Man Candy Monday: The Do or Don’t Edition

Breaking news on this Monday morning, friends: Scruff is the new buff, at least according to recent research from Australia’s University of New South Wales. In the study, 177 men and 351 women rated photos of 10 smiling men in various states of beardliness (yes, I just invented a new word…): Clean-shaven, with five days of beard growth (light stubble), 10 days of growth (heavy stubble) and with a full beard. The men and women were asked to rate the men in the photos according to attractiveness, masculinity, health and parenting ability. The winning look? Heavy stubble.

“Our findings confirm that beardedness affects judgments of male socio-sexual attributes and suggest that an intermediate level of beardedness is most attractive while full-bearded men may be perceived as better fathers who could protect and invest in offspring,” the researchers concluded in the abstract of their study. Translation: Facial hair, according to the researchers, makes men seem more mature and masculine.

So, in the spirit of this facial-hair breakthrough, I thought we’d explore our own preferences with some of our favorite gents…

JAKE GYLLENHAAL…

RYAN GOSLING…

JON HAMM…

BRADLEY COOPER…

CHRIS EVANS…

GEORGE CLOONEY…

There you have the evidence, friends. Do you agree with the results of the study? Are you a fan of stubble or not so much? Look for my pick in the comments! xoxo


P.S. Remember the Man Candy: Boy Band round-up?