Ever since Brett David grew out his beard, he says, women can’t keep their hands off his face.
As the creative director of Rochelle’s, a bar on the Lower East Side, David says ladies grab his inchlong facial hair up to three times a week at work.
“Good girls love a bad boy with a beard,” David, a 36-year-old bachelor in Long Island City, tells The Post. “If you want to get spanked on the first night, it’s likelier to happen with me than with the guy in the Brooks Brothers suit.”
But he’s not the only one basking in attention thanks to a beard. A new study published in the Journal of Evolutionary Biology found that women rated men with facial hair up to 20 percent more desirable than clean-shaven dudes. The study also found that guys with full beards are seen as more attractive long-term partners, as opposed to men with stubble, who are seen as best for flings.
Kenny Weinberger, a single, 32-year-old tech consultant in Williamsburg, says that since he started growing his beard two years ago, he’s gotten more matches on dating apps such as the League.
“I noticed a significant difference in how I was perceived by women,” Weinberger says. A month ago, while enjoying a burger at No Fun bar on the Lower East Side, Weinberger says a pretty young woman approached him and asked him out on a date because of his beard. They ended up going out twice.
Marquis Whitmore, a 30-year-old business consultant from Cambria Heights, says his beard is even proof of his great boyfriend potential.
“It takes patience, grooming, time, dedication and a routine to manage and keep up a beard,” says Whitmore. “I think a well-kept beard speaks to those qualities, and women are attracted to them because those actions could reflect [well] on a relationship.”
And for baby-faced men like Ricardo Pais, a 37-year-old DJ who goes by “Mav Ric,” having facial hair has even given him a professional boost.
“Having a beard gives me a little more character, [makes me] a little more refined, and it’s made me feel manlier,” says Pais, who lives in Newark, NJ, and has had a beard for three years. “I’ve gotten more attention on Instagram because of [my beard], and that’s always good as a DJ.”
Kevin Kellett, who works at Ludlow Barber Supply on the Lower East Side and is a hairstylist to rapper G-Eazy, says guys come in for advice on how to grow a lush beard.
“Not every guy can grow a proper beard,” says Kellett, 29. “I had this one guy [who] wanted to get Brad Pitt’s beard, but I told him he didn’t have the coverage and he was really disappointed.”
Kellett has seen guys go to great lengths to fake the bearded look.
“I’ve heard of everything,” he says. “Guys taking BioTonin to fill out their patchiness, or use hair dye or spray paint . . . I’ve even seen guys put Rogaine on their faces.”
While the researchers behind the Journal of Evolutionary Biology study chalk up women’s love of beards to an association with masculinity, David thinks there’s a much simpler explanation.
“Chicks call me ‘Daddy,’ ” says David, who’s sported a beard for the past eight years. “Whether they’re 25 or 40, women want men like their old dad, and most of their fathers had beards.”
Erin Davis, the 31-year-old owner of Jewish matchmaking service Shabbatness, agrees that thick beards are sexy.
“My dad had a Santa Claus-like beard, and I’ve always been attracted to a man with at least some stubble,” Davis, who’s based in Hell’s Kitchen, tells The Post. “I think it’s incredibly masculine, and as women, it’s the first thing we notice and it shows that he’s classy and has his act together.”
Lonnie Barbach, a San Francisco-based clinical psychologist, says that facial hair triggers a woman’s libido.
“Facial hair means you have testosterone, and those male qualities, in a very basic, pre-conscious kind of way, get women turned on,” Barbach, who also owns the app Happy Couple, tells The Post.
But not all guys enjoy having a chick magnet on their face.
“I’m a feminist, but women have told me that I shouldn’t grow the beard if I don’t want it to be pulled,” says David. “That’s like saying women shouldn’t wear short skirts if they don’t want their asses to be grabbed.”
Meanwhile, Mehran Najafi, 27, says facial hair can sometimes give the wrong impression.
“There’s an intimidation factor to having a beard,” Najafi says. “[People] see me as a masculine figure and kind of fear me. There’s definitely a disconnect.”
But ultimately, Najafi says, he kept his beard because it makes him feel more confident.
“Having a beard makes me look more mature, and there’s a certain sense of attitude and ruggedness that comes with it,” he says. “It makes me feel whole.”
— Additional reporting by Michael Kaplan