Some Beards Just As Dirty As Toilets, Study Finds

Trending News: You'll Be Shocked To Learn Just How Dirty A Beard Can Be

Why Is This Important?

Because beards are super en vogue at the moment.

Long Story Short

Albuquerque's Channel 7 News convinced a group of men to let them swab and test their beards, and the results weren’t pretty: Some of the beards contained the same bacteria found in fecal matter.

Long Story

Beards are mighty popular these days. Whether worn as a show of masculinity, to mask suboptimal facial features or pure laziness, lots of men are rocking the rugged look. What lots of men apparently aren’t doing, though, is cleaning those beards.  According to a report by Albuquerque's Channel 7 News, beards are bacterial breeding grounds. Their shocking analysis revealed that some beards even contain the same bacteria you’d expect to find in toilets.

“I'm usually not surprised and I was surprised by this,” said John Golobic, a microbiologist with Quest Diagnostics.

It’s not clear how many men the reporter swabbed, but apparently enough to shock a scientist. All beards, they found, contain a lot of bacteria — but most of it the harmless kind you’d find on just about every surface. Some beards tested positive for enteric bacteria, however, the same bacteria that lives in your intestines. Poop bacteria, basically.

Golobic said that the bacteria in beards won’t necessarily make anyone sick. However, he did say that if enteric bacteria were present at the same levels in a municipal water supply, the city would have to shut it down to disinfect it.

To avoid having a poop beard, scrub it thoroughly and often with soap and water. More importantly, avoid touching your face and beard as much as possible. No amount of cool-guy beard stroking is worth harboring colonies of spooky alien turd bacteria.

Or, consider shaving the thing off. Beards appear to have officially jumped the shark, anyway.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: What’s the dirtiest part of the human body?

Disrupt Your Feed: If I had a beard, I would have thrown up on it after reading this.

Drop This Fact: Your cool beard might be hurting your chances with the ladies - scientists have found that women do prefer beards, but only when they’re rare and out of style.