It takes patience, grooming and persistence — and not every man can do it.
We’re talking about growing a beard that looks like the dashing facial hair sported by King David Kalakaua, the inspiration for the annual Merrie Monarch Festival who reigned over the Kingdom of Hawaii from 1874 to 1891.
The hula festival committee is bringing back the King Kalakaua Beard & Look-Alike Contest to commemorate the event’s 50th running in April.
"It’s all in good fun," said contest coordinator Lei Branco. "It brings back old-time memories and the fun days. It was a fun time."
The first King Kalakaua beard contest took place at Hilo Armory in 1964, according to Branco. That year about 10 men lined up, turned from side to side, walked in front of the judges and then sat down.
This year’s festival takes place from March 31 to April 6 in Hilo and includes the usual three days of hula competition. To celebrate some of the festival’s roots, the committee is bringing back the beard and barbershop quartet contests.
The prizes for the beard contest on April 1 are still being finalized, according to Branco. HPM Building Supply is offering $50 in gift certificates to the first 50 registered contestants.
The rules are pretty simple, according to Branco. Beards have to be real but can be colored. Contestants can come dressed in aloha wear or costumes; no T-shirts, boardshorts or slippers are allowed.
The first winner in 1964 was Robert Kaula Jr., a cowboy from Parker Ranch who took the title three years in a row.
Kurtistown rancher Adam Quinories won the contest in 1967 and ’68, the last time it was held.
Quinories, 79, is entering the competition this year with his son, Quintin "Chunky" Quinories.
The younger man grew a beard to serve as king of the Merrie Monarch Festival in 2004 and, in preparation for the Merrie Monarch contest, has not shaved since the end of October. He persuaded his dad to enter the contest together with him, said mom Junedale Quinories.
Their strategy is simply to grow it all out and then trim for the competition. She’ll be helping her husband trim his beard.
"The men have something to look forward to," she said.
King Kalakaua’s beard was in the style of what most well-to-do men of his era considered fashionable in the U.S. and Europe, according to DeSoto Brown, a historian at Bishop Museum.
Brown said the king’s wide-bottomed beard was complemented by grown-out, large and bushy sideburns called mutton chops.
"It was considered fashionable to grow out your facial hair and not only let it get long, but sculpt it in various ways," Brown said. "Men then had very lengthy mustaches, sideburns and full beards of different lengths."
Brown said Kalakaua’s royal predecessors King Lunalilo, Kamehameha IV and Kamehameha V all sported beards.
By the early 1900s facial hair went out of fashion among younger men, who opted for the cleanshaven look up until the 1960s, when it became a counterculture statement.
Singer and composer Palani Vaughan has sported a King Kalakaua-like beard since the mid-1970s, about a year after his album "Ia ‘Oe e ka La Volume One" was released in 1974.
Vaughan, who dedicated the songs in that album to Kalakaua, said the beard was a personal statement as well as a way to test the public’s knowledge of the king. When he shaved the beard off, fans asked him to grow it back.
It has since become part of his identity.
"I don’t think my children or grandchildren would recognize me without it," he said.
Vaughan recalls many Hawaiian men sporting mutton chops when he was growing up in the mid-1950s. It was a symbolic way of showing support for King Kalakaua, who encouraged the revival of hula and chant that had been banned by missionaries.
Vaughan (who won’t be competing) encourages contestants to maintain their beards.
"Whether you win or lose, don’t shave off your beard," he said. "Keep your beards."
Not all men find it easy to grow a beard, according to Kaliq Rashad, a barber at Mojo Barbershop in Honolulu, and the results also depend on the texture of facial hair.
Rashad recommends giving yourself at least three months of growing time to achieve a proper Kalakaua look.
Examining a photo of the monarch, he said it appears Kalakaua let his sideburns grow down to meet his moustache but had his chin shaved clean with the exception of a small tuft under the lower lip. The monarch also appears to have had naturally full, thick and curly hair to pull off the look.
"If you’re a really hairy guy, you’ve got a better chance of winning," he said.
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Entry forms for the King Kalakaua Beard & Look-Alike Contest are available from the Merrie Monarch Festival office, 865 Piilani St. in Hilo (935-9168), and online at hawaiitribune-herald.com.
