It’s November and that means just one thing — no, not turkey. It means for the gents in the room, you can put down the razors and grow a beard for a good cause: it’s No-Shave November or Movember.
For some people like my son, a blacksmith, every month is a No-Shave month, but for people who are normally clean-shaven, the month of November is an opportunity to skip the shaving and increase awareness of cancer.
No-Shave November and Movember, while similar, are not synonymous. They are actually both different nonprofit organizations created to help bring awareness to areas of health too often overlooked. However, No-Shave November is more broad, even encouraging women to not shave their legs during November and then to donate the amount saved to cancer research. “Movember,” a smash-up of “moustache” and “November,” was created by friends in Australia who wanted to support men’s health.
No-Shave November was formalized as a nonprofit in 2009 by members of the Matthew Hill family after he passed away from colon cancer. Their website says their goal is to “to grow awareness by embracing our hair, which many cancer patients lose, and letting it grow wild and free.” They focus on cancer awareness, prevention and finding a cure and have raised over $12 million in the last 13 years. They are donating to 13 cancer-related nonprofits this year.
Movember is a nonprofit focused on men’s health. On their website they say they are “taking them all on.” By “they,” they mean some of the biggest health challenges men face today: mental health and suicide, prostate cancer and testicular cancer. Since their founding in 2003, they have funded more than 1200 men’s health projects worldwide and have raised almost $1.2 billion in the last 19 years.
They list their top 5 things to know and do for men to stay healthy and live longer. First, stay connected to others; it boosts physical, emotional and mental health. Second, talk more and listen more because connection is a two-way street. Number three, know your number — your PSA number, that is. A simple blood test that looks for the level of Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) concentration is the primary method of testing for prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men in the U.S. Number four, be familiar with what’s normal for you by doing monthly testicular self-checks. Testicular cancer is the No. 1 cancer among men ages 15-34 but is highly treatable and curable if caught early. Finally, number five, move more by adding more physical activity to your day.
No worries if you can’t grow a mustache. Many of us can’t. But, we can support a great cause and enjoy a bit of trivia along the way. Did you know that the King of Hearts is the only king in a deck of cards without a mustache? According to the Reader’s Digest and a Google search, there is still a law on the books in Eureka, Nevada, making it illegal for a man with a mustache to kiss a woman. Mustaches are capable of absorbing 20% of their own weight in liquid (ew) and the average man will touch his ‘stache upwards of 750 times per day, averaging 31.25 times per hour (double ew).
Alexander the Great made his army shave their beards, for, as he said, there was nothing handier to grasp in battle than a beard. During the Middle Ages, if a man touched another man’s beard it was taken as an offensive gesture and could be grounds for a duel. In 1535, King Henry VIII introduced a tax on the beard, even though he had a beard himself. There is an inverse relationship with beards and baldness: if you can grow a beard, you’re more likely to go bald (at least according to some scientists). And, if you’re the rock band ZZ Top, your beards are worth a million dollars. (Or shaving them off would be.)
The bottom line really is this: It’s important for men to pay attention to their health too. If not shaving for a month does the trick, all the better. You can register to participate in No-Shave November on their website, https://no-shave.org/participate/ and on the Movember website as well https://us.movember.com/register.
Holly Richardson is the editor of Utah Policy