Hairy men 'more intelligent'

By Catherine Portland.

They tell you never to judge a book by its cover, but if we are honest life is just easier when you can discern some things at first glance. Just as a book with the author's name embossed in 72-point gold font is probably not going to be the literary sensation of the year, a man dressed head to toe in Nike's latest collection is unlikely to suggest you see the latest art house flick at the NFT.

Going on superficial impressions can still be fairly hit and miss – perhaps this is why so many people reckon you shouldn't even try? However, one scientist claims you can tell how intelligent a man is at first glance, not by sneaking a peek at his newspaper of choice but by checking out how hairy is chest is.

Looking for a partner, hair or otherwise? Why not try Online Dating?According to psychiatrist Dr Aikarakudy Alias, who has spent an impressive 22 years looking at the relationship between body hair and intelligence, the more a man has going on on his chest, the more he has going on upstairs.

Dr Alias examined the chests of medical students in the US – it's a tough job, but someone has to do it – and found that more than two in five were "very hairy", compared to just one in ten men overall.

He repeated his research on men in south India and found that medical and engineering students had more body hair than normal workers. When first presenting his findings to the Congress of the Association of European Psychiatrists, Dr Alias acknowledged that people normally associate the hairy man stereotype with sweaty builders. However, he pointed out that while people are used to seeing rows of naked builders, hairy or otherwise, they rarely get to survey a room of topless medical students.

Testing his theories further, the professor also looked at the students' academic ranking and found that hairier men tended to get better grades, with the most intelligent having hairy backs as well as chests. In a further test, he had a quick peek down the shirts of 117 Mensa members and found that they tended to have thick body hair.

As near-definitive proof that body hair is linked to intelligence, Dr Alias cited the example of Charles Darwin as a hirsute intellectual hero. However, he acknowledged that the model isn't faultless, with Albert Einstein having virtually no body hair at all.

Of course looking for a furry-chested mate may bag you a more intelligent boyfriend, but there's one drawback Dr Alias forgot to point out: hairy men go bald sooner.