At The Beard & Mustache Championships

Mustache Transplants Offered In Turkey

If your facial scruff grows in a sparse or unsatisfactory pattern, you might consider a trip to Turkey, which is seeing an increase in medical tourism from men seeking mustache transplants.

The procedure uses a technique called follicle-hair extraction, in which doctors remove clusters of hair from the more hirsute areas of the body and implant them along the lip or cheeks to magnify a mustache or beef-up a beard. Performed under local anesthetic, the surgery takes around five hours and can cost up to $5,000, cosmetic surgeons say. Tourism agencies have begun offering "transplant packages" combining facial-hair operations with a shopping vacation in Istanbul or beachside retreat on the Mediterranean coast.

The mustachioed and bearded stars of Turkish soap operas—wildly popular across the Middle East, North Africa and the Balkans—have helped repopularize facial hair as a symbol of virility and machismo. Surgeons say many patients request the full-bodied mustache worn by Turkish singer Ibrahim Tatlises, which has long set the standard for top-drawer whiskers. Another popular style is the stubble beard worn by Turkish TV show heartthrob and model Kivanç Tatlitug, surgeons say.

(Tipped by JMG reader Kevin)

Stubble Makes You Sexier

Heavy stubble, that is. According to one study.

Men may now think twice about reaching for a razor. A new study shows that facial hair says a lot about a man and that attractiveness peaks at the "heavy stubble" phase. Researchers photographed 10 men at four stages of beard growth: clean shaven, 5-day "light" stubble, 10-day "heavy" stubble (shown), and fully bearded. Three hundred and fifty-one women and 177 heterosexual men viewed the photos and rated each face for attractiveness, masculinity, health, and parenting ability. Women ranked heavily stubbled faces as the most attractive. Participants said that the clean-shaven men looked about as healthy and attractive as those with a full beard, but rated the bearded men higher for perceived parenting skills. Light stubble got the short end of the stick, garnering low scores across the board from both men and women.

(Tipped by JMG reader Nicholas)

Mustaches For Equality

I guess beards for equality wouldn't have worked with the meme.  Get 'em here. Proceeds go to Lambda Legal and HRC.  (Tipped by JMG reader Aaron)

Just Because

Source.