Never having been a fan of facial hair, I was astounded when I saw some of these competitive beards. This is the beard and mustache art form.
Do we have any facial hair aficionados here?
I’m not a big fan of the braided (a snowshoe?) and waxed sculptures so wide that the wearer has to go through doors sideways.
Pash, OTOH, is a local guy, and I could just about curl up and get all cozy in that beard.
I’m also very envious - he’s only 23 - as his websitenotes, that’s younger than some of the beards he’s competed against.
I have always (since puberty anyway) been too lazy to shave, hence I’m facial haired. For a while, I had a goatee that I never trimmed. It got to belt length eventually. Now I keep it shorter, just to make upkeep simpler.
My favorite part about the long goatee was when women (in bars and such) would ask if they could braid it. My reply was always, “as long as you sit in my lap to do it”. Amazingly most complied!
Gotta subscribe for that.
I personally have a pornish mustache. Too much of my other facial hair is whitish-blonde to make a good fu manchu or goatee. And the whiskers are crawling further and further up my cheeks.
Maybe in a few years the colors will even out and I can do a Fu Manchu, or even a full beard.
I’ve had hefty muttonchops on several occasions, but I’d never done a full beard until recently, due to itchiness. However, I’m currently fully bearded (albeit not as fully as anyone on that site, I’m at two months or so), thanks to the discovery that the neckbeard is really the main source of itchiness, and shaving that works pretty well. I’m also growing my first mustache ever (it’s pretty pathetic, actually, if I didn’t have a beard I’d be rather ashamed). Alas, my facial hair is rather curly, so I get some nice full chops, but not much potential for fine control.
Since a major point of beardedness is not to have to mess around unduly with facial hair, it seems counterproductive to turn it into a competitive sport (though I am most proud that the U.S. ran away with the total medal count).
Ultra-styled facial hair seems to have had its last big fling around the time of the Great War, when Kaiser Willie had a special servant whose only job it was to wax the royal mustache, and Admiral von Tirpitz grew his unforgettable beard.
Lots of Civil War officers had really cool beards too. As for me, I feel obligated to maintain a well-trimmed model, due to societal pressures. 
I had a full beard for over 20 years. since then I’ve had 'staches and goatees, and my partner has a really sexy 'stach. I think facial hair makes a guy’s eyes more expressive.
I am way jealous of male options for facial accessorization. I keep trying to talk NajaHusband into sporting a rockin’ set of chops or a waxable handlebar 'stache, but so far no dice 