The art of "man-scaping" -- or lack thereof -- reached new heights this weekend when 160 contestants from 15 countries descended onto Trondheim, Norway for the World Beard and Moustache Championships.
Participants at what is billed as "the premier event in the international sport of bearding" competed in 14 categories, including natural goatee, sideburns freestyle, Hungarian moustache and imperial partial beard. But as CNN reports, just what exactly constitutes "good-looking" facial hair remains a hotly-contested subject.
"The championships are a way for the competitors to bond and make friends, and every other year they sort of return and stick together like a huge ball of Velcro," Michael "Atters" Attree, an editor of The Chap magazine and self-proclaimed "moustache maverick," is quoted as saying. "It's like a big hairy love-in."
With Germans traditionally known as the most competitive in the hirsute world, it came as no surprise that the top prize went to third-time champion 47-year-old Elmar Weisser, a hairdresser from Germany, for his elaborate facial hair sculpture of a moose, the BBC is reporting.
View photos of the World Beard and Moustache Championships below:
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