Wearing face masks increase attractiveness, claims UK researchers

What happened: The researchers at Cardiff University published a peer-reviewed study that claims that a mask does cover half of your face, so the increased attractiveness may be tied to the beauty of occlusion. The female participants included in the study reviewed the male participants who were wearing masks. Details: USA Today report quotes the study as,  “Female participants found men wearing cloth masks more attractive than men with no mask at all, but still not as attractive as men with medical masks.”  The peer-reviewed study included 43 female students, who viewed 40 male faces of Cardiff University. It is pertinent to mention that the USA Today report suggests that the female participants found men’s faces most attractive when they wore the medical mask.  More: One of the co-authors of the study, Michael Lewis, stated,  “One might have expected fashion masks to improve attractiveness more so it was surprising that medical masks had the greater effect.”  Previously, in 2016, a Japanese study showed that Japanese women wearing a sanitary masks are viewed as less attractive. However, in conclusion to his interview to USA Today, Lewis said,  “The previous link between face masks being associated with illness has reduced, and now face masks are associated with caring professions.”