Does a beard make you look older?
Short answer: usually, yes. A full beard is one of the strongest clues people use to guess a man's age, and studies that photographed the same men with and without one found that the beard added years. But not every beard works the same, and the details matter.
The same men, with and without a beard
The clearest test photographed men with full beards and then again after they shaved. People in New Zealand and in Samoa judged the bearded versions as older and of higher social status than the same men clean-shaven, but not as more attractive (Dixson and Vasey, 2012). Two very different cultures, same result: the beard reads as age.
Stubble is not a beard
How much beard matters. In a study with five levels of facial hair, from clean-shaven to light stubble, heavy stubble, light beard and full beard, the full beard was rated the oldest and the most socially mature, while light stubble was rated the most attractive (Neave and Shields, 2008). Short stubble changes the face much less than a full beard.
Why a beard adds years
For many men the beard keeps filling in through their twenties, so we learn to link a thick beard with a more adult face. It also covers the lower half of the face, where the jaw and lips would otherwise show youth more clearly. And as soon as grey hairs appear in it, they become one of the first things people notice.
When a beard can help
A beard isn't always the enemy of looking young. A short, neat beard can draw a sharper jawline over a soft chin, and many men simply look like themselves with one. What usually adds years is a long, untidy or greying beard, especially in a photo with light from above, which deepens every shadow.
Find out what it does to your face
Studies give averages; your face is your own. The honest way to know is to ask people who don't know you. On AgeDart you post a selfie and strangers guess your age, and you can share your own link so friends can vote too: try it before and after a shave and compare. More on what changes the age you look in why some people look younger than their age and how to look younger in photos, or go straight to how old do I look?
Put your eye to the test
Guess the age of real people from all over the world, or post a selfie and find out how old the world thinks you are.
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