Who’s the best? That’s a real beard scratcher: Facial hair fans from round the world gather to judge who really is the most impressive

• Competitors gathered in Leinfelden-Echterdingen, near Stuttgart, Germany
• One entrant sported a cat-shaped moustache on his upper lip 
• Competitors were judged in 17 different styled-based categories
• They included Best Goatee Musketeer and Best English Moustache
• Photographer Christophe Gateau, 23, set-up a studio while at the event

Rotator blades: Aarne Bielefeldt, who has been growing his facial hair his whole life, takes six hours to prepare his extraordinary look

Patterned: Hans Peter Weis has been growing his facial hair for 15 years and takes three hours to prepare this overlapping pattern, which boasts a mixture of colours

Whiskers: Keith Gandhi Jones Haubrich takes 30 minutes to shape his moustache to look like a cat

Cowboy: Paul Roof spends two hours preparing his incredible starfish-shaped facial hair

Tusks: Contestant Michael Johnson somehow manages to keep his upward beard in place and almost perfectly groomed

Slick: This man, known only as Suesskind, has been growing his facial hair for eight years and takes 40 minutes to prepare these curves

Well-groomed: Nobert Topf has spent 11 years perfecting his grey, spiralled moustache and goatee

Length: Kjm Lovenskjold has taken 40 years to get his beard all the way down to his waistline

Slick: It only takes nine minutes for Felix Hommage to get the thin strands of hair to stay put

Rugged: Charles Saville spends 45 minutes creating his bow-shaped beard. It has taken 25 years for the hair to reach its optimum length

Tough: Eric Jansson has taken three years to develop his thick beard. It takes him an hour to get it into shape

Stiff upper lip: Jaromi Zsolt has been growing his moustache for 28 years. It only takes him four minutes to prepare the sharp look

Business attire: Entrant Nick Pectu has spent a year growing both his curly moustache and bushy beard

Smart attire: This man, known only as Fulio, combines his moustache and pin-striped suit to create a dapper appearance

Medieval: Drew Muncaster, wearing armour on his shoulders and arms, takes thrree minutes to prepare his spikey moustache and goatee

Straight as an arrow: Sam Holcombe spends an hour twisting his moustache for the perfect look

Curly: Michael Wallage has spent 20 years growing his beard and spends 40 minutes grooming his beard and moustache

Symmetry: Marijan Vidakovic, who has been growing his facial hair for 23 years, manages to make each side virtually identical

By WILLS ROBINSON/Dailymail