The month of November is special in so many ways: It’s a time to share memories and full plates of food with family at Thanksgiving. It’s a time to stock up on holiday gifts that will put a smile on your loved ones’ faces. It’s a time to have fun outside with friends, whether you’re playing a pickup game of football in the snow, or taking a walk and admiring the changing leaves on the trees.
November is also known to be a time when anyone who can grow facial hair is encouraged to put down the razors and grow their beards, goatees, mustaches or any other natural fuzzy face warmer as prominent as possible. Of course, we’re talking about No Shave November and Movember.
Being a retailer of facial hair grooming products, we’re ready and excited to help out anyone who might need some beard oil or soap to keep that hair growing long and strong, but we actually wanted to use a bit of your time in this blog to share why these hairy month-long campaigns were created in the first place and what each participant demonstrates.
To kick things off, did you know that No Shave November and Movember are actually fundraising efforts?
No Shave November is a fundraising effort of the Matthew Hill Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Emeryville, CA that focuses on raising cancer awareness through multiple fundraising efforts and partnering with other organizations dedicated to doing the same.
According to no-shave.org, “No-Shave November has been a tradition for many years, but it wasn’t until the fall of 2009 that members of the Chicagoland Hill family decided to use it as a means to raise money for charity. It was a project that held special meaning to the eight Hill children after their father, Matthew Hill, passed away from colon cancer in November 2007.”
The Foundation’s website explains that the goal of No-Shave November is to grow, embrace and become more aware of the ability to grow hair, which many cancer patients lose. It’s a month dedicated to take the time and money typically spent on shaving and donate it to cancer prevention efforts and education.
The other prominent fundraising effort, Movember, is one of the Movember Foundation, a non-government funded organization that was started by two friends in Australia in 2003 who were dedicated to bringing the moustache fashion trend back while also donating to men’s health initiatives and prostate cancer prevention.
The Movember Foundation is, “the leading charity changing the face of men’s health,” according to their website. The foundation addresses large health issues related to men, such as prostate and testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention.
“In 15 years we’ve funded more than 1,200 men’s health projects around the world. By 2030 we’ll reduce the number of men dying prematurely by 25%,” the foundation website explains.
Movember’s facial hair growth efforts focus mostly on Moustache, or Mo, growth-- hence the replacement of the ‘N’ for an ‘M’ at the beginning of this charitable month-- but the Foundation also encourages everyone to grow what they can, raise money and stay physically active to support and raise awareness for cancer and other men’s health issues.
Regardless of what facial hair you’re planning to grow out (or support...we’re looking at you, ladies), make sure you take that money spent on razors, shaving cream or trips to the barber and donate it to an organization that educates, prevents or researches ways to save lives.
When it comes to facial hair this month, grow it and show it, then donate and educate to help those in need.