The researchers then asked the women and men to rate the men in the photos according to their attractiveness, finding heavy stubble to be the clear winner among women.
研究人員隨后讓所有測試者按照相片中男子的吸引力大小為這幾張相片排序，結果發現有重胡茬的男性更受女性青睞。

What explains the hankering for heavy stubble?

為什么會是這個結果呢？

‘Our findings confirm that beardedness affects judgments of male socio-sexual attributes and suggest that anintermediate level of beardedness is most attractive while full-bearded men may be perceived as better fathers who could protect and invest in offspring,’ the researchers concluded in the abstract of their study.
研究人員總結道：“我們的研究證實，留什么樣的胡子的確會影響到人們對男性社會屬性的判斷。留中等程度胡子的男性是最具魅力的，而蓄著大胡子的男性則會被認為是更盡責的父親，能承擔起保護、教育子女的重任。”

Dixson and Brookshypothesize that facial hair makes men seem more mature and masculine but also more dominant and aggressive, the website of the Australia edition of Men's Health reported. "Men, judging other men, might be sensitive to the overall level of masculine threat and aggression signaled through full beards," the researchers wrote, according to the website. "Women, by contrast, may balance...a competitive masculine partner against the costs of mating with a too-masculine partner."

迪克森和布魯克斯推測，胡子不僅可以使男性看起來更成熟、更具男子氣概，還更有闖勁兒和支配力。研究者在澳大利亞“男性健康”網站寫道：“男性評價男性時，會注意對方整體的陽剛氣概，這種威脅攻擊性都能從他的從大胡子里看出來；而女性在評價男性時，則會更均衡全面，她們更愿意和一個相對陽剛、而非那種過于男子氣概的人在一起。”

As to why light stubble loses out to heavy stubble, the researchers believe that there's "athreshold ofdensity and distribution may be necessary for beards to function as an attractive signal," Science magazine reported. In other words, it's just too patchy
那為什么只有一點兒胡茬的人不如留有重胡茬的人更具魅力呢？研究人員解釋說，“胡子作為展現性感的標志，也存在著一個密度分布閾值”。簡而言之，只有一點胡茬的話看著太零碎了。