I know it’s pretty superficial, but I really have a hard time feeling attracted to a guy with a lot of facial hair. A little stubble is fine, but full-on beards turn me off and mustaches are even worse. Lately, I keep running into profiles of seemingly interesting guys with handlebar mustaches and I just can’t. They look nice but the opposite of sexual to me. It’s like it puts the guy into a third separate gender I am not attracted to, no matter how “aesthetic” his look is.

But I’ll do the exercise of imagining their face without the facial hair and they often look cute. I just don’t know if I should be swiping on them or not. On the one hand, I think it’s stupid to dismiss someone just because of facial hair, something that’s so easily changeable. On the other hand, I can’t even imagine myself wanting to be intimate with them with the facial hair on, which would make the initial stages of dating difficult. I can’t just ask them to shave. I wouldn’t want to ask them to because if that’s the look they like, then they should keep it. And maybe if they like that look and I don’t, it just means we’re incompatible? But it’s also just hair!!

What should I do when this happens? Swipe right and power through, or swipe left and move on to non-bearded, mustache-free dudes?