Beards are alpha, 'rat boys' are in – and the rules of masculinity are as baffling as ever | Tom Usher

It's easy to grasp at shallow concepts of manliness - after all, beards are easier to grow than good relationships or life satisfaction

Beards, it seems, aren't quite as sexy as they used to be. You may have heard people talking about the hot rodent boyfriend" - the conventionally good-looking, high-cheekboned, non-bearded skinny guys, all looking as if they could be the Sensitive One" in any given boyband. With the likes of Barry Keoghan and Jacob Elordi in Saltburn, Jeremy Allen White in The Bear and Timothee Chalamet (in everything) taking leading roles as today's screen heartthrobs, you might wonder whether the moment when beardedness was synonymous with attractiveness has long gone.

It was only two years ago that journalists were declaring beards to be the trend that will never end", and only five years ago we were opining on how celebrities all look better with beards. But recent research suggests that even if people are split over whether beards are attractive or not, men with them still hold the court as the measure of manliness, as well as commitment in relationships.