Nothing says "masculinity" quite like a beard. See any of the American Civil War generals, who were around at a time when masculinity was unquestioned as an asset and when truly grotesque facial hair was the norm; see Ambrose Burnside for an example.

While I write this from what I suspect is the most bearded state in the Union - Alaska - and while I sport a pretty good gray-and-white soup-strainer myself, some folks are apparently worried about the hygiene aspects of a face-warmer. Speaking as a biologist, I'll say this: There's nothing to worry about.

The notion that beards are potential carriers of disease dates back about six decades. In a 1967 study, microbiologist Manuel S. Barbeito and his colleagues sprayed participants’ beards with bacteria and found that the bacteria remained after washing with soap and water.

The idea resurfaced years later — but this time, comparing bacteria in beards to those found in toilets — and has remained pervasive online.

Human skin is crawling with microorganisms, such as bacteria, viruses and fungi. We even have mites living in our eyelashes. “But not all organisms that we find on the skin are bad,” said Shari Lipner, an associate professor of clinical dermatology at Weill Cornell Medicine.

“There are bacteria all over our bodies, so there are bacteria in beards, too,” said Kimberly Davis, an associate professor of molecular microbiology and immunology at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Here's the thing, and it's something a lot of folks don't know about: We're all perambulating ecosystems. We have, as this article notes, bacteria, viruses, and fungi in our hair and on our skin, and we have mites in our eyelashes. Everyone does. And that's not all; we have bacteria in our digestive systems, and in fact, our guts wouldn't properly process food without them. Our intestinal fauna helps us break down foods like cellulose, which we wouldn't be able to digest otherwise. Wiping out that intestinal fauna can make one very sick indeed.

Besides, beards are cool. They radiate masculinity. Our own Vice President JD Vance gets it, and he's the first bearded dude to hold our nation's #2 chair in a long time. What's more, if he keeps the chin-curtain up and runs successfully for president, he will be the first bearded chief executive since Benjamin Harrison, who served from 1889 to 1893. There have been mustachioed presidents since, including most notably Theodore Roosevelt, but Harrison was the last to sport a full-on Grizzly Adams.

Tim "Great Walz of China" may disagree, of course, but his track record of "masculinity" is shaky at best, his claims to the contrary notwithstanding.

See Also: The Reactions to this 'Body Language' Take on Vance's Beard and Walz's Eyes Are Hilarious

Tim Walz: Republicans Are Terrified of My Masculinity, and I Can Beat Up Trump Supporters

So, we should welcome the return of the beard. It's no more germ-laden than your hair or eyebrows, and probably rather less than some other parts of your body. Wash it at least once daily and keep it trimmed, and your soup-strainer will continue to draw gasps of admiration from all around. 

Now, when talking masculinity, while a beard may enhance yours, we should caution against the man-bun, which has the opposite effect. The first time I saw a young guy with a man-bun, my first reaction was to blurt out, "Hey, my grandmother used to wear her hair just like that." So, there's no reason to wear a man-bun. None.

But that's a topic for another day.

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