observers' perceptions of men's maturity and masculinity (Addison, 1989; Neave & Shields, 2008).
From ancient civilizations to modern-day society, beards have been a symbol of power, wisdom, and even rebellion. Beards in Ancient Times: In ancient Egypt, a well-groomed beard was a sign of high social status. Pharaohs even wore fake beards made of metal as a symbol of their divine power.
Beards increase ratings of characteristics such as age, social status, aggressiveness and masculinity. A possible theory is that beards serve an intrasexual purpose where the perceived aggressiveness associated with a beard helps to fend off competition from other men.
Women find men with light stubble most attractive, and men with full beards as most masculine. A fuller beard is perceived as indicative of good fathering ability and more investment in offspring. Some women do not care for men's facial hair at all.
It tells others that you are organized and detail oriented. You're willing to take the time to clean up and shave each morning. You have time for what's important and won't be overcome by the occasional temptation to be lazy. The clean cut look may be youthful, but it's also straight laced.
Beards are an active sign of testosterone in the body, which the brain of others then associates with the potential for increased aggression. The study that came up with this hypothesis used photographs of bearded and non-bearded men for their experiment.
The full beard remains a timeless classic, dominating the beard trends of 2025. Known for its bold, masculine appeal, it's perfect for men who want to make a powerful statement.
Dietary supplements that contain vitamins B6 and E are also believed to help get rid of unwanted hair growth in the facial areas. For one, vitamin B6 is thought to help lower testosterone in women and inhibit prolactin hormone production.
This scientific study by Barnaby J. Dixson and Paul L. Vasey found that yes, men with facial hair do tend to appear older than those who are clean-shaven, sometimes by as much as 10 years or more. There are many reasons for this, some cultural and some biological.