DEL.ICIO.USAtlanta men’s holiday tradition: Sprouting a ‘stache
Men sprout facial hair for a good cause
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Jeff Byron swaggers into Manuel’s Tavern, sporting a new mustache that would have made a ’70s porn star proud.
Entering a room teeming with men with mustaches, he spots an east Atlanta carpenter named Nat Rushin with a surprisingly thick strip of strawberry blond fur above his upper lip.
LOUIE FAVORITE / lfavorite@ajc.com
Chris Scheibe displays his mustache during a meeting of the Atlanta chapter of Mustaches for Kids, an annual Mustache-growing fundraiser.
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“You sure you’re not using growth hormones?” asks Byron, an Atlanta computer programmer. “People are talking.”
“No, man, it’s not so long,” says Rushin, cheerfully patting the attention-getting patch of hair.
They laugh, exchange a hearty handshake, drink beer and chat for the next two hours with other mustachioed attendees.
They are members of the Atlanta chapter of Mustaches for Kids, a national organization of men who sprout hair above the lip and ask for donations for children’s charities. Sometime during the holiday season (they call it the “growing season”), participants deliberately turn the clock back to a three-decades-ago look that begs plenty of questions from friends, family and co-workers.
A typical exchange goes something like this:
“After about a week of growing, I went to work, and a co-worker said, ‘What the hell is on your face?’ Are you growing a ‘stache? Dude, that’s weird,’ ” recounts 27-year-old Eric Swett, a Gwinnett County waterworks employee.
With his black bushy strip above his mouth, Swett, who typically looks a lot like cutie guitarist John Mayer, now recalls the late Queen singer Freddie Mercury. In the face of good-natured busting of chops by his co-workers and others, the Lawrenceville resident politely explains the reason behind his facial hair.
“And now they are rooting for me,” he says. “They can’t wait to see me on Monday to see how much my ‘stache has grown.”
He hopes they’ll also be donating money to the local chapter’s charity of choice — Atlanta-based Cure Childhood Cancer.
In some ways, Mustaches for Kids is like getting pledges for running a marathon, except instead of exercising, these guys gather to drink beer and compare notes about facial hair. Instead of high fives, they point at each other’s hair growth and say things like “Sweet!” and “‘Stashtastic!”
At the recent Manuel’s gathering, a confident Chris Scheibe says he would let a woman shave his ‘stache for $2,000 and also jokes about getting Brad Pitt (temporarily sporting a ‘stache for a movie role) to be a spokesman.
Mustaches for Kids has roots in Los Angeles going back a decade and arrived in Atlanta just last year. The 2007 group — which raised $27,000 for Cure Childhood Cancer — disbanded, and the new cross section of about 40 men has taken up the whisker challenge this year.
“I thought, how hard can it be to get a group of guys together to grow mustaches, drink beer and raise some money?” Byron says.
But so far it has been easier to grow hair than raise greenbacks. The Atlanta group has only $900 in pledges, well short of its goal of $30,000.
In the end, its success will hinge on a big fund-raiser — the Stache Bash on Friday at Manuel’s, featuring a wet mustache contest (to determine whose can retain the most beer foam), as well as mustache beauty pageant involving men in swim trunks or other provocative attire. A panel of judges will declare one mustache “the sweetest.”
Kristin Connor, executive director of Cure Childhood Cancer, praises the group’s efforts and says she understands economic woes create a fund-raising challenge.
“It is a fun way to bring attention to a really serious problem,” she says. “It catches your attention and raises awareness, and we are thrilled with the effort, regardless of how much it raises.”
In fact, the only male on her staff is participating in the fund-raiser, trying to put money where his new red ‘stache is.
Still, for some growers, letting the mustache ripen has come at a price.
Michael Andrews, a 36-year-old unemployed IT executive, thinks his ‘stache may have cost him a job. He recently had a job interview and worries his hairy smile may have wigged out the would-be employer.
“I guess they just aren’t hiring ex-porn stars or ex-cops like they used to,” Andrews jokes.
The Dunwoody resident’s pretty girlfriend of a year, Rebecca Grimes, says she’s touched that he has nonetheless stuck with the hairy situation, “especially considering how horrible, really horrible it looks.”
Then she eyes it again and grimaces.
“Wait a second. Have I kissed you since you started growing the mustache?” she asks her boyfriend.
Andrews, who seems to blush at every glance his way, shakes his head, clearly disappointed.
Sacrifices have been made, but at least they’ve been on behalf of a good cause.
“Next year, I’ll just write a big check,” he pledges, “… if I have a job.”
