Women Prefer To Marry Men With Beards, According To Science

Women, how do you feel about men with beards? If you swoon at the sight of some scruff, then you are not alone.

A scientific study suggested that most women view bearded chaps as more attractive and as better potential mates than their clean-shaven peers. Who knew that personal care had so much to do with romance?!

The August 2016 study, which was published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, said that women see men with beards as being better relationship material.

(Clearly there are some already in agreement with this, since Instagram accounts like @beardsaresexy exist!)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BOAP0_ggFX_/?tagged=beards

Why Is This The Case?

It could be that facial hair is correlated with maturity, which suggests that the man might be more established and ready to settle down.

Additionally, a strong jawline and other masculine features could make a man less attractive to women, as studies have shown that women prefer men with more “feminine” features. For instance, think Zac Efron or Leonardo DiCaprio rather than Dwayne Johnson (although, yes, we do smell what he is cooking).

A beard works to hide those “masculine” facial angles, which might help to make a man appear more attractive to women.

In the study published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology, it was found that every single woman out of the 8,250 surveyed said that they preferred men with some facial hair. (Be it a bit of scruff, a full-on beard or something in between.)

However, women tended to prefer a bit of stubble — both heavy stubble and light stubble were considered more attractive than either clean-shaven or fully-bearded men.

Additionally, another study found that men with deep voices were also viewed as most masculine and appealing.

So, there you have it, men: If you want to land a lot of ladies, consider growing your facial hair out a bit … and if that isn’t your thing, maybe you can drop your voice a few octaves.

Just don’t start talking like Christian Bale in ‘The Dark Knight.” That might be taking it a bit too far.

RELATED: The 10 Most Attractive Men In The World, According To Science

Science Has Also Sounded In On What Makes A Marriage Work

Bearded or not, once you do find your Prince or Princess Charming, there are several secrets that scientists have learned to make the relationship last (hint: none of them is about facial hair).

When it comes to marital satisfaction, you may want to consider these secrets of happy couples, according to science.

1. They Idealized One Another At The Start

There’s something to be said about being easygoing. One 13-year study from the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin found that the perception that your partner is more agreeable can be a predictor of a longer-lasting, more successful marriage. Partners that had positive illusions about each other were less likely to suffer from declines in love later on.

2. They Master Communication

We all know that communication is key to a happy relationship, and that includes the language you use. One study from Texas Tech University found that subjects who use similar language — matching pronouns and conjunctions, specifically — are more likely to find a match when speed dating. Researchers found that the similarity upped the possibility that these couples would form longer-term relationships as well.

3. They Avoid Social Media

Facebook and Instagram are fun, but they don’t do much for a marriage. A study from Boston University found a correlation between social media use, spousal troubles and divorce rate. They found that non–social network users reported being 11.4 percent happier with their marriage than heavy social media users. (Hmm, so maybe you’ll want to close Twitter and put your laptop away.)