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Straight men are less likely to use a condom if they find their partner very attractive, a new study claims.

Protection methods get thrown out of the window when it comes to one-night stands with pretty women, experts discovered.

In the eyes of men, good looking women take more care of themselves and have less chance of carrying a sexually transmitted infection (STI), scientists found.

And the better looking a man believes himself to be, the less likely he is to use a condom. 

Lead author Anastasia Eleftheriou, from the University of Southampton, told The Washington Post: 'Men are more willing to have condomless sex with attractive women even though they might believe those women are more likely [to have an STI].'   

Co-author Roger Ingham also told them he believes the findings are due to men wanting to reproduce with good-looking partners and are willing to take more risks to do so.

He said: 'Men want to reproduce with women they find to be more attractive... and so are willing to take more risk to acquire this status.'  The study aimed to better understand the relationship between perceived attractiveness, sexual health status and intended condom use among heterosexual men. 

Researchers from the University of Southampton and the University of Bristol quizzed 51 English-speaking heterosexual men aged between 18 and 69 years. Each man was shown 20 black and white facial photographs of different women and asked how likely they were to want to have unprotected sex with her.

They were also asked to rank the woman's attractiveness, how likely they would be to use a condom, how many other men like themselves would have unprotected sex with her and the odds of her having an STI.

Writing in the British Medical Journal Open, researchers found higher condom use intentions were found in women ranked as less attractive and more likely to carry an STI.

They also found protection was more likely to be used if the man was in an exclusive relationship, had a less satisfactory sex life or was younger. High numbers of sexual partners, losing their virginity at an older age and more unprotected sex in the past year also made men more likely to use a condom during a fling.