A Beard To Revere

The Dish would be remiss not to post this short doc about a man, Jack Passion, a multiple-time World Champion in the Full Beard Natural category at the World Beard and Moustache Championships:

Passion answered a few questions about his facial hair back in 2012:

What tricks do you have for keeping your beard clean while eating? Are there any foods you’ve sworn off? 

Have you ever seen an Olympic fencing champion wield a sword? I’m like that with napkins. Also, the beard doesn’t just pop out over night; you have time to adjust to it, so nothing is really that difficult to eat without making a mess of one’s face. It’s really hard to eat ice cream cones, but I don’t even like ice cream. A juicy, rare burger might be difficult, but you can always ditch the bun and eat it with a fork and knife. Where there’s a will, there’s a clean beard. …

Obviously, you get a lot of attention for your beard. How do you handle it when you just want to go to the grocery store or what have you without stopping to talk to curious strangers?

Funny you should ask. I was just at the grocery store and like ten people gave me business cards (this is L.A.)! The older I get, the more I value time, and the less I want to waste it entertaining stupid comments like, “Hey, have you seen that show about beards!?” or “Dude! ZZ Top!” Thus, I usually braid my beard and stick the braid down my shirt, and just look like a guy with a pretty big beard but nothing extreme. If I don’t, it’s almost impossible to get through the day going anywhere in public with any kind of efficiency.

If someone recognizes me with my beard braided and hidden, they’re recognizing me, and that’s awesome, so I’m more than happy to chat with them. It’s hard to be more than a beard when the beard is more than your head and torso.