Kissing men with beards can cause injury (and infection)
"If you're ever kissing a boy and your chin starts to hurt — stop!" Uhm, okay, we didn't think we needed this PSA until we saw pictures of beard burn. It ain't pretty!
Men with beards are often considered attractive, but there is a small price to pay for kissing a man with stubble.
Just ask Quincy Grace, a woman in America who learned the hard way that kissing a man with facial hair can lead to beard burn and, in some cases, infection.
She woke up after a heavy make-out session with a bearded man to find that she had a red rash and bruising on her chin.
"Let this be your warning: If you're ever kissing a boy and your chin starts to hurt — stop. Don't think, oh I'll be fine, no you won't," she told her TikTok followers, according to Yahoo! News.
Quincy Grace is not alone. Scores of women have documented the side effects of kissing men with beards. While most encounters have been, uhm, pleasurable, a lot of women have suffered contact dermatitis, which can cause redness, itching, and dry skin.
Beard burn, also known as moustache burn or stache burn, is mostly caused by friction, like when you get rug burn.
However, in some cases, it can be an infection.
"If a beard is not clean, it can harbour bacteria like staph, and kissing someone with a beard can cause little cuts in the skin leading to an infection called impetigo," board-certified dermatologist Dr. Muneeb Shah said in a TikTok video shared in 2021.
@dermdoctor BEARD RASH @Chloe #dermdoctor #dermatologist #impetigo ♬ original sound - DermDoctor | Dr. Shah
MORE FROM EAST COAST RADIO
However, before crossing out "men with beards" from your list of attractive features in a man, there is no need to panic.
A recent article on Dr. B states that your risk of getting impetigo after kissing someone with a beard is "extremely low".
"For beard-triggered impetigo to happen, she explains, the bearded person would have to carry the Staph bacteria around their nose or on their beard hair—which is less common, especially when beards are kept clean. Then, the beard would have to create tiny cuts on the other person’s skin during the makeout session, inviting the bacteria to enter and cause infection," the publication states.
So, yes, it can happen, but should you write bearded men off?
“It’s theoretically possible. But there’s a very low risk even if the above scenario happens. Certainly, not a reason to avoid kissing guys with facial hair!" licensed dermatologist Dr Alison Gruen told the publication.
Here's a look at some of the videos women have shared over the years about beard burns.
@mmmaaaaallllll abolish stubble my chin can’t take it anymore #fyp ♬ original sound - 🌟
@caitlinnrosee02 im literally allergic lol #boyfriend #relationship #fyp ♬ ABBY USED MY SOUND - livinonthedancefloor💋
@ninoshkavega It itches like crazyyyy #beardburnsurvivor ♬
@redrobynyumm #beardburn #beardburn💋 #fyp #foyou #justagirl ♬ original sound - 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞 𝐀𝐛𝐝𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐡
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Main image credit: iStock/ g-stockstudio