Think twice before you shave

Researchers in Wales have discovered Darwinian forces at work behind the beard trend that gripped 2013 – and why we all breathed a sigh of relief when Paxman shaved his off. Negative frequency-dependent preferences appear to influence such trends, so people find clean shaven men more attractive than bearded men when they’re rarer, and vice versa. What’s underneath is far more complicated, as research into the attractiveness of masculine facial features shows. You might struggle to keep a straight face when you talk about the “peak beard” as the climax of the beard trend, but this should pique the interest of Biologists, Medics and all male students alike…