Hair-sprayed, waxed and bewhiskered

There's a secret behind the bold, beautifully coifed gray mustache that sprouts from Bruce Roe's face.

Hair spray.

It's helped him train the mustache above his upper lip into a world-class competitor.

"I use hair spray to freeze it. The stiffest I can find," said Roe, chairman of the Bremerton-based Whisker Club, founded in 1998 as the first of its kind, and possibly the only one of its kind, in the nation.

Roe has had his mustache for 35 years. He figures if he ever shaved it off, no one would recognize him.

Roe, 54, is one of 10 men from the club who will travel to Germany in October to compete in the World Beard and Moustache Competition.

The best he's done is third in the Wild West category, but two of his bewhiskered brethren are world champs: Jeff Well of Port Angeles, top dog in the Dali mustache class, and bushy-faced Gary Johnson of Olalla in Kitsap County in the musketeer category.

Johnson, 53, garnered some fame last month when he appeared on Conan O'Brien's late-night television show to showcase his gray-white beard and locks.

How long has he been growing his beard? "Since it was black," said Johnson, who works at the Puget Sound Naval Shipyards.

Johnson says he won't defend his musketeer title this time around. He no longer qualifies in the category because his beard and mustache have changed shape and are too long for a classic musketeer. He's toying with entering the freestyle category, in which you can't use "artificial styling aids" including mustache wax and hair spray.

Johnson said he'll still dress up as Buffalo Bill, the costume he wore when he won the trophy two years ago in Carson City, Nev.

Jeff Well, who owns a charter airplane company in Port Angeles, said he'll dress as an African bush pilot when he defends his Dali title. He's been growing his mustache for about seven years and almost always has it waxed so it doesn't obstruct the instruments on his airplanes.

New to the group is Paul Slosar, from Sumner, Pierce County, whose mustache measures 16.5 inches from point to point when stiffened with wax. He's been growing it for 15 years. He learned about the Whisker Club when he stumbled across it at the Kitsap County Fair, which holds an annual competition.

The first World Beard and Moustache Competition was held in Germany in 1990 and now is staged every other year in locations around the world.

"What does unite them ... is a simple and universal quality: individuality," said Michael Ames, author of the new book "The World of Beard and Moustache Championships." "These mustachioed, goateed and bearded individuals are strutting peacocks of male facial fashion, and their vanity is deserved. They do not pass through your world unnoticed."

In all, there are 17 categories for mustaches, chin beards and full beards at the international level. Among them are the Fu Manchu and the Handlebar categories, the Garibaldi, a wide and full beard with integrated mustache, and the Freestyle Goatee.

The world competition is expected to draw about 200 hirsute men. Ten judges score each contestant on a scale of one to 10, and the top and bottom scores are tossed out.

Doug Claussen, another Whisker Club member from Crosby, near Seabeck in Kitsap County, won third place two years ago in the international competition for Natural Goatee, or partial beard.

Today his lips are invisible beneath his shag beard and mustache, which blend together. "You can't tell if I'm smiling or frowning," he said.

Claussen, 52, figures he'll compete in a natural classification that can use only wine for stiffening.

"This is an incredible amount of fun," he said, adding that he met a competitor in Sweden who touted his huge mustache was 10 feet long from end to end.

This year he's certain he'll win first place, asserting he was cheated two years ago by men who he contends used wax illegally.

The Whisker Club does more than show off its facial hair. It recently sponsored a dinner that raised nearly $1,200 for Catholic Community Services, and it plans to raise money for Catholic Community Services to build a homeless shelter for men. They also appear in parades.

The group meets once a month at a tavern in Bremerton. If a member doesn't wear his red Whisker Club shirt, he gets fined a buck.

Susan Gilmore: 206-464-2054 or sgilmore@seattletimes.com