Men’s beards may be dirtier than we think. It’s time to face up to some dirty facts: Your humble beard is a battleground for bacteria.
Your hands offer germs a handy transport system. Scratching and fiddling with your hair moves microbes from whatever you’ve been touching, (including the toilet seat) to your face.
Two recent studies have shown this.
The first study, published in the February 2019 issue of the European Radiology, researchers analysed skin and saliva samples from 18 bearded men of varying ages against fur and saliva samples from 30 dogs.
The researchers were looking for colonies of human-pathogenic bacteria in both man and dog – not in an attempt to beard-shame the hirsute masses, but to rather test whether it was safe for humans to use the same MRI scanners that dogs had previously used.
In fact, it was the humans that were the dirtier patients. Not only did the men’s beards contain significantly more potentially infectious microbes than the dog’s fur, but men left the scanners more contaminated than the animals!
The second study by a Microbiologist in Albuquerque in New Mexico recently found that men’s facial hair can contain as much bacteria as your average toilet seat. Yuk!
The Microbiologist, John Golobic from Quest Diagnostics swabbed a group of bearded men and analysed the results to see just how dirty the beards were. Golobic said that some of the men’s facial hair contained bacteria that you would commonly find in a toilet.
Now before you run to your bathroom to grab the razor and to start shaving, just remember that bacteria gets onto all sorts of surfaces, including skin. Another research that was published in Journal of Hospital Infection found that growing a beard is not a health hazard. This particular research compared bacterial colonisation on the faces of 408 male health care workers, with and without facial hair.
I guess that if we touch a toilet seat that harbours bacteria and then touch or scratch our faces, then it’s probably irrelevant if we have a beard or are clean shaven as the said bacteria is just as comfortable on either host.
So it’s fair to say that beards and clean-shaven faces carry a ton of bacteria, most of which is part of our natural microbiome. However we do carry unwanted bacteria too. The disadvantage of having a beard however is that if someone else rubs against that beard for instance, like our partner, then the beard can create tiny little cuts, which can lead to infections like Impetigo.
Impetigo is a bacterial infection caused by group A Steptococcus. Classically this produces a pink rash with a honey coloured crust on it. Sharp beard hairs from vigorous kissing for example, can cause little breaks in the skin that then introduce this bacteria into the skin. This can be avoided by cleaning the beard regularly and by also spraying the beard regularly with a gentle Hypochlorous Acid product such as Soopa Skin Daily Rescue Mist.
Then there’s the dreaded Beard-Itch.
An itchy beard is very common, especially when a person grows a beard for the first time or after a long time of being clean shaven.
An itchy beard can be unpleasant and uncomfortable. An itchy beard can occur at any time. It can be caused by many things: Poor hygiene, dry skin, ingrown hairs, excessive grooming using soaps or others products which can irritate the skin.
Sometimes beard itch can be a sign of a much deeper issue such as fungal or bacterial infection.
Soopa Skin Daily Rescue Mist is a great weapon for itching beards. It helps to alleviate itchiness caused by the conditions above and will be effective in eliminating any yeast, fungal or bacterial infections.
Written by Gary Hunt - Soopa Skin International
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