World Beard and Moustache Championships

The Culture and Competition of Facial Hair

Beard Team USA competes for the United States at the biennial World Beard and Moustache Championships. The team is actively recruiting new members for the next championships, which will take place in Brighton, England, on September 1, 2007. All beards and moustaches are welcome to come out and celebrate the culture of facial hair.

Presidents of the United States in the latter half of the 19th century wore them, so beards weren't only popular among mountain men, but among gentlemen as well. It was a mark of distinction, maturity and masculinity. Civil War soldiers demonstrate the Golden Age of facial hair in American history.

From the turn of the century up until the 1960s, the invention of the safety razor made shaving a luxury.

Facial hair lore includes Alexander The Great who prohibited his soldiers from having beards because it gave the enemy something to hold onto. At some point in the Russian Empire, there was a czar who imposed a tax on beards, so you could have a beard, but had to pay for the privilege.

Sikh men have long, luxurious beards, but also very long hair, which they keep tucked up in a turban. In the Amish community, men don't wear beards until they become married, and then they don't shave for the rest of their lives, but they do shave their moustaches. Shaving the moustache dates back to a time when a moustache was associated with the military, which the Amish don't support pacifists.

The World Beard and Moustache Championships in 1991 in Germany. This year there's a Beard Team USA pep rally in Trafalgar Square. There are 150 contestants pre-registered and close to 300 in all.German groups think the judges should be professional hairstylists, others think celebrity judges make it more interesting for the public.

In 2003 in Nevada, judges included a couple Olympic skiers, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Nevada, Miss Nevada, an actor playing Mark Twain, the town mayor and the senior class president of the local high school. There are 17 different categories.