Bearded men are more attractive. An edited photo of Mark Zuckerberg with a light tan and a thong took the internet by storm over the weekend, raising the question of why unshaven men are so attractive.

‘It’s like he went from a loser to a heartthrob in this photo,’ Nenna B., the creator of the content, told HuffPost.

Actress Crystal Luster also told the publication that the beard made the founder of Meta much more attractive. She admitted to reconsidering men she had previously rejected after they grew beards.

A 2016 study found that men with light and thick facial hair are perceived as more attractive than their clean-shaven peers. More than 8,500 women were polled who preferred men to have facial hair.

‘This may be due to the fact that a beard adds more definition to the face and increases the perception of age and masculinity,’ study author Barnaby Dixon told HuffPost.

According to the study, a 10-day-old beard is more desirable, while a gray, overgrown beard is less attractive. Also, a man’s beard contains more bacteria than a dog’s fur or even a toilet seat.