Beards may be more hygienic and bacteria-resistant than shaven skin ...
...According to the results, clean-shaven men are more than three times as likely to be carrying methicillin-resistant staph auerus (MRSA) on their cheeks as their bearded counterparts.
Clean-shaven men were also more than 10 per cent more likely to have colonies of Staphylococcus aureus on their faces, ...
Dr Adam Roberts, a microbiologist from University College London, was able to grow over 100 different bacteria from beard swab samples in a separate analysis.
Among the petri dishes, he found the presence of a microbe that appeared to be killing the other bacteria.
Dr Roberts isolated the microbe and tested it against a form of E. coli that causes urinary tract infections, and found the microbes killed the bacterium efficiently. ...