Beard + Science = HalfBeard

Wow. Thanks to reader Mox for pointing out this stunning example of irrationally exuberant Beard Science. Needless to say, Man Beard Blog salutes this emerging discipline, and commends this gentleman on his fine contributions.



He gets special recognition for this gem (emphasis added):

Although I've determined that it felt warmer with a beard, no analytical tests were performed. I did not determine skin temperatures. It is quite possible that I had only thought I felt warmer. I suggest that a better test would be to shave half a person's beard off, but not tell them which half. This would give a fairer test of warmth.

Quite right. The integrity of the experiment demands that the subject be unaware of the variables being tested, thus avoiding any potential beard-bias. My only improvement on this would be that the experimenter would also have to be unaware which side of the person's face was shaved, or if the face is shaved at all. This would best be accomplished by recruiting a few dozen beards and hiring an impartial third party to randomly shave the left side of 25% of the beards, the right side of 25%, the entire beard of 25%, and none of the remaining 25%. The neutral third party shaver and the control groups of full-beards and no-beards make it completely impossible for the subjects or the experimenters to know which sides are shaved, insuring that the experiment is perfectly double-beard-blind. It is important that neither the subjects nor the shaver be a Man Beard, since this would a present an obvious conflict of interests and a potential source of bias.

If anyone conducts this experiment, Man Beard Blog will gladly publish your results. Onward Beard Science!