University of Queensland research understanding how varying lengths of facial hair might change perceptions of men, in the eyes of heterosexual women featured in MSN.
Dr Barnaby Dixson from UQ’s School of Psychology is a collaborator on the research.
Researchers collected the women's reactions to photographs of men whose beards fell into four categories: clean-shaven, light stubble (5 days' growth), heavy stubble (10 days growth), and thick beards (about a month's worth of growth).
The study really broke the women's responses into categories based on what type of romantic relationships they were looking for.
But in short, men with light stubble and heavy stubble fared best in the "just looking for a little fun" category, while men with heavy stubble and full beards were most attractive to women looking for a long-term relationship.
Men with clean-shaven faces were at the back of the line in all cases.
