Do Women Like Men with Beards?

A question often asked and wondered by many men across the globe is, do women like men with beards? Or do they like a specific style? There is no clear-cut answer to this question because beauty standards for both men and women change now and then, thanks to the media and societal trends, and our choices are ultimately impacted by them as well. Women’s preferences are often individualistic, but with this article, you may get a hint at what style is generally preferred by women and what beard style should you go for.

• Part 1: Do Women Like Men with Beards?
• Part 2: Do Asian Women Like Beards?
• Part 3: How To Remove A Beard?

Part 1: Do Women Like Men with Beards?

If you’re a little too keen on knowing if women like men with beards, you would be pleased to know that there has been renowned research conducted on this subject that studies how facial hair impacts perceptions of men's attributes based on a sample of 177 heterosexual men and 351 women that are primarily of European descent.

Here’s what the key findings of the entire study look like:

1. Attractiveness: The majority of women rated men with heavy stubble as the most attractive compared with a clean-shaven look, light stubble, or even full beards.
2. Parenting and Health: It was observed that the majority of women associated better parenting abilities for men with full beards.
3. Fertility: Fertility phases influenced masculinity perceptions, with high-fertility women giving higher masculinity ratings to full beards.
4. Culture: Beard used to be seen as a sign of masculinity, maturity, dominance, and protection, which were the traits appreciated by women. This association with beards is still seen among many cultures even today.

These are simply the findings of the study that was conducted across 351 women, where their preference for facial hair in men ultimately depended on other factors that were beyond simple attractiveness. 

There have been a few surveys as well where women participated to express their opinion on how they perceive men with beards and how attractive would they rate them. Take this survey for instance by Cut Throat Club. Before we jump to any conclusions let’s take a look at the final result obtained from this survey on beards attractiveness that was sampled from 108 women aged between 18-60.

Question 1: Which do You Find the Most Attractive on a mans Face?

• Clean Shaven: 38.89% (most preferred overall).
• Beard: 30.56%.
• Stubble: 30.56%.
• Age Breakdown:
• 18–44: Preferences for clean-shaven and facial hair remained consistent.
• 45–60: 45-60-year-olds strongly preferred clean-shaven (clean-shaven scored 38% vs. 21% for beards).

Question 2: Which do You Think Looks More Professional in a Working Environment? 

• Clean Shaven: 75.00% (deemed most professional).
• Beard: 16.67%.
• Stubble: 8.33% (least professional).

• 18–29: 65% preferred clean-shaven for workplace professionalism.
• 45–60: 91% considered clean-shaven as the only professional option.

Question 3: If Your Male Partner Has Facial Hair, Which Would You Prefer?

• Natural Beard (Ungroomed): 7.41%.
• Trimmed & Groomed Beard: 46.30% (most preferred).
• Stubble (Straight Lines): 22.22%.
• Clean Shaven: 24.07%.

• 18–29: 58% preferred a well-groomed beard.
• 45–60: Preferences split (33% clean-shaven, 38% groomed beard).

General Insights:

• The varying beauty standards across the generation are fairly apparent through this survey where older women largely prefer men with a clean shaved look for both professional environments and in terms of attractiveness as well. Whereas we see that among the younger women, there’s a strong preference for a polished and neatly kept groomed beard. 
• An unkempt and ungroomed beard was largely unpreferred by women of all groups. 

But there’s nothing quite like asking women on what they really think of men with beards and if they really like it. There are multiple forums on the web that may help you get an idea of their perception of men with beards. A Redditor asked the rel="nofollow" question once, and here’s a summary of what the answers looked like:

1. Beard is essentially makeup for men is a common theme shared by women, indicating the fact that men with weaker jawlines can effectively keep a beard to either enhance or mask facial features. 
2. As evident from multiple surveys as well, older women prefer men with clean shaved looks as it was a popular choice of grooming and style option back then.
3. Many people stress upon the fact that keeping a style that is well-groomed yet comfortable for an individual is what you should opt for. Personality weighs a lot more in terms of attractiveness than style choices. 

Part 2: Do Asian Women Like Beards?

Asia is a pretty vast region when we speak of Asian women, this includes the Middle East, Central Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and East Asia. So as we speak, Asian women in the modern context are largely considered to either belong to Southeast or East Asia, therefore think of countries like Japan, China, South Korea etc. 

Here are a few country-specific insights that may help you understand what the preference choices are like for women in these regions. 

Japan:

• Beards are generally not well-received, especially in professional environments. Many Japanese people feel beards look intimidating or messy, and some even express fear of heavily bearded men.

China:

• Beards are often seen as dirty or ageing. However, good grooming can improve perceptions, particularly for men with attractive features.

South Korea:

• The "idol" culture promotes smooth, youthful faces, further marginalizing beards as an acceptable style.

Part 3: How To Remove A Beard?

For people who value comfort and prefer a clean shaved look, or might want to give a new beard routine a try, here’s how you can remove your beard. 

Pre routine:

1. Regardless of the method you choose to opt for, make sure to use a gentle cleanser to clean your face and beard first, to avoid any potential bacteria buildup. 
2. And if you have coarse thick hair, that is really long at this point, trim or shorten it up a little too, so your razor doesn’t get clogged with hair. 

During:

1. Apply a generous amount of shaving cream on the beard.
2. Take your razor and make short strokes along the hair growth of your beard. For a closer shave go against the grain.
3. Rinse your razor after every stroke
4. Once shaved, rinse with preferably cold water. 
5. Apply aftershave, although this step is an option, it is recommended to avoid irritation. 

If you are prone to irritation while shaving, you may opt for other long-lasting methods such as an IPL device. Ulike Air 10, for starters, is a great choice to go for. It is cost-effective over the long run and only requires a couple of sessions before you start seeing the profound results you expect from IPL.

It uses broad-spectrum light to damage hair follicles and inhibit the growth of hair to an extent, and so contributes to much less pain as opposed to Laser hair removal.

Bottomline

A word of advice to men is to regard only so much what women think of you. Being yourself and staying true to who you really are is ultimately what matters. Your beard choices do not define you and you should opt for what you are most comfortable in, keeping into account hygiene and adequate grooming.