Are Beards Good For You?

Beards can potentially harbour unpleasant bugs, it has been claimed.

17:11 22 January 2016

Beards -- the chin-strap, the goatee, the neck beard and the Van Dyke – are definitely back. Although many have decided to grow them, not everybody is a fan.

 

Critics claim that beards can potentially harbour unpleasant bugs. In a new study conducted in New Mexico, traces of enteric bacteria, the sort usually found in faeces, were found in randomly sampled beards.

 

As one newspaper put it: '"Some beards contain more poo than a toilet."

 

However, a recent and more scientific study that was carried out in an American hospital came to a whole new different conclusion. Researchers swabbed the faces of 408 hospital staff including those with and without beards. It was found that clean-shaven staff, and not the beardies, who were more likely to be carrying something unpleasant on their faces.

 

The researchers suggested that shaving might cause micro-abrasions in the skin "which may support bacterial colonisation and proliferation".

 

Another study was conducted by Dr Adam Roberts, a microbiologist based at the University College London. He grew over 100 different bacteria from beards taken from a random assortment of men.  He said that the findings were normal and nothing to be worried about.