Men's Beard Protects Them In Combats, Not Just To Attract Women, Study Shows

A man with luxurious beard has an irresistible charm but do you that the facial hair serve a more practical purpose other than just foe show?

Not just in India, full beards has long been respected as people believe it represents virility and social dominance, much like lion’s mane.

However, not many people know that the thick hair around the head and throat of lions are there to protect the animals from the lethal claws of their opponents in fight. So with humans, especially male, full facial hair may serve a similar purpose of absorbing force and protecting men’s jaws.

Charles Darwin, the famous naturalist and also the man behind the evolutionary theory, who happened to own a luxurious beard, had a thing or two to say about this. He considered lion mane a protection for animals while beards on men’s faces were merely for decoration to attract women’s attention.

However, modern researchers have a different idea. They said beard could diffuse a blow’s force to the face and help men in male to male fights.

Previous research has shown that men’s skeleton and facial features evolved over time to adapt to combats so beard could also change for the same reason.

To test their theory, scientists build models of human skull and cover them with furred and plucked sheep skin since they were unable to obtain a sample of human beards. The model with fur on represent a man’s face with facial hair while the plucked one is like a clean-shaven face.

The furred sample absorbed 30% more force inflict on it in the test. With a setting that crack all the furless sample, only 45% of those with fur on are shattered.

Scientists explain each strand of hair will absorb force and distribute it over a larger area. However, researchers said more tests were required to come up with a precise explanation of this mechanism.

Since men’s facial hair vary in curl, thickness, density, and coarseness, the force-absorbing effect is expected to be different from man to man.

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