Minnesotan To Meet: World Beard Champion MJ Johnson
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Most everyone has something that has embarrassed them as a child. But not all of us took that experience and turned it into something big.
Enter MJ Johnson.
It's probably not the first time you've seen his…well, is it a beard or a mustache?
Whatever it is, it's what makes Johnson this week's Minnesotan to Meet.
WCCO's Jamie Yuccas caught up with him at work, at Lakewinds Co-op in Richfield.
His facial hair is impressive. But being able to grow it at age 11, not so much.
"My very first experience was being made fun of in junior high by a girl that I liked for having a mustache," Johnson said.
Johnson first tried shaving it with hair clippers. When dad laughed that off, he went to the drug store but the salesman wouldn't let him buy a razor.
"He called the manager, there were three or four people waiting in line for it," Johnson said.
Now he has the last laugh, working for Remington as a part of its National Beard Boss ad campaign!
"I just wanted to grow out something cool," Johnson said.
It started in 2009, when Johnson was fooling around on the Internet and found photos from the World Beard and Mustache championships.
He is now the current World and National champion for the imperial partial beard.
He's competed from LA to Germany, worked with everyone from Kevin Love to Larry the Cable Guy and made appearances on GQ magazine, the History Channel, PBS and even on the front page of CBSnews.com.
However, Johnson's main job is at Lakewinds Food Co-op in Richfield.
"My son was born with eight major food allergies," Johnson said. "He had six ER trips before he was 18 months old."
He gets to constantly read labels and learn recipes from fellow shoppers which helps at home.
It's also why he hopes talking about his beard gets people to accept others more quickly.
"It's the ultimate ice breaker," Johnson said.
Especially when it comes to allowing facial hair in the workplace.
"I've actually been put on people's resumes as a beard reference. And I've received phone calls from someone wanting to talk about some person's beard at the job," Johnson said.
The Minneapolis Beard and Mustache Club now has almost 2,700 likes on Facebook.
His Instagram account, @razorhater has 16,000 followers.
But what does his wife think?
"She helps style my clothes for contests," Johnson said.
Just don't tell her how he keeps it so kempt.
"You have to steal whatever of your wife's really good conditioner that she has for her hair, use that because they know what they're doing. But if you get caught, you have to replace it," Johnson said.
So, what is an imperial partial beard?
It's hair that's grown only on the cheeks and upper lip. Moustache integrated. The ends must point upward and not be curled over.
Aids like conditioner, Mohawk hairspray and conditioning oils are allowed.
For the interview, he told WCCO it took 45 minutes or prep, but for competition it can take up to two hours!
He said he does keep his hair short so he has more time to style the beard.
