Wild Pics from the 2013 Holy City Beards x Mustaches Contest

Author:

Ayoka Lucas

May 30, 2013

Apparently I have been living under a rock! I say this because when I agreed to judge the 4th Annual Southeastern Beard & Moustache Championships, I truly had no idea what a strong cultural movement this was!

In other words it was truly an amazing spectacle of facial hair excellence and interestingly enough all about style!

Paul Roof, commander/founder of The Holy City Beard and Moustache Society hosted the evening with great infectious energy and led myself along with four other judges. Mollie Howey artist, writer, Knit queen), Kami Lynn Brown (hair stylist), Boston (owner Recovery Room Tavern) and Bill Mitchell (Sideburns World Champion 2011) in a rowdy Oath before the Championships began.

Then we worked! There were 14 categories to judge, from Goatee to Ladies' Realistic Beard, and not to mention Best of Show Women and Men!

Every round was introduced by the ladies of the Lowcountry Highrollers, our very own tough-as-nails roller derby girls!

(A part of me wants to be one them!)

The Music Farm was filled with a sea of whiskered-ly advanced men & a handful of women who decided to play along which in my opinion is a strong display of great self-esteem!

Four hours went by and I must have seen every type of beard & 'moustache' (including a winning beard made out of girl scout cookies with milk mustache—the ladies rocked it).

You may think of a hairy face and think of 100 references that seem suitable, but let me add that there was almost a sense of regality with this crew.

One by one they paraded their faces in front of the audience and judges with confidence.

Some had been growing their beard for six months and some for 41 years!

Many of the guys either came in costume or dressed to the nines (some in bright red or baby blue suits).

No matter what they chose to wear or not to wear (some in just undies) it was ALL about the facial follicles!

Over 15 states represented on that stage! Now that's love! Of course the single lady in me secretly thought about the idea of dating a man of such hairiness but then I was educated on something called 'beard burn'.

Still, just watching the ladies in attendance supporting these guys I don't think that's a major area of concern! Most importantly, the night ended with lots of cheers and over $5,000 raised for the Lowcountry Women With Wings (women's ovarian cancer charity)!

So I conclude with these final words on my first Holy City Beard and Moustache Society event...You guys may be the most hard core hairy guys I've ever met, but even bigger than your beards and 'moustaches' are your hearts!