If You Can't Grow a Beard Like These, You Might as Well Shave

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If You Can't Grow a Beard Like These, You Might as Well Shave

Christophe Gateau's photos from the 2013 World Beard and Moustache Championships.

This article was originally published by VICE Germany

A few years ago, I heard my grandma say that she doesn't "like beards because men hide behind them." I thought that was an interesting thought, so I decided to investigate by visiting the World Beard and Moustache Championships that took place in Stuttgart back in November 2013.

After photographing 70 men, I felt that my grandma might have had a point. Some of my subjects were proudly displaying and talking about their beards but some others kept mumbling into their facial hair. I only took three pictures of each person. All of the guys I photographed were unique characters, coming from all around the world and all walks of life. Here are 30 of the 70 portraits I took that time in Stuttgart.

Annons

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Keith J. "Gandhi Jones" Hanbrich — had been growing his beard for 27 years — styling time: 30 minutes

Nick Thomas — had been growing his beard for 2 years — styling time: 2 minutes

Sam Holcombe — had been growing his beard for 6 years — styling time: 1 hour

Aarne Bielefeldt — had been growing his beard since it started growing — styling time: 6 hours

Damien Knight — had been growing his beard for 6 years — styling time: 20 minutes

Fulio — had been growing his beard for 5 years — styling time: 20 minutes

Eric Jansson — had been growing his beard for 3 years — styling time: 1 hours

Hans Peter Weis — had been growing his beard for 15 years — styling time: 3 hours

Benjamin Juergens — had been growing his beard for 2 years — styling time: 45 minutes

Phil Olsen — had been growing his beard for 14 years — styling time: 10 minutes

Drew Muncaster — had been growing his beard for 3 years — styling time: 20 minutes

Michael Wallage — had been growing his beard for 20 years — styling time: 40 minutes

Selim Trygve — had been growing his beard for 3.5 years — styling time: 5 minutes

Ted Sedman — had been growing his beard for 50 years — styling time: 15 minutes

Fritz Sendhofer — had been growing his beard for 20 years — styling time: 0 minutes

Sean Raiger — has been growing his beard for 5 years — styling time: 10 minutes

Jared MacDonald — had been growing his beard for 3.5 years — styling time: 1 hour

Al Underwood — had been growing his beard for 25 years — styling time: 30 minutes

Norbert Topf — had been growing his beard for 11 years — styling time: 15 hours

Reinhard Hess — had been growing his beard for 40 years — styling time: 15 minutes

Stefan Hofmeister — had been growing his beard for 21 years — styling time: 15 minutes

Paul Roof — had been growing his beard for 9 years — styling time: 2 hours

Jerg Egon — had been growing his beard for 40 years — styling time: 10 minutes

Mike Yeomans — had been growing his beard for 11 months — styling time: 45 minutes

Roland van der Bremt — had been growing his beard since it started growing — styling time: 30 minutes

John Dickson — had been growing his beard for 10 years — styling time: 5 minutes

Collin McArolle — had been growing his beard for 4 years — styling time: 5 minutes

Erwin Butsch — had been growing his beard for 10 years — styling time: 1 hour

Felix Hammoge — had been growing his beard for 2 years — styling time: 9 minutes