A lot of the time, men with beards are teased or made fun of by clean-shaven folk who claim that beards are actually breeding grounds for different diseases. People joke about how one may be saving that pesky piece of pasta that is caught between the bristles of your beard for later. Or maybe your significant other wants you to shave because she claims that “you don’t know what’s living in that nest”.
Regardless, people with beards sometimes get a bad rap. However, as a recent study has released a new finding that beards may actually prevent infection of disease, times may be changing. This information, released by the BBC explains a study that was published in the Journal of Hospital Infection where researchers tested 408 men on the hospital staff.
The subjects included both bearded and unbranded men and surprisingly, the results showed that men without facial hair were more likely to be harboring germs. They were also showed to be three times as likely to be carrying an MRSA, or, methicillin-resistant staph aureus on their faces.
The researchers think that the clean-shaven men are more readily vulnerable to infection because by shaving their facial hair, they leave mini abrasions in their skin which may allow for bacteria to be stored.
Another theory is that a microbe present in beards and facial hair may be able to prevent or kill off infectious viruses. Scientists refer to this concept as “Beardicillin” and claim that while it does seem effective, it won’t be making its way to the product market in the near future.