For a long time, beards and the men who wear them have carried a reputation for being dirty. Indeed, bearded men are commonly seen as less concerned with hygiene. But what is the reality? What does science actually say on the subject?
When Science Turns to Facial Hair
In 2017, a study led by the University of Missouri (United States) showed that restaurant patrons perceived waitstaff with beards as less hygienic and dirtier than their closely shaved counterparts. The work was based on the reactions of more than 500 customers to different levels of facial hair: closely shaved, a three-day beard, and a full beard. Obviously, not everything is simply a matter of perception since Science has its own findings.
In 1967, within the framework of work conducted by the Industrial Health and Safety Office at Fort Detrick (United States), the topic was already being considered from another angle. The authors sought to determine whether beard-wearing scientists working in laboratories posed a biological risk to their family or surroundings. After spraying bacteria and toxins on mannequins and volunteers with or without beards (washed or not), the researchers tried to recover these microbes by swabs and washes. The study showed that beard hairs effectively trap microorganisms. However, the greatest number of bacteria was found in unwashed beards. If washed and shaved faces contained the fewest bacteria, washed beards remained ahead of unwashed shaved faces.
Since then, other studies have looked at surgeons and healthcare staff, in a sector where the infection risks in operating rooms are more closely linked to facial hair than to overall hygiene. The results have been rather mixed, depending on how samples are collected and whether surgical masks are worn correctly or not.
The Beard Cleared at Last?
In 2016, a Mayo Clinic study demonstrated that surgeons wearing beards do not disperse more bacteria than their closely shaved colleagues. Moreover, the results indicate that with or without standard surgical masks, a beard does not present an increased risk of contamination in the operating room.
In 2022, research from the American University of Beirut (Lebanon) revealed that health professionals without beards (closely shaved) exhibited a significantly higher bacterial load in their facial flora than their bearded counterparts. Additionally, variations in shaving methods or washing the face with or without soap did not show meaningful differences in bacterial growth. Nevertheless, the study did identify several antibiotic-resistant strains, notably against meropenem. Although the overall proportion was not statistically different between the two groups, beard wearers showed relatively more resistant strains in the collected samples.
Thus, the beard appears to have been cleared of the accusations previously leveled against it regarding bacteria. Even if public perception remains fairly negative today, one thing to keep in mind: having a beard is not inherently incompatible with hygiene. In other words, the key is proper washing. Additionally, bacteria are present all over our bodies, whether in hairy regions or not. And this generally poses no problem, except in the case of an open wound.
