Face masks are making us more attractive, according to research

That's us told.

Turns out the rumours are true, we are better looking when we have our masks on. New research shows that when someone is wearing a face mask or covering, specifically the surgical ones, we tend to be more attractive. The study presented women with 40 males faces between the ages of 18 and 30 and of "low to high attractiveness" and then their faces were shown in different stages: partially covered by a cloth mask, a surgical mask, a book and not covered at all. 43 women took part in the study and were asked to then rate their attractiveness on a scale from one to ten, with the results showing that faces were at their most attractive when covered with a medical mask. The next best looking bunch was when they wore a cloth mask, with faces not wearing a mask voted not to be the best looking. The study was carried out in February of last year by the School of Psychology at Cardiff University, seven months after we had gotten used to seeing peoples faces with masks. Dr Michael Lewis who carried out the study said: "The results run counter to the pre-pandemic research where it was thought masks made people think about disease and the person should be avoided. "The current research shows the pandemic has changed our psychology in how we perceive the wearers of masks. "This relates to evolutionary psychology and why we select the partners we do. Disease and evidence of disease can play a big role in mate selection – previously any cues to disease would be a big turn off."