Just in time for No-Shave November, a new study shows that UF is one of the hairiest universities in the nation.
The study was performed by Schick in partnership with the research company Sperling’s BestPlaces at 60 universities nationwide.
The more clean-shaven men on campus, the higher a school ranks.
The study, the Schick Hydro Hairiest Colleges Study, shows UF is among the lowest-ranked schools in the country, ranking 55th.
“Gainesville is beard rock city,” said Will Dueease, 23, who sports a brown beard and plays in the local band Greenland Is Melting. “This is where Against Me! and all those folk-punk bands got started.”
The only campuses with more facial hair were, in order, American University, Georgetown University, University of South Florida, Harvard University and Rutgers.
UF engineering student Mike Mazer said he was surprised Harvard was the second-hairiest school in the nation.
“They must have a ‘I’ve-been-studying-law-for-five-days-and-didn’t-have-time-to-shave’ kind of beard,” he said. “I’m sure their beard is more of an academic consequence and less of something stylistic. At least I hope so.”
Mazer is another one of those who contributes to Florida’s low clean-shaven score.
“I think I carry a beard well,” he said. “I’d say it makes me look rugged and manly.”
Researchers gathered the data by standing at a street corner at the 60 universities and observed 200 men walking past.
If any of the men they saw had a beard or mustache, or both, they would be counted against the university’s ranking.
The researchers also asked 50 men at each school how often they shaved.
According to the study, southern school students tended to be more clean-shaven, and northeast city school students tended to have more facial hair.
The five most clean-shaven were Texas Tech, James Madison, the University of Virginia, Yale and Penn State.
The study also showed that clean-shaven men are more likely to have higher salaries and more attractive significant others.
While the benefits of being clean-shaven for job interviews aren’t particularly up for debate by those with beards, the benefits in the ladies department are less clear.
Dueease said that one of the reasons he has maintained a beard is because his girlfriend likes it.
“Why does any guy do anything?” he asked. “It’s cause girls like it. I found that I looked good with a beard, according to the girls I was going after, so it stuck.”
Anthropology major Sarah Hinkes, 20, said she was more likely to be attracted to men with beards than clean-shaven men.
“Beards are the stuff of men,” she said. “Only real men can grow beards. The ones who don’t are just little girls. No-shave November is my favorite month.”
Kristen Troxler, a 19-year-old nursing student, disagreed.
“I feel like [the beardless] tend to look like a more put-together person in general,” she said. “Someone who’s more in control, on top of things.”
The rankings are part of a promotion for the Schick Hydro razor, and the company plans to stage “Hydroventions” for particularly hairy students.
Students can nominate their friends with beards on the Schick Hydro Experience Facebook page. Four winners will be selected to receive a visit from a team of nurses who will give them a shave, which will be videotaped for Schick Hydro’s Facebook website and YouTube page. They will also win a free, two-person Spring Break vacation.
