Microbiologists said beards are filled with poop particles, doctors say don't panic
Let's take a trip back in time to about 10 years ago. The year was 2015, and a bombshell report dropped from Albuquerque's Action7, a local affiliate of ABC, revealing that men's beards contained particles of fecal matter. The curious journalist found men who didn't mind getting their beards swabbed for scientific purposes, and went to work. After taking samples, they were analyzed by John Golobic, a microbiologist at Quest Diagnostics. He found the results surprising.
While, admittedly, Golobic did not find anything abnormal in some of the beards, it was the other beard swabs that made headlines across the country. At the time, he told the news station that the abnormal beard swabs were the kind of results you'd expect from a toilet seat, not facial hair. "Those are the types of things you'd find in (fecal matter)," he explained to Action7 in 2015.
But was his assessment wrong? In the years since the findings were released, there have been a plethora of grooming products overflowing retailer shelves geared towards facial hair. Before the findings, the most common grooming items for facial hair were the same items used by our parents, grandparents, and generations before them: shaving cream, razors, and aftershave. Straightforward stuff that all smelled nostalgically similar.
Scientist analyzing petri dish in laboratory.Photo credit: Canva
Over the past decade, the facial grooming selection has exploded to include different types of beard oils for different hair types, butters, creams, styling gels, and a whole collection of soaps specifically for facial hair. When the pendulum swung, it swung violently in the other direction, which likely led some men to feel like their facial hair isn't getting clean with regular soap. To make matters worse for those who enjoy rocking a beard and mustache, the fecal matter "discovery" never quite died, leaving people wondering if they've got poop in their beard.
Rest assured, unless you're into some interesting behaviors that involve poo being close to your face, chances are extremely slim that there's poop hanging around your beard. That's not to say the swabs were incorrectly identifying the bacteria found in the beards swabbed; doctors are saying there's more to the science.
Stylish duo in pastel and gray outfits posing confidently.Photo credit: Canva
Jeffrey Benabio, M.D., Physician Director of Healthcare Transformation at Kaiser Permanente tells Men's Health, "Although there is a high ick factor here, it's not any cause for alarm. The beards didn’t actually contain fecal matter. They just contained the same bacteria that could be found in fecal matter—probably E coli.”
A few years after the initial articles debunking the new myth about poo in men's beards, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Dermatology wrote about the topic to reassure those still worried about beard cleanliness.
Beard trimmed for a fresh look.Photo credit: Canva
"There is no significant evidence to suggest that most beards are unclean or a significant source of harmful bacteria," UPMC shares before later adding, "Some of the bacteria in the beard study are comparable to bacteria commonly found in toilets and in human feces. Gross, right? Here’s the thing: Those same bacteria can be found on dozens of other surfaces you touch each day, and they usually pose no harm to you. In fact, trillions of bacteria live on or in our bodies without threatening our health."
While the "study" is still cited by some and the beard grooming business is raking in poop-free dough, there is no poop in men's beards. The only thing hiding in the forest of facial hair is normal everyday bacteria found on surfaces everywhere, and a chin. That's it. That's all. Let's put the beard poop myth to rest.