As it turns out, there are many health benefits to having a beard! Beards can:

1. Help prevent cancer: According to researchers from the University of Southern Queensland, a thick, bountiful beard can make their owner better looking and healthier. For their study, the researchers put a group of bearded and not bearded mannequins under the brutal Australian outback sun.
   
   When they looked out the amount of radiation absorbed by each mannequin-participant, the researchers found that the beards blocked an astounding 90 to 95 percent of harmful ultraviolet radiation rays from the faces of the mannequins.
2. Slow the aging process: Facial hair helps keep the skin moisturized, and coupled with less sun exposure means less wrinkles and skin damage. Unfortunately, beards can make a man look older and more distinguished, so the fact that you're not aging under all that hair may have to be your secret.
3. Reduce infections: No shaving means no ingrown hairs, no bacterial infections, and no folliculitis (where the hair follicles become inflamed by bacteria or fungus).
4. Keeps allergens out: Just like nose hair, facial hair works as a filter and helps to prevent allergy causing substances such as pollen and dust. Beards are the obnoxious doormen of your face.
5. Prevent colds: Beards can help keep you warm, and cold viruses thrive in a colder environment.

Say goodbye to your hairless chin, join me and start growing that beard.