Having BEARD is good for your health, study finds

Beards may be more bacteria-resistant and hygienic than clean-shaven men.

According to the study, published in the Journal of Hospital Infection, researchers swabbed the faces of 408 hospital staff with and without beards, and unexpectedly found that it was the clean-shaven men, who were more likely to be carrying bacteria on their faces.

It was the clean-shaved men and not the proud beard owners who are more than three times as likely to be carrying a meticillin-resistant staph auerus (MRSA), a form of coagulase-negative staphylococcion on their cheeks which “support bacterial colonisation and proliferation” causing skin and respiratory infections and food poisoning.

Dr Adam Roberts, a microbiologist from University College London from a study of beard samples found the presence of a microbe that appeared to be killing the other bacteria.

BBC show Trust Me I’m A Doctor also conducted experiments and found that beards can fight infection.