Good news for guys with beards, your facial hair might not be as filthy as scientists thought. Sure, your furry face is still a breeding ground for bacteria, but it might actually be good for you.
BBC's Trust Me I'm a Doctor recently conducted an experiment to determine what exactly is living in mens' beards. They swabbed the face bristles of 20 dudes and sent the samples to be examined by a microbiologist. What he found was that he could create 100 different types of bacteria, including some powerful microbes that were killing other bacteria. This confirmed that while your whiskers are covered in germs, they could be carrying an antibiotic that is actually helping fight infection.
A related study, also proved that beards are far from a serious health hazard. A team of researchers swabbed 408 hospital workers with and without facial hair to test for pathogens. Those results actually determined that those who were clean-shaved harbored more germs than those with beards and beardless group were also more than three times as likely to carry MRSA.
Despite the findings, we probably won't be seeing "Beardicillin" on the pharmacy shelves anytime soon. But, this might be enough to keep the beard trend around a little longer.
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