The same UK study referenced by ZME Science notes that light stubble prevailed across the board as a facial hair style women tend to find most attractive. Longer beards, however, signaled more stability and the potential for a long-term relationship, according to a 2016 University of Queensland study.
According to one study, women favor heavy stubble. Particularly the growth that equates to about ten days of not shaving. Based on this research, women rated heavy stubble as being most desirable and most indicative of maturity, dominance, and aggression.
CNN Health reported that a 2013 study it was revealed that women found men with a heavy stubble most attractive. While on the other hand, men with long beards, light stubble or those who were clean-shaven were placed much lower on the attraction scale.
Women consider men who have light stubble as attractive and prefer them for both short and long-term relationships by women. One other study suggests that women prefer full-beard men when it comes to masculinity, parenting abilities, and healthiness.
Researchers found that stubble was considered the most attractive type of facial hair, and men with beards were considered more attractive than clean shaven men.
Researchers found a majority of the women preferred men with 10 days' worth of facial hair growth, which they described as “light to heavy stubble.” Next in order of preference were men with full beards, then those with light stubble. Men who were clean-shaven were ranked as the least attractive by study participants.
Stubble was deemed most attractive overall and received higher ratings for flings and short-term relationships than full beards.
A new study found that women perceive men with facial hair to be more attractive as well as physically and socially dominant. Women tend to associate more masculine faces with physical strength, social assertiveness, and formidability.
Women saw men with full beards to be the most healthy, and the best suited to parenting. As a matter of fact, the study showed that as facial hair length increased, the men were viewed as more masculine. These findings were doubly confirmed by another study published by the Journal of Evolutionary Biology in 2016.
The Stubble
The study also found that although women saw men with heavy stubble to be less ready to settle down than their full bearded counterparts, they also rated them as the most attractive overall. If you're debating on whether to rock facial hair, you can't go wrong with starting here.
There's also the whole personal taste angle. Some women love a little scruff on the jawline and some just like a clean, freshly shaved look. Whether a person is innately drawn to a beard or likes the feel of it, a partner's preference for facial hair could be as unique as the style of the facial hair itself.
Fast, stylish and low-maintenance, the stubble beard look – otherwise known as “the 3 day beard” – is a great beard style for any man, any occasion, any face shape. Stubble can also add maturity to a youthful face.
One study went a step further, separating “light stubble” from “heavy stubble,” at which point women found heavy stubble the most attractive and light stubble the least — call it the “no peachfuzz, please!” value judgement. Unsurprisingly, women found men with facial hair more “masculine” than men without.
Masculinity. t When boys begin the transformation into becoming men, facial hair begins to grow. This is a masculine trait, and a man with maintained facial hair gives the women he is around a constant reminder of his masculinity. While many women may not even be aware, they pick up on this factor.
Nevertheless, Lean Pockets do claim, at least by name alone, to be somewhat easy on the waistline. Which is a good thing, because, according to a new trending study, heterosexual women may be more attracted to men who are thin. Not surprisingly, 9 out of 10 belts agree.
It really depends on the girl and her preference on guys. I know plenty of girls who like clean-shaven while others like stubble or even lumberjack-style. Some girls like when you mix it up. There's even evidence that a girl's opinion on the matter can change during her monthly cycles.
In this new study, published Tuesday in the Royal Society Open Science journal, very masculine faces and those with beards were rated more attractive than feminine-looking male faces or clean-shaven faces. This held true regardless if the woman was looking for a short-term or long-term relationships.
Beards Highlight Masculine Features
Beards accentuate a man's jawline and cheekbones, hallmarks of classic masculine beauty. They can transform the face, making it appear stronger and more chiseled. Thus, for many, beards enhance a man's attractiveness by amplifying these features.
“Facial hair enhances masculine facial features,” he says. “It gives the appearance of having a longer face and a bigger jawline, and it frames the mouth and emphasizes the eyes.”
And while men are not inherently more masculine with a beard, a study of young men and women found that men with beards look more masculine and dominant.
Even a light stubble can age a man by three years and having a moustache can add up to five years to a man's age.
After analyzing the data and calculating scores, the researchers found that women found the men with the heavy stubble to be the most attractive—those with full beards or clean shaven faces tied for second and those with light stubble were deemed the least attractive.
For a shorter, neater look, five-day stubble should give you optimal growth. Although length varies from guy to guy, that should be a length of approximately 2 millimeters. For stubble that's slightly longer and fuller, 10 days of growth — 4 to 5 millimeters — is a good rule of thumb.
33.9 percent of participants said a mustache makes a man look more mature, 22.3 said it made him look more masculine, and 26.4 percent just said outright, “It's sexy.”