Nottingham barber urges facial hair lovers to clean up after a study conducted in New Mexico claimed the beard trend could be more unhygienic than we thought.
The investigation by microbiologist, John Golobic, of Quest Diagnostics in New Mexico, has swabbed a number of beards to see how much bacteria they actually contain.
Although many of the beards contained a normal level of bacteria, the study claims some contained so much faecal matter they were comparable to toilets.
The levels of bacteria are not high enough to cause an illness but Mr Golobic recommends beard lovers to keep their hands off their facial fuzz as much as possible.
Samantha Kemp, owner of No1 Barbers Shop in Keyworth, says beards need to be maintained just as well as looking after the hair on your head.
“The key is to treat a beard like your normal hair by shampooing and conditioning it to keep it clean.
“We always recommend using products that are specially for washing beards.
“The problem is beard hair is much thicker than normal hair and it grows in all different directions so it really is a lot more stubborn.”
So gentlemen, clean it up or shave it off? We’ll leave it up to you.
