Beard News

The MBMC Shop Is Open For Business!

The official Midwest Beard and Moustache Club shop is open for business. I have a nice selection of T-shirts (guys and gals) and a polo shirt featuring original artwork. Please help support the MBMC and show the world your love for beards and moustaches. You can visit the shop by clicking the shop link toward the top of the page - or click here: MBMC Shop

Forums Are Back Up

Over the past several months the MBMC forums were spammed with spam-bots on a daily basis. I was receiving an average of 400 spam-bot registrations per day. This made it impossible for me discern real accounts from spam accounts and thus the forums were essentially down. I have integrated a new tool that will now prevent bots from registering. Hopefully the forum activity will resume accordingly. Thank you for your patience while I figured out a way to get this issue resolved

'Staches For Freedom

I recently received the following e-mail: "I would just like to take a few minutes out of your busy day to thank you for being there for all of us out here, I am a soldier in the United States Army and I am currently deployed in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. I am part of the 2-17th Calvary and we wear what we call Cav Stashes, and we would like to become part of the Club. we still have a long time on the deployment and would deeply appreciate to have this opportunity. Thanks again- Jonathan League"

We here at MBMC are deeply honored to receive this request. I would personally like to thank the fine servicemen of the 2-17th Calvary for their service to our country and to freedom and democracy the world over.

Thank you Jonathan League, Drew Herzberg, Anthony Sims, Christopher Hott, Franklin Cuarisma, Bruce Cain, Travis Allen, Ronald Roberts, and Brian Bracken.

Thank you, gentlemen. You stay safe out there. - Matthew

Membership Cards Are Here!

The Midwest Beard and Moustache Club membership cards have arrived! If you are a member and would like one, please use the MBMC Forums to Private Message me with your name and address and I will get one sent right out to you! - Regards, Matthew

News of the Beard

Beard Team USA rocks the World Beard and Moustache Championships!

Beard Team USA took the honors in two top categories and podiumed in several others! Congratulation to Jack Passion - winner in the Full Beard Natural. Congratulations to Burke Kenny - winner in the Full Beard with Styled Moustache. Congratulations to David Traver - second place in the Full Beard Natural with Styled Moustache. George Haskins - second place English Moustache. Alex Antebi - winner Imperial Moustache. Pablo Hagen - second place Natural Goatee. Jeff Well - placed Dali Moustache. Honorary Member Alessandro "Corvo" Sicco - third place Goatee Natural. Congratulations to all of the members of BTUSA who won! What an amazing experience to gather with your fellow bearded brothers, their families and supporters from all over the world! Anchorage 2009 - Here we come!

The MBMC Has a Home!

The Midwest Beard and Moustache Club now has an "official" place to call home for meetings and get-togethers. The Anchor in Wichita is a great pub with great food and great service. The Anchor is funky little place that serves great import and domestic beers (20 on tap and more in bottles), has some of the best tasting food (I eat there for lunch quite often), a full service espresso bar with a seemingly endless array of great coffee drinks, and friendly service. I was looking for a place that served good drink, good food, with good service in a relaxed atmosphere - I looked no further than my first choice: The Anchor. The Anchor is located at 1109 E Douglas in Wichita, Kansas.

MBMC now a division of BTUSA!

The Midwest Beard and Moustache Club is now an official division of Beard Team USA ! My thanks to Phil Olsen of BTUSA for this honor. You can take pride in knowing you are representing the USA in the world of beards and moustaches. The goals of the MBMC and BTUSA are one in the same: fun, friendship and camaraderie and making the USA a true power on the international stage of beard and moustache competitions.

Bearded Man a BYU Oddity
Stuart Johnson, Deseret Morning News

Only a few exempt from university's clean-shaven rule

PROVO - He is a single white male returned Mormon missionary attending Brigham Young University, yet part of an unusual minority on campus. 

Corey Sherwin is allowed a beard at BYU because of a medical waiver. Although he sometimes gets crazy looks from students, his "beard card" proves the hair is OK.

How so?

Facial hair. Corey Sherwin has a beard.

"You can (have a beard) anywhere else," Sherwin said. "It's totally normal for a dude to have a beard. You come here and it's, 'Aw . . . bad.' "

Whiskers are a no-no at the school, owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, except for medical or religious reasons. Frequent shaving nicks and cuts don't qualify as an exception. Nor does pointing out that Brigham Young himself wore a bushy beard.

Men are expected to be clean-shaven, according to the university's dressing and grooming standards.

Finding a hairy face on campus isn't easy. Mustaches, which are allowed if trimmed above the corners of the mouth, are uncommon. Beards are downright scarce.

"You don't see too many," said Honor Code Office director Steve Baker. He estimates there are 20 to 45 students a year legitimately sporting beards.
Though he doesn't keep track, Baker has some idea of the number because his office issues what is called a "beard card." A request for a medical waiver, for example, must be accompanied by a doctor's note explaining the condition. If it's granted, the student has his college ID photo taken wearing whiskers, hence a beard card.

And it must be a full, well-trimmed beard. Goatees aren't allowed.

Sherwin, who had bad acne in high school, spent his first year at BYU clean-shaven and, due to medication, dry-skinned. He didn't know he could let his face sprout. The Honor Code does not mention exceptions.

It wasn't until Sherwin, 23, returned from a mission that he learned through a dermatologist that there are exceptions to the rule. The doctor jotted him a note on a prescription pad.

Sherwin, who works at the Harold B. Lee Library information desk, has had facial hair ever since. "I'm a psychology major, so the beard fits nicely."

Having started shaving at age 13, he clearly enjoys his standout status.

"I love having a beard," he said. "I have a real thick beard so it hurts quite a bit to shave. And the ladies like it."

But sometimes others on campus don't like it. Professors and administrators, he said, don't pay much heed, but peers look at him sideways.

"I get crazy looks from students," he said. "I want to say it's almost a negative reaction, like, 'What's going on with that guy?' "

When Sherwin moved to a new apartment, some of his neighbors figured him for a student at nearby Utah Valley State College or someone who worked full time.

Sherwin's friend Jared Green, 21, says people are just jealous, himself included. He said he would grow a beard if he could. He'd settle for a "scruff" card.

"It is sweet," he said of Sherwin's fuzzy face. "There's no denying its sweetness."

The university testing center, where exams for many classes are administered, doesn't find it so sweet. It usually "cards" Sherwin. It has the right as do other services on campus to turn away students whose appearance defies the Honor Code. A sign in the library reads: "Thank you for observing the Honor Code so that we might serve you." Similar signs are posted throughout the university.

Baker doesn't know exactly when beards were banned at BYU. The Honor Code dates to 1949. But facial hair likely didn't become an issue until the 1960s when men starting letting their hair down - and out.

A university committee in the early 1990s reviewed the dress and grooming standards but didn't make any substantive changes. Baker doesn't foresee BYU's Board of Trustees making any changes in the future.

Meaning Sherwin will continue to be part of BYU's facial minority.

Here is a link to BYU's Beard Waiver information:

http://health.byu.edu/Services/beard.html

Share your thoughts about this on the forum!