According to a new survey, a staggering 90% of men believe that their partners are natural beauties with less than a third of women believing this to be the case.
One quarter of women surveyed confessed to having at least one beauty secret, while 23% confided that nobody (even their friends) really knows the extent of their beautifying.
Top of the confidential list is waxing or bleaching their moustache, with 27% admitting that this would be the worst beauty secret their partner could discover.
Other list toppers are the fear of partners discovering underarm hair (35%), stubbly legs (23%) and grey roots (12%).
As well as helping women to cover up these beauty faux-pas’ and look their personal best, the research reveals that beauty secrets could in fact be healthy for relationships.
Of the British men polled, 87% said that they don’t mind if their partner keeps some of her beauty rituals hidden, a view supported by women, with 70% who keep a beauty secret from their partner believing it to be key to a good relationship.
Psychologist and psychotherapist Rachel Shattock Dawson said: “In an age where very little remains taboo, many women still prefer to keep some things private, believing that there’s a place for a little mystery and mystique even within their closest relationships.
“Knowing your hair looks great and that you look your natural best clearly pays great dividends in confidence and self-esteem.
“However, some of our beauty rituals aren’t the most romantic sights to witness. Some women prefer to keep these activities behind closed doors to keep the romance alive and to appear more naturally sexy and attractive to their partners.”
A staggering 90 percent of men believe that their partners are natural beauties
The research, conducted by leading home hair color brand nice ‘n easy, uncovers further fascinating insights into women’s motivations for all this hard work, pointing to the fact that women want to look good to feel good for themselves.
For some, it’s simply a case of achieving the look they think suits them best; 37% of women for example state that their hair color is the color they were born to have, not born with (a view supported by 45% of blondes).
Yet, beautifying appears to be a huge self-esteem boost too, as three quarters believe that they are much more confident when they have completed their beauty regime and 61% say that that they feel like a new person.
THE BEAUTY RITUALS WOMEN PREFER TO KEEP SECRET
• Waxing or bleaching moustache (94%)
• Waxing bikini line (90%)
• Whitening teeth (90%)
• Applying fake tan (79%)
• Plucking eyebrows (41%)
• Coloring hair (36%)
Scientists have developed a forensic test that can predict both the hair and eye color of a possible suspect using DNA left at a crime scene.
The team that developed the test says it could provide valuable leads in cases where perpetrators cannot be identified through DNA profiling.
The Hirisplex system could allow investigators to narrow down a large group of possible suspects.
Details appear in the journal Forensic Science International: Genetics.
Scientists have developed Hirisplex, a forensic test that can predict both the hair and eye color of a possible suspect using DNA left at a crime scene
Predicting phenotypes – outward traits such as hair color or eye color – from DNA information is an emerging field in forensics.
An important current approach, known as genetic profiling, involves comparing crime scene DNA with that from a suspect or with a profile stored in a database.
But this relies on the person either being among a pool of suspects identified by the police or having their profile in a DNA database.
Tools such as Hirisplex could be useful in those cases where the perpetrator is completely unknown to the authorities, said Prof. Manfred Kayser, who led the study.
He said the test “includes the 24 currently best eye and hair color predictive DNA markers. In its design we took care that the test can cope with the challenges of forensic DNA analysis such as low amounts of material.”
Prof. Manfred Kayser, from Erasmus University Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, added: “The test is very sensitive and produces complete results on even smaller DNA amounts than usually used for forensic DNA profiling.”
He said the journal article described everything needed to establish the test in a forensic lab, but that the team was also in touch with industry regarding their knowledge about hair and eye color prediction.
The test system includes the six DNA markers previously used in a test for eye color known as Irisplex, combining them with predictive markers for hair.
In the study, the authors used Hirisplex to predict hair color phenotypes in a sample drawn from three European populations.
On average, their prediction accuracy was 69.5% for blonde hair, 78.5% for brown, 80% for red and 87.5% for black hair color.
Analysis on worldwide DNA samples suggested the results were similar regardless of a person’s geographic ancestry.
The team was also able to determine, with a prediction accuracy of about 86%, whether a brown-eyed, black haired person was of non-European versus European origin (excluding some nearby areas such as the Middle East).
The findings were also outlined at the sixth European Academy of Forensic Science conference in The Hague this week.
