Why do men grow beards? Four advantages of growing a beard

Many men are very bothered by their thick beards, which not only affects their image but also wastes time to take care of them. They envy women who don't have to worry about thick beards. In fact, there are many reasons why men grow beards. Let's analyze why men grow beards.

Beard evolution helps men improve their status

When we see men focusing heavily on their appearance, it's easy to assume they're doing this simply to attract a mate. But our research on beards and voices suggests that beards likely evolved, at least in part, to help men improve their status among their peers.

Difference in appearance

On average, males and females look quite different from males and females in many other primate species, at least in part because of thicker facial hair in men, and when it comes to these differences, many people tend to attribute them to evolutionary sexual selection, which favors traits that increase the chances of mating.

The evolution of beards has nothing to do with women

But interestingly, women don't seem to be that interested in beards. While some studies have found that women prefer men with a little or even a lot of beards, like Uncle Wu Xiubo, other studies have found that women prefer men who are clean-shaven. The lack of consistency in these results means that we can't conclude that beards evolved because women like them.

Beards help men compete

Therefore, the researchers proposed another sexual selection tendency that may explain this phenomenon. If you want to reproduce offspring, it is not enough to be attractive. When it comes to courtship, you have to compete with the same sex. Compared with other bold brothers, those who hide in the back, weird, and shy guys have no chance. There is evidence that the evolution of beards helps men compete.