ELI5. If bodyhair is there to protect some parts of our bodies… what do beards protect? 🤔

Question

ELI5. If bodyhair is there to protect some parts of our bodies… what do beards protect? 🤔

In: 1

Answer 1

A weird provides some protection to the skin it covers, primarily from very light damage like scraping.

But it also provides touch information about the environment at a distance further than what the skin would be able to touch the environment at. This is not particularly useful for modern humans, but but stiff hairs on the face are are some of the evolutionarily most important hairs for mammals.