Blackbeard the Pirate used to tie fuses in his beard, and light them just before moving into hand to hand fighting. The idea presumably was that the sight of this horrible hairy pirate with his beard spitting sparks and fire would give him the edge.

That wasn't actually what I had in mind, but it comes to mind now. (Actually I was thinking "better light a candle than curse the darkness" - but that admirable sentiment seemed a bit high-minded for the context. And the implication of lighting your whiskers if that's the only way to shed light on the scene has a quality of do-what-you-can-regardless-of the-personal-cost, which I rather admire.)