Men with beards carry more germs than dogs.
A new study saw 18 men with facial hair, aged from 18 to 76, and 30 dogs of various breeds swabbed to show their microbial counts and found that the male participants had a higher level of germs than the canines.
The research found all of the bearded men showed high microbial counts – half of which were hazardous to human health – while a number of the dogs tested proved to have lower levels of microbes with only 23 out of 30 dogs showing high counts and the remainder with moderate levels.
Professor Andreas Gutzeit, of Switzerland’s Hirslanden Clinic, said: “The researchers found a significantly higher bacterial load in specimens taken from the men’s beards compared with the dogs’ fur.”
