We have already understood that a head-shaved tattooed muscle-packed 'macho' does not make the ideal husband. But women clearly know it.

A new research has shown that women 'detect' the good husband in males with effeminate faces. 400 British subjects, men and women, were put to score digitally altered pictures of male faces presented without any hair, ears, neck, shoulder or clothing visible and transformed to look more masculine or more feminine.

The same male face in two variants, one more masculine and the other more feminine, were presented side by side and the subjects had to select the face they believed showed more particular features like dominance, ambition, wealth, faithfulness, commitment, parenting ability and warmth.

More macho traits (like a square jaw, larger nose and smaller eyes), were scored as more dominant, less faithful, worse parents and having colder, distant personalities than those with more feminine traits (like fuller lips, wide eyes and thinner, more curved eyebrows). "This research shows a high amount of agreement between women about what they see, personality wise, when asked to 'judge a book by its cover'," said lead author Lynda Boothroyd of Durham University in the United Kingdom.

"They may well use that impression of someone to decide whether or not to engage with that person. That decision-making process all depends on what a woman is looking for in a relationship at that time of her life.", added Boothroyd.

Another recent study discovered that women who were in the fertile period of their menstrual cycle were attracted by men with a more masculine look when it came to 'one night stands'; but by more effeminate men when the same women-volunteers were not in the fertile period.

The healthy appearance of the faces in the new research was also a crucial factor in attractiveness. Healthier complexions scored more in the category of desirable personality characteristics. "Our results contradict claims that machismo denotes fitness and disease immunity. Masculinity may buy you dominance but not necessarily tip-top physical condition. Instead, women see a healthy guy as the source of wealth, and fit for family life." said David Perrett of the University of St Andrews in Scotland.