April 15, 2025
From a distance, it’s easy to spot Adam Causgrove anywhere on the Carnegie Mellon University campus because Warren Zedog, Causgrove’s faithful Jack Russell Terrier, usually is trotting alongside him. Move in closer, though, and you’ll get a glimpse of Causgrove’s hirsute alter ego.
“Yeah, I’m the mustache guy,” Causgrove said. “At Carnegie Mellon, I’m probably known more for Warren than for my mustache, but that’s only because I don't necessarily wax it or style it all the time.”
Causgrove is the director of corporate and government relations for the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. He also is chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh-based American Mustache Institute (AMI) and winner of the 2012 Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year.
On a recent rainy afternoon, Causgrove sipped from a can of raspberry sparkling water in his office in Baker Hall while Warren persistently begged a visitor for some attention and a head scratch. Despite the dampness in the air, a finely twirled, modest handlebar mustache stood firmly at attention above Causgrove’s upper lip.
“My job is really to support all of the faculty and students and the really cool things that are happening in Dietrich College,” Causgrove said. “I just go around and meet people, so I think it helps to have this memorable thing in the middle of my face. I've kind of leaned into it and embraced it for what it is. I would not feel like myself if I didn’t have a mustache.”
The 1970s through the early ’80s was a groovy golden age for mustaches. Thousands of average Joes took inspiration from icons such as Goulet, Burt Reynolds, Billy Dee Williams, Frank Zappa, Cheech Marin and Rollie Fingers. Causgrove, however, grew up in the 1990s. “It was the boy band era,” he said. “Everybody was clean-shaven with frosted blond tips in their hair, and I was guilty as charged.”
That all changed when Causgrove began training for the 2011 Pittsburgh Marathon and grew a beard to keep his face warm during wintertime runs. “One day, I looked in the mirror and realized, ‘Wow, I’ve got a pretty big mustache under there,’” he said. After getting tutelage from his barber, Causgrove began grooming his first handlebar.
A friend goaded Causgrove to enter the Mustached American of the Year contest. He faced some especially hairy competition, including “Parks and Recreation” star Nick Offerman and former pro football coach Jeff Fisher.
Causgrove surged in the online voting after being featured on the WDVE-FM morning show. Yinzers love a winner with local ties and were quick to rally around Causgrove, an Erie native who’d set down roots on Mount Washington after earning a marketing degree from the University of Pittsburgh. “People were coming up to me saying, ‘We all get together on our lunch breaks and vote for you over and over,’” he said. “It was cool.”
The grass-roots support paid off, as Causgrove won two-thirds of the 1.3 million total votes that were cast. His prizes included a congratulatory phone call from 2011 Mustached American winner John Axford, whose 11-year career as a major league pitcher included a brief stint with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Causgrove has since retired from competing. “Once you win the national title, it's kind of like, where do you go from there?” he said.
Media outlets such as Time magazine, WESA-FM, Pittsburgh Magazine, HuffPost and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation have quoted Causgrove as a mustache expert. He became chief executive of the AMI in 2013, when the organization moved its headquarters from St. Louis to Pittsburgh, and acts as an emcee for beard and mustache competitions.
When Pittsburgh hosts the 2025 World Beard and Mustache Championships on July 3-5 at Heinz Hall, Causgrove again will be on the stage as emcee. He is helping to organize and promote the biennial event, which will be held in the United States for the first time since 2007.
“I travel the country, meet with people to talk about facial hair,” Causgrove said. “We all find our own little niche in life, right? That's what's pretty cool about it.”
There’s a running joke among folks in the mustache community that people with beards have it easy because they can simply wake up and go. Mustaches, however, require precision maintenance. “If you lose a couple of beard hairs, nobody notices,” Causgrove said. “If you make one little mistake trimming a mustache, it's uneven and then all of a sudden you're chopping it down and you’re left with a boring dad ’stache.”
When he began growing out his mustache, Causgrove spent a lot of time scanning YouTube videos and messaging friends for grooming tips. Now, he’s got it down to a two-minute routine and often uses hair spray because it’s easier to wash out than wax. His style can change from one day to the next because bad hair days can apply to facial hair too.
“There’s no such thing as a bad mustache, just bad people who don’t appreciate a mustache,” Causgrove said as a sly grin emerged from under his whiskers.
At the peak of his competitive era, Causgrove grew out his mustache to more than 12 inches long. These days, he keeps it at a shorter length that requires less fuss. Twice over the past 15 years, Causgrove shaved his upper lip bald and started over. He’s not keen on doing that again.
“At the (AMI), we always joke, ‘As it is written in the Dead Sea scrolls, when a mustache is shaved, an angel falls from heaven and dies,’” Causgrove said. “Do I want that on my conscience? Probably not. Anyway, when I think of how I look without a mustache, it just does not look right.”
