The Beard Of 2009?

Beardrevue hyped Michael Stipe's elegant growth-rate earlier this year:

The flourish of bushy grey anchoring Stipe’s face breaks free a hitherto unforeseen regality. His beard also offers a general softening of his face, validating any previously suspected platitudes as actual nuggets of wisdom. This is a beard that completes the man.

Poseur alerts voided. A reader insists that Stipe deserves the Dish prize given two years in a row to Bruce Willis. I stick with the conclusion of our blue-ribbon committee. Willis's arful Just For Men use clearly puts him over the top. But some like a little dash of gray.