13 WTF Things Malaysians Say to Jangguts and Misais

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What The Fuzz? From the homeless/hippie stereotypes of old to today’s hipster misters; overgrown beards and fuzzy lip warmers have come a long way in today’s society. As Movember comes to a close, we decided to pay homage to the brave men who wear their facial hair with pride in their hearts and extra tissue in their pockets.

In the spirit of muhibbah-ness, we tried to get a variety of beards and ‘staches. The keyword here is tried because not many men were comfortable talking to me about their manly manes. Something about personal space and disallowing me from stroking their beards.

We also tried to speak to a variety of races. Unfortunately due to some lineage issues, we have a shortage of oriental brothers. Natural facial hair is one of the few things on earth that can’t be made in China.

(Disclaimer: All pictures are published with permission from the owners. Some respondents preferred to remain anonymous. All answers are real and have been edited for brevity and length).

1. Joshua Desmond, musician & Esquire Malaysia’s Top 5 Best Dressed Real Man 2014

Personal misai/janggut crush: Opie from Sons of Anarchy and Ricki Hall.

WTF happened? People say a lot of things about my beard but these 3 were epic:

“It’s as if you have pubic hair on your face!”

“Can you lift dumbbells with your beard?”

“I wonder what the beard will feel like down there?”

2. Sam, event manager

Not Sam. But what Sam wants to be. Image from thehangover.wiki

Personal misai/janggut crush: Zach Galifianakis “cause his beard is like a warehouse la bro!”

WTF happened? My friend once asked me this when we went for an event. You’ll be surprised at the amount of stuff you can keep in your beard la bro!

“Bro… Can help me hide some ‘things’ inside or not?”

3. Bahir, Producer at Incitemy.TV

Personal misai/janggut crush: North American Lumberjacks. (He means their beards, not their logs).

WTF happened? Due to my lineage’s terrible ability to grow facial hair (great on the head, not so much the face) the most difficult thing I had to answer was…

“So how long did that take you to grow?”

4. Nicholas Corneilius, Writer, social activist & voice-over artist

Personal misai/janggut crush: Streetstyle icon Nick Wooster “cause it’s so well trimmed and like a baaws!”

WTF happened? Just the other day I was at Astro for recording and all of a sudden Ean from Hitz.fm walked up to me, stared me in the face, and asked…

“Can we rub chins? I wanna know what it’s like to have a beard.”

5. Haji Hariff/Ariff

Not Haji Hariff/Ariff. Is Ustaz Azhar Idrus. Image from penpatah.blogspot

Personal misai/janggut crush: Ustaz Azhar Idrus.

WTF happened? The weirdest thing anyone asked me about my beard is you! Cause nobody has taken interest in me before! Are you from Kastam?
(Writer’s note: We shared a same flight to Penang and I decided to have a quick chat at the airport. Haji Hariff/Ariff, if you’re reading this, thank you for layaning me and yes CILISOS is a legit publication. We think.).

6. Phoon Chi Ho, Actor & comedian

Personal misai/janggut crush: Aaron Kwok “cause he no need to shave so often”. (Oh the irony!)

WTF happened? People always ask me,

“Are you local? Because you have so much facial hair (for a Chinese).”

7. Gobinathan, CEO of Paradox Brainchild

Personal misai/janggut crush: No one because “this is all me”.

WTF happened? “The weirdest thing is I get random strangers coming up to me and calling me Wak Doyok!! More than once! I don’t even look like him! This is beard stereotyping!”

8. Manvir Singh, Engineer

Not Manvir Singh. Image from Comicvine.com

Personal misai/janggut crush: Gandalf because “I hope to have a smooth silvery beard like his when I’m old.”

WTF happened? “Friends in Uni used to ask me the weirdest stuff. I didn’t take this as racism merely lack of understanding. Just like Gandalf the White, I enlightened them.”

“Do you have to tie up your beard into mini turbans?”

9. Andrew Netto, Standup comedian

Personal misai/janggut crush: Wak Doyok.

WTF happened: I’ve been asked a number of things but this is by far my fav…

“Can I stroke the furry wall?”

10. Wak Doyok, Fashionist.

Personal misai/janggut crush: himself, probably.

WTF happened? (We’re kinda waiting for Wak Doyok to get back to our people so stay tuned to see what the facial hair icon of Malaysia has to say. Abang Wak Doyok if you’re reading this, please get in touch with us k? #taktipu)

So… Err… Since we couldn’t get Wak Doyok, we decided to throw in 3 more handsome young lads. (Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder).

11. Chak, Editor-in-Chief at CILISOS

Personal misai/janggut crush: himself, definitely!

WTF happened: “Peepol alwaiz tell me – What’s that on your mouth? You eat cookie never wipe properly ar?”
(Ok we made this up, we just couldn’t help include his Movember attempt).

12. Abi, Actor & commercial talent.

No this isn't George Michael. — No this isn’t George Michael.

Personal misai/janggut crush: Kamal Hassan, Robert De Niro in The Deer Hunter, and Nicholas Cage in Joe.

WTF happened: I get a lot of comments about my facial hair but these are the most common ones:

“Is it real?!”

“Are you going to braid it?”

Oh it’s real? I thought it was drawn on!”

13. Prem, Content Manager at Hitz.FM.

"This is my What The Fuzz face I give people when they call me Wak Doyok" - Prem. — “This is my What The Fuzz face I give people when they call me Wak Doyok” – Prem.

Personal misai/janggut crush: Zach Galifianakis.

WTF happened: “People always tell me my beard looks like a birds nests, no matter how I groom it! They will say Your beard is Oooooooout la macha!!! And just like Gobi, people always say Bro ko nampak cam Wak Doyok laaa!”