This Type of Facial Hair Is the Most Attractive to Women, Study Finds

Men will do all sorts of things in order to woo women they're interested in, like buying a bouquet of flowers or making restaurant reservations at the nicest place in town. But you might not need some grand romantic gesture to attract the woman you want to date. In fact, research has found that it could be as simple as a matter of personal grooming. While there are dozens of ways men can style, cut, and otherwise maintain their facial hair, there is one particular look that may help you appear more appealing to the women around you. Read on to find out which type of facial hair women find most attractive on men.

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Women find men with heavy stubble most attractive.

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A 2013 study published in the Evolution and Human Behavior sought to determine what kind of facial hair is most attractive to women. The research team from the Evolution and Ecology Research Centre at the University of New South Wales had nearly 400 women look at and rate photos of 10 men in terms of attractiveness. Each model was shown with four different types of facial hair: clean-shaven, light stubble, heavy stubble, and a full beard. According to the study, women found men with heavy stubble to be the most attractive.

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But they found men with light stubble to be the least attractive.

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There's a science to stubble growth, however. According to the study, women also found men with light stubble to be the least attractive. For the amount of heavy stubble women found most attractive, men grew their facial hair out for 10 days. But with the light stubble found to be least attractive, men had only five days of facial hair growth. Women did find men with full beards and clean shaven faces to be tied for second-most attractive, according to the study.

"It may be that these negative ratings reflect discrimination 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," the researchers stated in the study. In other words, patchy beards are not a turn-on for women.

Men with full beards were perceived to be better at parenting, however.

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You may want to put down the razor altogether if you're looking to settle down with someone and have kids. According to the study, women actually rated men with full beards highest in terms of perceived parenting skills. This may be because they also perceived men with full beards to be healthier and more masculine than men with any other type of facial hair. Light stubble, on the other hand, was also viewed lowest in terms of parenting skills and healthiness by women.

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Men tended to judge other men similarly to women.

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The researchers also looked at the viewpoint of other men in a non-romantic setting. By asking 177 heterosexual men to rate the photos in terms of attractiveness, men judged other men with full beards and full stubble to be most attractive, and equally so. However, they found other men with clean shaven facial hair to be less attractive, and those with light stubble to also be the least attractive.

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