East Yorkshire engineer Lewis Aylmer, 33, has scooped top prize at the World Beard and Moustache Championships in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, after first growing a beard aged 12
A man who was bullied as a schoolboy for his facial hair has been crowned winner at the World Beard and Moustache Championships in the United States.
Engineer Lewis Aylmer, from Hull in East Yorkshire, had the last laugh over his mean peers after scooping first place at the event in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Judges awarded the 33-year-old, who started growing a beard at the age of just 12, the top prize in the Under 15cm Full Beard with Styled Moustache category. Lewis washes, blow-dries, and oils his beard almost every morning to keep it in winning shape.
He explained: “When I was in school, I used to get called all sorts of names. It got bad with the bullying, we’d get in to fights. I never expected to win as each of my competitors had great beards and moustaches of their own. I had been doing these events for fun for almost a decade so winning was a cherry on top moment.”
Lewis started growing his first beard in 2005 and had a four-inch goatee by the time he was teen aged 17. He then had to shave it off when he enrolled as an army reservist in 2009 before re-growing it in 2012 after he parted ways – and he hasn’t shaved it since.
However, it wasn’t until two years later, in 2014, he decided to turn it from a short stubble into a full-blown beard which helped him win the competition.
He had heard about competitive beard growing through a social media post and took his first podium in October with a third place finish in the British Beard and Moustache Championships in Liverpool.
He said: “Unless you have a beard or are part of the community, you don’t hear about events like these. Even I didn’t know about them when I had a beard.”
Lewis then continued to compete and went on to win the British national title in 2018 and 2024. He has also travelled to Belgium and Germany to take part in similar competitions. In his latest win, Lewis brushed aside 400 competitors at the 2025 World Championships in the US.
Lewis has revealed the judges were looking for a handlebar-style moustache with big curls and perfect symmetry. To keep his moustache fixed in the perfect position he revealed he used three different waxes.
He said: “When the judges were inspecting they didn’t say much other than it ‘looks great’ and it was ‘very even’. I wasn’t sure of my position as they didn’t give anything away at all until they released the score.
“When I got three tens from the seven judges people were saying ‘you’ve won, you’ve won’. I was really nervous throughout the whole event. Though it was really fun as everybody was friendly and positive just there for a good time.”
Recalling the moment he was crowned as having the world’s best beard Lewis said he was “shocked” hearing his name. He added: “I was really emotional – there was great competition too – I was just shocked mainly.”
He scored 65.5 points out of a total 70 to scoop the award. Lewis said being part of the beard community has helped him “build confidence” in himself.
“I am a fairly closed-off person and I also suffer with anxiety also being bullied at school didn’t help,” he said. “It made me feel part of something and feel less of a loner really. I’ll now happily walk up to people and talk to them competitions instead of keeping myself to myself.”
