According to Carol Walker, a consultant trichologist from the Birmingham Trichology Centre, your beard may be less a sign of rugged masculinity and more petri dish you happen to wear on your face. See, all that scruff, which features thicker, coarser hairs than anywhere else on your body, can trap bacteria in its web, which in turn can make you or others sick (ew). Also, if you’re a real slob, food can get stuck in your beard and go rancid (mega ew). And if you think washing it will rid you of germs, think again—Manuel Barbeito, a microbiologist in the U.S. Army in the 1960s, conducted a study in which he found that beards could potentially spread disease, and that washing did not do a suitable enough job of ridding the hairs of infectious disease. So, hey, we’re not saying you’ve gotta shave it all off, or that you will definitely get sick if you’re rocking some big Paul Bunyan situation, but the next time you’re looking for someone to blame for that nasty cold, you may want to look in the mirror.

**Related: How to Shave Face

**Jake Woolf is a writer who has covered men’s style for over ten years and has contributed to GQ since 2014. A graduate of Parsons The New School for Design (good school, long name), he also has bylines at Robb Report, HighSnobiety, Pitchfork, and the defunct #menswear website Four Pins... Read moreWriterXRelated Stories for GQGrooming