Face masks 'make wearers look more attractive', study shows

Research from Cardiff University suggests that wearing face masks makes men look more attractive.

The study measured how different variations of face masks changed the attractiveness of 40 male faces.

Researchers even found that blue masks increased facial attractiveness more than other types of masks.

Further research is also being made with female and male participants to see if the results are the same for both genders.

The study comes after pre-pandemic research showed that facial masks reduced attractiveness, but the new results suggest it's actually the opposite.

Blue medical masks were thought to improve looks the most, apparently as we associate them with healthcare workers people who care for and look after us when we feel vulnerable.

Expert in the psychology of faces Dr Michael Lewis, from Cardiff University's school of psychology, said:

“Our study suggests faces are considered most attractive when covered by medical face masks. This may be because we’re used to healthcare workers wearing blue masks and now we associate these with people in caring or medical professions. At a time when we feel vulnerable, we may find the wearing of medical masks reassuring and so feel more positive towards the wearer.

“We also found faces are considered significantly more attractive when covered by cloth masks than when not covered. Some of this effect may be a result of being able to hide undesirable features in the lower part of the face – but this effect was present for both less attractive and more attractive people.”

How was the study conducted?

In the study, 43 female participants rated the attractiveness of images of male faces on a scale of one to 10 - the images featured men:

• Without a mask
• Wearing a cloth mask
• Wearing a blue medical face mask
• Holding a plain black book covering the area that a face mask would

• The research was conducted in February 2021, seven months after face masks became mandatory in the UK.

• “The current research shows the pandemic has changed our psychology in how we perceive the wearers of masks. When we see someone wearing a mask we no longer think ‘that person has a disease, I need to stay away’, said Dr Lewis.

• “This relates to evolutionary psychology and why we select the partners we do. Disease and evidence of disease can play a big role in mate selection – previously any cues to disease would be a big turn off. Now we can observe a shift in our psychology such that face masks are no longer acting as a contamination cue.”

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