What’s Really in Beards?
The media has been riddled with photos of beards lately, often with headlines with the word poop in them, but if you actually read the article, there is no poop, kind of a let down after all the built-up excitement. There is a bacteria often found in beards, in fact there is bacteria on faces that are clean-shaven. You probably have bacteria on your hands right now this second, and your computer is covered with it.
Before you panic and throw away your computer, remember that there are good and bad bacteria everywhere. The average person has more than 400 kinds of bacteria on them at any given moment. Good bacteria are important for helping you stay healthy, maybe you’ve heard of probiotics? Good bacteria. Making vitamin K? Good bacteria. Of course, there are bad bacteria too, but what that study found was on a small sample of men, it did not take into account personal grooming, length of beard, or study faces of people who are clean-shaven.
Another study found similar bacteria-ridden faces, both bearded and clean-shaven. It’s important to remember that no one ever said actual feces was being found in facial hair, what was found is enteric bacteria, similar to what one might find in an intestine, so what is typically found in intestines? Food you’ve eaten for one, fiber, and water. Would you stop eating or shave your beard for those things?
There are people all over the world who have been saddened by the possibility of a beardless world, as many people find them attractive and sexy; well, you can stop being sad. Beards are usually only as dirty as the rest of your face. That being said, wash up regularly; if your beard is long enough to comb, please comb it. That should be enough to keep your face covered and free from really dirty stuff.
For some men, a beard is how they show they have become a man. For some women, and some men, a bearded face is an attractive face. Don’t let some media hype stop you from looking at the actual facts, and read a whole article, not just the headline. A headline is intended to grab your attention so you read the article, if you just read the headline you’re making a writer somewhere cry, and no one wants that!
Sources:
http://jezebel.com/maybe-beards-arent-full-of-poop-bacteria-after-all-1702018350
http://mentalfloss.com/article/62745/are-beards-hotbeds-bacteria
http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-good-bacteria.htm#
Photos courtesy of Photobucket and stock photos
