Almost half of women refuse to date men with hipster beards, survey finds

It could finally be time to invest in a razor

(Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Almost half of women have admitted that they would refuse to date a man because of his facial hair.

From cropped stubble to long, wizard-like facial fuzz, beards have become the defining look of a generation with the hipster fad peaking in areas like London’s Shoreditch back in 2013.

But, in light of new research into how attractiveness can be linked to the length of facial hair, it seems that hipster beards could finally be on their way out.

This comes following research conducted by bathroomtakeaway.co.uk which revealed that 43 per cent of women said they would refuse to date a man who wasn’t clean-shaven.

While 61 per cent claimed a lack of facial hair simply didn’t bother them.

This is despite 13 per cent of men in Britain – which equates to four million – admitting to feeling self-conscious about their inability to grow a full beard, with a further eight per cent – or 2.6 million – unable to grow facial hair at all.

The survey of 2,000 participants also revealed that one in five men struggle to grow chest hair while those who can say it’s a top grooming necessity with 10 per cent saying they prefer to shave, seven per cent trimming with scissors, three per cent waxing and one per cent paying for laser hair removal.

Interestingly, men from Northern Ireland were found to feel the most insecure about their body hair, with almost three quarters disliking one of their body parts because of it.

“It’s clear that people are spending lots of time and money following strict skincare and grooming regimes, even resorting to measures such as botox and laser hair removal,” said Julian Smith, managing director at bathroomtake-away.co.uk.

“It’s important that people maintain their appearance for themselves rather than being hellbent on following the latest fad.”

In further evidence that the death of the beard is impending, a male model recently conducted a social experiment on Tinder to find out what type of hairstyle won him the most matches.

Testing out a range of different looks including a goatee and full-on beard, Ben Southerst, 29, from Earls Court, London, found that he received the most matches – 120 to be precise – when he was clean-shaven.

“I got a phenomenal response and I was very flattered that so many women wanted to date me,” he said.

“I think that being clean-shaven does make me look a bit younger and I think that might help you to get matches on a site like Tinder."