The World Beard and Moustache Championships is a biennial competition in which men with beard

Beard

A beard is the collection of hair that grows on the chin, cheeks and neck of human beings. Usually, only pubescent or adult males are able to grow beards. However, women with hirsutism may develop a beard...

s and moustache

Moustache

A moustache is facial hair grown on the outer surface of the upper lip. It may or may not be accompanied by a type of beard, a facial hair style grown and cropped to cover most of the lower half of the face.-Etymology:...

s display lengthy, highly-styled facial hair.

The first Championship took place in Höfen-Enz, Germany, in 1990.

On September 1, 2007, competitors of the world's most hirsute faces from the UK, America, Germany and other countries convened for the championships in Brighton

Brighton

Brighton is the major part of the city of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, England on the south coast of Great Britain...

. It was hosted by The Handlebar Club

Handlebar Club

The Handlebar Club is an association of aficionados of the handlebar moustache, based in London. The club's sole requirement for membership is "a hirsute appendage of the upper lip and with graspable extremities"; beards are absolutely forbidden...

 with comedy performer and renowned moustache wearer Michael "Atters" Attree acting as Chairman and Master of Ceremonies. Facial hair categories were judged by celebrity moustache wearers including actor/singer Nick Cave

Nick Cave

Nicholas Edward "Nick" Cave is an Australian musician, songwriter, author, screenwriter, and occasional film actor.He is best known for his work as a frontman of the critically acclaimed rock band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, established in 1984, a group known for its eclectic influences and...

 and musician/poet Billy Childish

Billy Childish

Billy Childish is an English artist, painter, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist...

. The international event was staged within the Brighton Centres Main Hall. Categories include Dali moustache, goatee and full beard freestyle.

The 2009 event was held from May 19 to the 24th in Anchorage, Alaska. The main Championship Contest was held on May 23, 2009.
The host club distributed over $16,000 to local charities via the International Lions Club 49A foundation 501C4 and the Miners & Trappers Ball Inc a 501C3 organizations. Anchorage hosted the most ever competitors, eclipsing the previous U.S. venue of city Carson City, Nevada.

The 2011 championships were hosted by "The Norwegian Moustache Club of 91" in Trondheim, Norway on May 15th. The 12th incarnation of the contest will be in Stuttgart, Germany in November 2013 and will be hosted by Belle Moustache Beard and Culture Club. .

Contest

There are 3 brackets of facial hair: Moustache, Partial Beard and Full Beard. Each bracket is broken into individual categories. There are usually 17 categories but there were 18 different categories for the 2009 championships.

Moustache

• Natural Moustache - maximum of 1.5 cm beyond the end of the upper lip (may be styled but without aides)
• English
  English moustache
  The English moustache is a moustache style that is narrow, beginning at the middle of the upper lip the whiskers are very long and pulled to the side, slightly curled; the ends are pointed slightly upward; areas past the corner of the mouth must be shaved. Artificial styling aids are generally...
  
   - slender, hairs extremely long and pulled to the side
• Dali
  Salvador Dalí
  Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
  
   - slender with long tips, straight up or arching up
• Imperial Moustache
  Handlebar moustache
  A handlebar moustache is a moustache with particularly lengthy, upward curved, extremities. It is named for its resemblance to the handlebars of a bicycle. It is also known as a "spaghetti moustache", because of its stereotypical association with Italian men...
  
   - small and bushy with tips arching up
• Hungarian
  Walrus moustache
  The walrus moustache is characterized by whiskers that are thick and bushy in nature. Its name derives from the fact that the whiskers usually droop over the mouth, giving an appearance to the human face that is very similar to that of a walrus.-History:...
  
   - big and bushy, beginning from the middle of the upper lip and pulled to the side
• Freestyle - All moustaches that do not match other classes

Partial Beard

• Natural Goatee
  Goatee
  Goatee refers to a style of facial hair incorporating hair on a man’s chin. The exact nature of the style has varied according to time and culture.Traditionally, goatee refers solely to a beard formed by a tuft of hair on the chin...
  
   - facial hair grown only on chin, upper and lower lip (may be styled but without aides)
• Chinese
  Fu Manchu moustache
  A Fu Manchu moustache is a full, straight moustache that grows downward past the lips and on either side of the chin; and often, the tapered, pointed ends of the moustache hang past the jawline...
  
   - chin shaved with moustache tips long and pulled down
• Musketeer - moustache long and slender, beard small and pointed
• Imperial - hair to be grown only on cheeks and upper lip
• Sideburns Freestyle - all other sideburns
  Sideburns
  Sideburns or sideboards are patches of facial hair grown on the sides of the face, extending from the hairline to below the ears and worn with an unbearded chin...
  
   with shaved chin
• Alaskan Whaler - All beards with no moustache - (a one-time category at the 2009 championships)
• Partial Beard Freestyle - all partial beards not matching other classes

Full Beard

• Verdi
  Giuseppe Verdi
  Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
  
   - short and round, length not to exceed 10 cm
• Garibaldi
  Giuseppe Garibaldi
  Giuseppe Garibaldi was an Italian military and political figure. In his twenties, he joined the Carbonari Italian patriot revolutionaries, and fled Italy after a failed insurrection. Garibaldi took part in the War of the Farrapos and the Uruguayan Civil War leading the Italian Legion, and...
  
   - broad, full and round, length not to exceed 20 cm
• Natural Full Beard - as grown, no aids allowed
• Natural Full Beard with Styled Moustache - as grown, only moustache can be styled with aides
• Full Beard Freestyle - full beards not matching other classes, but considered the most creative over all other categories in the full beards.

External links

• Official homepage of the World Beard and Moustache Association.
• Official homepage of the 2009 WBMC. Hosted by the South Central Alaska Beard and Moustache Club
• Official homepage of the 2007 WBMC. Hosted by The Handlebar Club
• Official homepage of the 2005 WBMC. Hosted by the Berlin Beard Club
• World Beard and Mustache Championships Enthusiast Page.
• Beard Team U.S.A. Page.
• National Geographic article about the competition
• The Bushrangers - Australia's first ever team for the World Beard and Moustache championships