Meet Nate Roberts.
Nate is 28 years old and lives in Bonney Lake with his fiancee Melissa Jackson.
But this story isn’t about Nate.
This story is about Nate’s Beard, 12 inches of magnificent, burly whiskered, Northwest manliness that lives on Nate’s chin.
Most of the time Nate’s Beard just hangs with Nate.
On the weekend’s, however, it’s all about the Beard and participating in regional facial hair competitions, like this Saturday’s Northwest Regional Beard and ‘Stache Competition at Studio Seven in Seattle.
The event, hosted by the Emerald City Beardo’s Facial Hair Club — of which Nate is president — pits facial hair farmers against each other in various categories, including full beard freestyle, full natural beard over 12-inches, best natural mustache and best styled mustache, in which they vie for prizes, trophies and most importantly — bragging rights.
Nate’s Beard was born about three years ago.
“I’d never did it before and I had a lot of time on my hands because I got laid off,” Nate said.
Initially, his fiancee wasn’t sure about Nate’s Beard.
“She didn’t like it at first but she got used to it,” Nate said. “Now, she’d kill me if I got rid of it.”
Nate said he’s whacked down the beard a few times, “just about an inch and half off the end to get the stragglers and shape it so it grows in the pattern you want it to grow in,” but other than that it’s been allowed to grow.
“Now it’s so long it gets in the way all the time,” Nate said. “It keeps getting stuck in the seatbelt and under my arm when I sleep.”
Most of the time Nate’s Beard assumes it’s natural form, without the benefit of styling aids. But come competition day it’s all about the style, with Nate coercing the Beard into various swoops and curls.
“If I freestyle it up it takes at least three hours to get ready,” Nate said. “I use strong holding hair spray and lots of hot and cold air. Sometimes I use curlers to shape it.”
The time Nate puts into getting ready for competitions pales in comparison with the time his fiancee, Melissa, spends getting ready to compete in the Whiskerina category.
“That category started about three years ago, in Ohio,” Roberts said. “And it just took off with the women all showing up with fake beards.”
Nate said Melissa has won the category at several competitions with creations such as a “big giant … shark beard, one with crayons and one with bubble gum.”
“She also won one with a beard made out of beer tabs,” Nate said. “We collected about 350 beer tabs for it.”
Although competition’s such as Saturday’s Northwest Regional in Seattle are mostly about fun, it’s also about helping out, Nate said.
“All door proceeds are going to charities,” he said.
Proceeds will benefit the Stone Soup Group, Special Operations Warrior Foundation, BullsEye Dog Rescue and Sacks of Love.
Nate added that he expects the beard and mustache competition phenomena to just keep growing because of the popularity of facial hair.
“It’s kind of weird now,” Roberts said. “You drive around and out of 100 guys, you see 30 with beards. It’s become a culture thing.”
The Northwest Regional Beard and ‘Stache Competition hosted by the Emerald City Beardo’s Facial Hair Club gets underway at Studio Seven in Seattle at 6 p.m. Admission is $10. An after party featuring music by Hitchkick, The Cottonwood Cutups, Lb.! (pound) and Deathbed Confessions follows at 10 p.m.
