Bearded & Tschorn: U.S. beard battle set for summer

Senior Features Writer

Dec. 30, 2009 11:35 AM PT

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It looks like there might be some use for that leftover Movember mustache in the new year after all. Beard Team USA, a loosely organized group of stateside facial hair aficionados, I became acquainted with during my coverage of the World Beard & Moustache Championships earlier this year, has announced that the first-ever Beard Team USA Nationals will be held at the Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend, Ore., on June 5, 2010, in conjunction with that city’s 8th Annual Balloons Over Bend hot air balloon festival.

The next installment of the biennial WBMC won’t take place until mid-2011 in Trondheim, Norway, and at the last competition over Memorial Day weekend in Anchorage, the BTUSA’s point man Phil Olsen had floated the idea of a U.S.-based facial fur faceoff to be held in the year in between.

According to BTUSA’s website, the competition will be in four separate categories: best moustache, best partial beard, best full beard and freestyle, with the winner in each category getting $1,000. A fifth $1,000 prize will go to a randomly selected competitor, which is important to note since there are no qualifying events or gender restrictions, leaving the field truly wide open to competitors of every stripe.

I, for one, think the scraggly, bifurcated beard that’s been using Brad Pitt as a life support system as of late could pose a serious threat in the partial beard category -- celebrity aside. (I mean, what is that? Does he let the kids braid it at night or is he having Johnny Depp envy?)

Registration information hasn’t been posted yet, but in the mean time, those in pursuit of hirsute glory should just let it grow forth.

-- Adam Tschorn

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Adam Tschorn

Senior features writer Adam Tschorn is a former small-town newspaper editor, game-show question-and-answer man and fashion scribe who joined the Los Angeles Times in 2007. He currently covers a wide range of pop-culture topics with a focus on cannabis culture. Holding a B.A. in philosophy and an M.A. in journalism, he feels perfectly suited to looking at things, asking “why?” and writing down the answers.