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moustache   Contest will pick the greatest facial hair on Earth   moustache

Mustachioed Bremerton man among 100 daring men competing for a world title!

By KRISTIN DIZON
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Laugh all you want -- you may be chuckling at a world champion.

In the ever-widening field of competitive pursuits, there is a contest to determine the best facial hair on the planet, and for the first time, it's being held in the United States.

In fact, not one, but 17 winners will be crowned in different categories at the World Beard and Moustache Championships, to be held Nov. 1 in Carson City, Nev.

At least 100 men, including Bruce Roe of Bremerton, will put their best whiskers forward, with the aid of costumes, combs, wax, hair spray, and, in some cases, much teasing and sculpting.

They will compete in the Fu Manchu, known by its distinct horseshoe shape, and as the mark of the stereotypical "Oriental" villain of the old "Yellow Peril" movie genre. They will contend for the most exquisite Dali, skinny, upturned and waxed to immobility, as surreal as the man's art.

Less familiar classes are the Imperial, a great big W of a mustache, with wide, bushy curves; the Garibaldi, a full, rounded beard in the style of the Italian patriot; or the gravity-defying Freestyle classes.

In facial hair competition, America is in its infancy, outnumbered and out-shown by the more serious and organized European contingent. In particular, it is the club-loving Germans who have bonded in mutual whiskerdom, aided, of course, with beer.

These hirsute men are among the contestants expected at this year's World Beard and Mustache Championships Nov. 1 in Carson City, Nev. Among them is Willi Chevalier, bottom center, the current world champion in the partial beard, freestyle category.

The championships, held every two years since 1991, are sanctioned by the Association of German Beard Clubs. In a dozen years, only one American's facial hair has placed in the top three.

That man is Bruce Roe, a 52-year-old civilian employee of the Bremerton shipyard and two-time second-place winner in the Hungarian, or Wild West, category. Tip to tip, Roe's blondish mustache measures 10 inches when stretched.

"I like the big and bushy, that's what the cowboys had," says Roe, who has been mustachioed for 30 years.

For competitions, he dresses as lawman Wyatt Earp, with a hat, boots, spurs and a long coat. And, unlike on ordinary days, he uses hair spray to hold more volume in his stache.

Roe helped start a local group, Whisker Club (whiskerclub.org), and hopes more will join. His fellow club member, Gary Johnson, who has a 24-inch-long mustache and a triangular beard, also will compete at the championships.

Though Roe enjoys the camaraderie more than the contest, he would like to see more American pride in whiskery, and to one day hold the championships in this area.

There is no such thing as a census of the whiskered, but hirsute men say their numbers are growing.

"I think facial hair has become much, much more acceptable in the past few years," says Phil Olsen, director of the championships and possessor of an 8-inch-long curly beard.

Olsen, a lawyer by training, looks at today's image makers -- celebrities and sports stars, and sees hairy faces. Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Tom Hanks, Harrison Ford and Val Kilmer have all sported shaggy beards in the past few years, even if most were temporary and tied to a movie role.

Baseball players are another ripe source of whiskers, with more emphasis on goatees and chin patches.

Olsen says facial hair helps a man stand out as an individual: "I like to think of it the same as any style -- it's something else to work with to enhance your appearance or make it more interesting."

There are legion products for their needs: Col. Ichabod Conk's Moustache Wax, Brother's Love Bavarian Moustache Styling Pomade, Dax Wave and Groom Hair Dress, Oregon Wild Hair Moustache Wax, Cowboy Stache Wax, and, among others, Beardsley Beard Care, which bills itself as the only beard shampoo and conditioner around.

There are online chatboards and bulletin boards to share grooming tips, hirsute tidbits and role models such as the bearded wizards of "The Lord of the Rings."

Mark, a Seattle man who plans to attend but not compete in the championships, says the Northwest is the best place in the country to have a beard.

Even as a professional cook, Mark, who wishes to remain anonymous, said he's never had trouble getting a job with his 5-inch-long beard.

"I've sautéed with 5-foot flames, and I've never caught my beard on fire. I've never gotten beard hairs in the food."

He showers and washes his beard, before and after work, and never leaves home without one of his 30 or so combs, stashed in his car, home and jacket pockets.

He says the hazards of lengthy facial hair are a few: hairs catching in zippers, bugs getting stuck in whiskers, and eating ice cream, barbecue or orange juice with pulp at your own peril.

Sometimes, a man must even choose between his whiskers and a job. Mark once was offered a good job with the caveat that his beard must go. He turned them down.

On another occasion, an ad agency employee stopped Mark on the street and invited him to audition to be the new Brawny paper towel man. The contract was worth six figures, but he'd have to shave the beard, leaving only his mustache. Again, Mark said no thanks.

Mark, who is 43 and gay, says there is perhaps a finer appreciation in gay culture for whiskers. But women tend to feel strongly one way or another.

"The women either think it's disgusting or kind of curious," he says. "They wonder, 'what would my boyfriend look like with it?' "

Throughout history, facial hair has been rife with such ambiguity.

It's been viewed as both sexy, masculine and godly, as well as sinister, sexual and unclean.

"Our historical associations are quite mixed," says Allan Peterkin, a psychiatrist and professor in Toronto who wrote "One Thousand Beards: A Cultural History of Facial Hair." "It's either Santa, or it's Satan. It's really quite dramatic what people think of when they see a beard."

Peterkin thinks the last time facial hair was as prevalent as it has been in the past decade isn't the shaggy '60s or the mustache-loving '70s, but the Victorian era.

"In the last 10 years, it's more an act of rebellion, and an act of saying, 'I'm not a corporate slave,' " Peterkin says. "It's a sign of freedom -- I can be a doctor, a dentist, a musician or whatever, and still have facial hair."

P-I reporter Kristin Dizon can be reached at 206-448-8118 or
kristindizon@seattlepi.com.


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