Freshman men and one woman lined up in the library of Residential College South Hall on Tuesday night, jutting out their chins and flashing smiles surrounded by real or drawn-on fuzz at LSU’s first beard pageant to bring awareness to prostate cancer.
In the first part of the pageant, the contestants were judged on their beards after one month of not shaving. They were judged again after a 20-minute shaving break.
The judges included early childhood education sophomore Lindsey Baker, “National Beard Pageant Commissioner” Kurt “Blondebeard” Vardeman and “Grandmaster of all things Bearded” Peter “Caveman” Rettig.
Baker said she would be judging the beards post-shave on their creativity. A nicely groomed beard was the best, she said.
No-Shave November, the reason for the pageant’s existence, is a male companion to Pinktober, a campaign for breast cancer awareness. According to No-Shave November’s website, it began in 2009 as an online organization by the American Cancer Society and offers a way for participants to donate money to cancer research on its website.
The National Cancer Institute reported that there were 238,590 new cases of prostate cancer in the United States in 2013 alone.
Matthew Ledet, accounting junior and winner of “The Thickest Beard Award,” said he started growing out his facial hair the day before Halloween.
“It’s like how breast cancer awareness has increased over the last several years with NFL players wearing pink in October,” Ledet said. “People don’t take men’s health problems as seriously, and fewer people know about them.”
Rettig said the pageant participants were already special because they had kept their beards three days past the end of No-Shave November. The judges had enough awards for all of the participants, he said.
St. Ennah Manson, mechanical engineering freshman and winner of “The Amish Mafia Beard Award,” said he could never grow a beard before this year because he went to a Catholic high school.
“Over the summer, I grew everything out, but then one day I thought, ‘Girls aren’t attracted to me, I’m gonna shave it off,’” Manson said. “But I decided to grow it again for No-Shave November.”
Gabriel Alarcon-Caine, engineering junior and winner of “The Fiercest Beard Award,” shaved vertical stripes into his beard during the 20-minute shaving session.
“I cut myself shaving for the first time,” Alarcon-Caine said. “I have an interview tomorrow, and I’m going to keep this.”
Engineering freshman Micayla Entrekin, the only female participant and winner of “The Fake Beard Award,” competed with a beard cut out of orange construction paper. She said it was inspired by Leif Erikson.
Other awards given included: “The Best Hobo Beard,” won by engineering freshman Ryan Harbison; “The Most Rugged Beard,” won by engineering freshman Zachary Barth; and “The Manliest Beard Award,” won by political science senior and Daily Reveille Multimedia Editor Chris Vasser.

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Grace Steinhauser

Accounting major Matthew Ledet accepts his award as "Thickest Beard" Tuesday, December 3, 2013, at the South Hall Residential College.