“It’s the salt and pepper look that helped

me win the title of ‘Mr Beard India 2018’. You have to have the qualities to stand out among other participants and they were all well groomed and had longer beards,” says Milin Tendulkar, a real estate developer, who recently entered the world of modelling and won his first pageant, Beard For Baby, India’s first beard model hunt. Beard for Baby wants to provide a platform for models with beards to showcase their assets.

Milin was the overall winner of the Mr Beard India competition. The three categories of the competition included full beards, style moustaches and freestyle beards. The auditions for the competition were held in 12 cities including Vasco in Goa, which was held on January 21, 2018. “My friend came across the competition on social media and informed about it, encouraging me to participate. I was directly selected for the next round, which was the finals in Jaipur. Once I reached the venue, I learnt that there were more participants from Goa. I met them but didn’t get much time to interact with them,” says Milin.

The competition had six participants from Goa, including Maxwell Fernandes, the first runner up for the freestyle beard, Rahul Talekar, the second runner-up for full beard, Sonu Kumar, Shubham Sirswat, Omkar Bhat and Shubham Raiker. The participants were tested on criteria which included strength task, group discussions, grooming and ramp walk. The winners will be awarded with portfolio shoots and a chance to star in a web series.

“We were in Jaipur at Heiwa Hevan Resort for two days and had a number of outdoor and indoor activities on our itinerary. Though the competition might suggest that it is only about the beard, the search was for a good model with a beard. They wanted to see how we carry ourselves with the grooming and ramp walk and how fit we were with physical challenges. The first day was busy with outdoor challenges that took up the first half of the day, followed by workshops and discussions. The second day was the pageant finale,” he explains.

Milin, a graduate in Mechanical Engineering, was introduced on the fashion scene almost a year ago at Goa Couture Fashion Week, when he walked the ramp for Hema Nagvekar and Bollywood designer Nivedita Saboo. “This was my first pageant. I will be working on beard grooming brand photoshoots while the talks are confirmed with the companies and also a Punjabi music album video,” he adds.

Coming to the important question that won him the title, how does he maintain his beard? “I have been growing the beard for the past three and a half years. I treat it like my own baby. I used beard oil, shampoo it thrice a week and comb it carefully, giving it a trim once in a while,” concludes Milin.