For Mustache Champ Adam Causgrove, Fame Is Right Under His Nose
By Rob Biertempfel
“Yeah, I’m the mustache guy,” Causgrove said. “At Carnegie Mellon, I’m probably known more for Warren than for my mustache, but that’s only because I don't necessarily wax it or style it all the time.”
Causgrove is the director of corporate and government relations for the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences. He also is chief executive officer of the Pittsburgh-based American Mustache Institute (AMI) and winner of the 2012 Robert Goulet Memorial Mustached American of the Year.
On a recent rainy afternoon, Causgrove sipped from a can of raspberry sparkling water in his office in Baker Hall while Warren persistently begged a visitor for some attention and a head scratch. Despite the dampness in the air, a finely twirled, modest handlebar mustache stood firmly at attention above Causgrove’s upper lip.
“My job is really to support all of the faculty and students and the really cool things that are happening in Dietrich College,” Causgrove said. “I just go around and meet people, so I think it helps to have this memorable thing in the middle of my face. I've kind of leaned into it and embraced it for what it is. I would not feel like myself if I didn’t have a mustache.”
The 1970s through the early ’80s was a groovy golden age for mustaches. Thousands of average Joes took inspiration from icons such as Goulet, Burt Reynolds, Billy Dee Williams, Frank Zappa, Cheech Marin and Rollie Fingers. Causgrove, however, grew up in the 1990s. “It was the boy band era,” he said. “Everybody was clean-shaven with frosted blond tips in their hair, and I was guilty as charged.”
That all changed when Causgrove began training for the 2011 Pittsburgh Marathon and grew a beard to keep his face warm during wintertime runs. “One day, I looked in the mirror and realized, ‘Wow, I’ve got a pretty big mustache under there,’” he said. After getting tutelage from his barber, Causgrove began grooming his first handlebar.
A friend goaded Causgrove to enter the Mustached American of the Year contest. He faced some especially hairy competition, including “Parks and Recreation” star Nick Offerman and former pro football coach Jeff Fisher.
Causgrove surged in the online voting after being featured on the WDVE-FM morning show. Yinzers love a winner with local ties and were quick to rally around Causgrove, an Erie native who’d set down roots on Mount Washington after earning a marketing degree from the University of Pittsburgh. “People were coming up to me saying, ‘We all get together on our lunch breaks and vote for you over and over,’” he said. “It was cool.”
The grass-roots support paid off, as Causgrove won two-thirds of the 1.3 million total votes that were cast. His prizes included a congratulatory phone call from 2011 Mustached American winner John Axford, whose 11-year career as a major league pitcher included a brief stint with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Causgrove has since retired from competing. “Once you win the national title, it's kind of like, where do you go from there?” he said.
Media outlets such as Time magazine, WESA-FM, Pittsburgh Magazine, HuffPost and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation have quoted Causgrove as a mustache expert. He became chief executive of the AMI in 2013, when the organization moved its headquarters from St. Louis to Pittsburgh, and acts as an emcee for beard and mustache competitions.
When Pittsburgh hosts the 2025 World Beard and Mustache Championships on July 3-5 at Heinz Hall, Causgrove again will be on the stage as emcee. He is helping to organize and promote the biennial event, which will be held in the United States for the first time since 2007.
“I travel the country, meet with people to talk about facial hair,” Causgrove said. “We all find our own little niche in life, right? That's what's pretty cool about it.”
There’s a running joke among folks in the mustache community that people with beards have it easy because they can simply wake up and go. Mustaches, however, require precision maintenance. “If you lose a couple of beard hairs, nobody notices,” Causgrove said. “If you make one little mistake trimming a mustache, it's uneven and then all of a sudden you're chopping it down and you’re left with a boring dad ’stache.”
When he began growing out his mustache, Causgrove spent a lot of time scanning YouTube videos and messaging friends for grooming tips. Now, he’s got it down to a two-minute routine and often uses hair spray because it’s easier to wash out than wax. His style can change from one day to the next because bad hair days can apply to facial hair too.
“There’s no such thing as a bad mustache, just bad people who don’t appreciate a mustache,” Causgrove said as a sly grin emerged from under his whiskers.
At the peak of his competitive era, Causgrove grew out his mustache to more than 12 inches long. These days, he keeps it at a shorter length that requires less fuss. Twice over the past 15 years, Causgrove shaved his upper lip bald and started over. He’s not keen on doing that again.
“At the (AMI), we always joke, ‘As it is written in the Dead Sea scrolls, when a mustache is shaved, an angel falls from heaven and dies,’” Causgrove said. “Do I want that on my conscience? Probably not. Anyway, when I think of how I look without a mustache, it just does not look right.”
Adam Causgrove (left) presents pop music star John Oates with his Mustache Hall of Fame portrait in 2013.