This just in: An alarming new study has found that 47% of beards contain fecal matter, even when washed on the same day.
The study was conducted by Fragrance Direct and Manchester Metropolitan University and looked at a variety of beards, including long beards, short beards, goatees, and stubble.
Participants had their facial hair swabbed and analyzed. And the results were pretty damn gross.
In nearly half of the beards, researchers found traces of the microorganism “Enterococcus spp”, a lactic acid bacteria found in human bowels and poo.
Even more alarming is that the majority of participants said they had washed their beards with soap and water that very day.
Oh, and before you go ripping on dudes with long beards, you should also know that shorter beards actually had more bacteria than longer ones.
So how did the fecal matter get there? Either the dudes were lying, they didn’t do a very thorough job shampooing, or they’re not washing their hands after going to the bathroom.
According to the results of another recent survey, nearly 60% of guys don’t bother to wash their hands after going #2.
A spokesperson for Direct Fragrances, advises: “Men should use beard shampoo when they shower, along with conditioner afterwards.”
We advise that you also ALWAYS WASH YOUR HANDS AFTER GOING TO THE BATHROOM.
Related: A new study aims to see whether men with beards are simply sexier
Lacuevaman
oh no!!! one can only imagine what’s in the chest and pubic hair. I’ll take the risk.
zaxige89
oh no!!! one can only imagine what’s in the chest and pubic hair. I’ll take the risk.
gffffffffffffffffffffffff
Vince
Many go into it because they’re not fond of spending much time grooming and stuff. Not washing up after taking a dump I can see.
frankcar1965
There is probably fecal matter all over the body, live with it.
Brian
This is the correct takeaway. The scientific approach would be to compare bearded men to beardless men and women. Since E. coli is a very common microbe, one would expect to find it at some concentration on all people. Finding it in beards isn’t the surprise — unless they can claim that the difference between bearded men and other people is statistically significant. This is clickbait, not science.
dwes09
E. coli refers to Escherichia coli, a totally unrelated bacteria whose forms both aid us in assimilation of nutrients and cause nasty infections. Enterococcus also live in our gut, but it is not well known whether we get any benefit from them or not.
It is also known that fecal bacteria linger in one’s washing machine (and thus on clothing), on terry cloth , and are aerosolized when the toilet is flushed. And we are immersed in a veritable cloud of bacteria constantly as we move through the world.
We also (our bodies) are composed of a huge %age of bacterial mass most either benign or beneficial. This research seems (from the “Fragrance Direct” website) more of a brilliant plan to push product than a genuine health concern at least until more research has been done. Especially as the website, and a few of the media articles had a “plan” to make beards safe using their products.
If you are concerned about fecal bacteria, stop eating ass: you are ingesting greater numbers of them out for an evening stroll as opposed to far removed from their native environment. And that might not be just Escherichia and Enterococcus species, but some nasty Gaillardia or Shigella, and perhaps Hepatitis virus particles thrown in.
Paco
A lot of guys don’t wash their hands properly, if at all, after using the toilet.
But if you really want to be grossed out, humans have a microbial “cloud” surrounding them.
https://www.wired.com/2015/09/body-surrounded-clouds-skin-fart-bacteria/
ericm
The percentage of beards with traces if fecal matter goes up after he eats your ass.
nitejonboy
No sh_t ? lol
1898
“60% of guys don’t bother to wash their hands after going #2”
I believe it. on many occasions i’ve been in public restrooms and seen men breeze right on outta there without washing their hands. and it doesn’t matter whether you went #1 or #2; you were in a public restroom and therefore you were touching things (like door handles and flush handles) that had fecal bacteria on them
and if you touched the gas pump nozzle at a gas station, or the handle of a shopping cart in a supermarket, you got fecal bacteria on your hands. (i once saw a study that said shopping cart handles had more sh!t on them than public toilet seats)
good reason to always keep a little bottle of hand sanitizer around, and use it
QueerTruth
Agreed. I was at busy hotel pool last week for the weekend, and each time I was in the men’s room and not a single guy washed his hands while I was in there. Not one. I thought… and I’m swimming with you? Barf.
Rock-N-RollHS
Oh, no! Next you’ll be telling me that rimming exposes me to fecal matter! What next!?
The no hand washing, though. Sign. It’s worse for straight men. Poor straight girls. lol
nitejonboy
Ok, so which one of you bitches has been shi__ing in my beard ?
Tombear
If everybody in the world was an Oxy addict there would never be any poo again!
Invader7
Facial hair was SO over about 5 years ago. A sign of lazy males!!!
Invader7
Straight men are GROSS. Don’t feel sorry straight females-they accept the Neanderthals for “security” mostly. Whatever the hell that is !!!