Ben OsborneSalvador Dali, Friedrich Nietzsche, Mark Twain, Frida Kahlo, Groucho Marx, Freddy Mercury and Tom Selleck … geniuses all, but what did they have in common? That’s right… the moustache. Sure the ‘tache has had a lot of negative press over the years, Hitler, Stalin and David Seaman have undoubtedly dragged the moustache through the mud but it’s time to say it loud and proud… the moustache is back and this time it’s the good guys who are wearing them.
Movember is a genuine celebration of the wonders of the under nose, above lip, hair grooming phenomena that is the ‘tache and it’s for a great cause. The idea is simple: on 1st November you register at Movember.com clean shaven and you then have the rest of the month to grow, groom, twirl and refine you hairy little friend. It’s not all about looking good though, taking part in Movember is also all about raising money and advertising to the world that you are helping to raise money for and awareness of male specific cancers.
Movember began in Melbourne Australia, and has grown to become a global movement that has inspired more than 1.1 Million Mo Bros and Mo Sistas to participate. With campaigns in Australia, New Zealand, the US, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Spain, South Africa, Ireland and here in the UK, you will have thousands of Mo Bros and Mo Sistas backing you. In 2010, over 112,000 UK Mo Bros and Mo Sistas got on board and raised £11.7 million for cancer charities and research.
The funds raised in the UK support the number one and two most common male specific cancers – prostate and testicular cancer. The funds raised are directed to programmes run directly by Movember and their men’s health partners, The Prostate Cancer Charity and the Institute of Cancer Research. Rather than keeping the conversation on male specific cancer a secret, proudly growing your ‘tache raises awareness and provokes conversation on a very serious issue.
If you participate in Movember it will provoke discussion. Women will be impressed by your charitable side as well as attracted to your handlebar; men will sidle up to you in pubs and ask “what the hell is that on your face friend?” which you’ll find opens the door, very nicely, to a conversation on testicular cancer… Ok, bad example but it will raise awareness I assure you, and this is a magnificent thing as men are just bad at going to the doctors when they think something is wrong. Is it stubbornness, a refusal to believe in their own mortality, a lack of education and awareness of symptoms, or the plain fact that thinking something might be seriously wrong is scary? It’s probably all of those and anything we can do to take away the stigmas, lack of understanding and the fear is very welcome.
Now to the fun bit… the moustache itself. All styles are welcome, nothing is to be looked down upon, it’s all about the effort and the fact that you are doing good and looking cool. You can go for any style you wish… the ‘handlebar’, the ‘trucker’, the ‘connoisseur’, or my favorite the ‘undercover brother’, they’re all good. Or why not be bold and reclaim the ‘toothbrush’ from Hitler’s evil grasp? Whatever the style you go for, get growing and raising awareness and cash for cancer.
It’s moustache season!
