thursday |

I spend a good deal of time on Etsy, making changes to my shop, browsing around for fun things I wish I could afford to buy for myself, or just looking for inspiration for upcoming projects.

A few months ago I created an Etsy Treasury featuring the moustache (if you don’t regularly check out the Treasury section, you should. It’s incredible. Of course, it may lead to all sorts of unplanned purchases). I think many people find the moustache to be creepy (ok, I sort of do too – probably too many episodes of “To Catch a Predator“), and I wanted to showcase the moustache in its non-creepy form. I think when moustaches are something other than a random tuft of hair growing on the middle of your face, they actually have the potential to be cute, vintage, and in many cases, quite comedic. For example:

This is Jeffrey Moustache, who won the silver medal in last year’s English Moustache competition. (photo by Jeffrey Moustache himself, taken from www.worldbeardchampionships.com).

This year, The World Beard and Moustache Championships will be held October 8th in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. I am not making this up, I’m taking this directly from their website:

“Beard Team USA, which represents the United States at the World Beard and Moustache Championships, is thrilled to be holding the championships in Amish Country, where the local Amish farmers have been growing beards for America for over 200 years. As part of the festivities, contestants, their friends, and fans will have the opportunity to attend Amish Camp, where they can live with and like the Amish for 24 hours.”

Competitors can enter into eight different moustache categories. EIGHT. That doesn’t even count the goatee or the “Full Beard with Stylized Moustache” categories.

But it’s not all about the moustache, either. You can also head on over to beardoholic.com and read about NINE different beard competitions you can enter, as well as what the rules, rewards, and categories are, and how to enter! This is an awesome site for anyone interested in all things beard. The site is run by Zack Robbins, who authors most (if not all, there were so many I couldn’t check them all) of the articles and, while the topic is typically beards, the subject matter varies more than you’d think, even with a whole section devoted to “Beards From a Woman’s Perspective” (thank you, Zack. Nobody likes a prickly beard in their face). You can even stock up on accessories and gifts for the facial hair fanatic in your life.

I’m still waiting for the day when someone asks me to make a moustache wedding invitation for them. And I certainly will be thrilled to do it! Lots of people use moustaches in their photo booths at their wedding, but you can easily integrate them into your post-wedding life!