This claim that beards are good for you is unadulterated anecdotal nonsense.
In an investigation led by the BBC, beards were found to contain microbes that kill bacteria — in other words, a potential new kind of antibiotic.
First clue: the BBC is not a scientific institution. They’re a media company.
Second clue: they set up an imaginary conflict with a hypothesis by another media company: the New York Post.
By that point, the third paragraph, you can just dismiss the whole crapfest.
I kept going, but their whole methodology is pointless. They sent off swabs taken from men with beards to be dabbed on petri dishes, and some were found to have bacteriocidal properties. Whoop-de-doo. You can do that with dirt, too. Why are people surprised that there are complex and diverse interactions between organisms at the microbiological level?
Hmm… I’ve had a beard for the vast majority of the last five-or-so years, and I’ve never once died of scurvy. How do you explain that if not for the mystical health-affirming powers of beards?
I feel like that last comment needs a “, Mr Skeptic” stuck between “beards” and “?”
I have to wonder what the level of correspondence was between men in their study who used antibacterial soaps, and men in their study who had traces of antibacterial something or other in their beards.
As a beard wearing individual I’m tired of practical strangers telling me about the microbiology of my beard. Can this nonsense end?
I wonder how many of the people involved in this ‘investigation’ are bearded…
Yes. It’s weird. No one fusses endlessly about the organisms growing in head hair, or armpit hair, or pubic hair in quite the same way. These are features of the human body that greatly increase available surface area. It is simply a matter of course that there is a cooperative cloud of organisms that share the human microenvironment.
Someone actually told me I need to shave “to give my face a break”. Some nonsense about exfoliating. Someone else told her to shave her head to give her head a break.
I may be weird in this, but on the topic of giving your face a break, I find beard + shampoo = happy face, whereas beard + razor = unhappy face, which happens to also be that of a child. (I’m told I’ll appreciate that when I’m older, though.)
Okay, but I’m pretty sure that beards always pointing in the direction of the nearest mountain and giving you the power to punch out a grizzly remain true.
Mr. Bachmann wonders if metaphorical beards have the same effect.
@williamgeorge
Yes, but remember that the bearpunch power is a daily – try to punch out two bears in a day and you’ll have some trouble… unless you’re Chuck Norris, of course.
I don’t know about your beard, PZ, but mine protects me from tigers. It’s absolutely true: since I’ve been wearing a beard, I’ve never been attacked by a tiger, not even once! Explain that!
Because you don’t want bacteria in your beard, but microbes are fine. A beard full of yeast, for instance.
derail alert: anti-bacterial soaps are a fraud. They may have anti-bacterials added into them, but only as redundant overkill. Soap alone is pretty damn effective at washing bacteria off the hands. aB-soaps are just a marketing ploy to increase the price of soap. There are also some indications that the aB-soap water has bad effects in the sewage chain.
@Athywren #11:
They say that underneath his beard, instead of a chin — is another fist!
Sadly it also turns out that he only has a fist where his brain should be.
That’s not a microbe, that’s PIZZA!
@slithy tove:
aB-soaps are just a marketing ploy to increase the price of soap
Yes. Besides, you can say that almost anything is antibacterial. I make my own soap and sometimes I put black pepper oil in it (for my “Fight Club” soap) – hey, antibacterial! A lot of people who make their own cosmetics will add suttocide or germaben: anti-fungals and mild antibacterials. The last thing you want it a nice hand cream that’s acting as a petri dish for pseudomonas. Mmmm… rub it all over!!
Unless the lye content is too high in a soap, it oughtn’t be much more than a surfactant. It should not kill bacteria it should help float them off of whatever they’re stuck to.
Hah, my beard is wild and woolly and keeps away all sorts of trendy people. Luckily my partner is anything but trendy and sticks by me like glue.
@Nemo, 15
Ordinarily, an additional fist where the brain ought to be is considered a flaw… but what if you have to punch out three bears in a day? Hmm? Gotta think about these things. Chuck Norris’ ways are not our ways. He’s armed for bear!
I may not want his opinions, but if I find myself suddenly surrounded by a gang of leather jacket-clad bears on motorbikes, I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have by my side!