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For anyone familiar with the basic rules of economics, there are four laws of supply and demand. One of these states that if demand remains unchanged and supply increases, a surplus occurs, leading to a lower equilibrium price. Which pretty much explains why, according to new research by an Australian university, rocking a beard in a place like Portland, Oregon might actually lower your market value with the ladies. According to the study, the more that clean-shaven men were in the minority, the more that they were found to be attractive, and vice versa. So, given the beard-saturated times we live in, it might be time to reintroduce yourself to your razor.

Now, it’s probably worth noting that there are some important variables to the beard supply/demand curve. The first and most important variable is the fickleness of individual taste. As Robert Brooks, one of the researchers in the study, told Guardian Australia about the beard, "Some women are attracted to it, some are repelled. It is clear it is a sign of manliness, it makes men look older and also more aggressive. How much women like that depends, in a way, on how overtly masculine they like their men." Another factor is just how beard-heavy your local dude market is. Rocking your best ZZ Top along the L train in Brooklyn, where everyone with a Y chromosome has hair on his face, is probably a bad idea. But if you live among the smooth-cheeked denizens of suburban Ohio, then by all means, grow that bad boy until you can tuck it into your belt.

One final caveat to all of this, however —and like personal taste, one that’s hard to measure —is overall beard quality. If your current "beard" is three hairs sprouting from a mole on your cheek, then for all that is good and holy, stick to shaving. On the other hand, if you’re able to sprout a thick pelt of luxuriant perfection, as if Hemingway had a son with the Most Interesting Man in the World, then it might be worth considering a beard, even in a saturated market. Show up at a Ferrari convention driving a fighter jet, and trust us, people will notice.