You’ve probably heard of No-Shave November or Movember. If you haven’t, the rules are simple. Put down the razor for 30 days. But it’s not just a silly, fun thing that everyone does. Personally, I had no idea there was any meaning behind the beards. It turns out that the whole purpose of both No-Shave November and Movember is to start conversations and raise awareness about prominent health issues that impact men.

While No-shave November focuses on cancer prevention and awareness, Movember raises money for prostate cancer, testicular cancer, and men’s mental health. The idea is to grow and embrace our hair, which many cancer patients lose during treatment, to raise awareness and donate the money we would have spent on razors, haircuts, shaving cream, etc. to no-shave.org and/or us.movember.com.

No-Shave November has been a tradition for years; however, in 2009, the Hill family decided to use the tradition to raise money for cancer. Since then, the family-run website has raised over $10 million.

Movember has also shown its success as it has funded more than 1,250 men’s health projects around the world since 2003. Mr. Hipwell (Staff) has been participating in Movember for a couple of years and states “My uncle passed away from prostate cancer in 2019 and I was really close with him. He also started wearing a mustache for the last few years of his life, so I thought it would be a good way to support the cause.”

Apart from growing out your hair, there are a couple of other activities that supporters can participate in. Move for Movember is another month-long commitment in which participants run or walk over 60 miles throughout the month. Why 60? According us.movember.com, “That’s 60 miles for the 60 men we lose to suicide each hour, every hour across the world.” Another effective yet simpler option is hosting a “Mo-ment”. This is an even that can be hosted either online or in-person doing any fun activity. The idea is to have fun while raising awareness for men’s health.

Amber Han (12) adds “I really like the idea of getting people’s attention to start conversation about cancer and how everyone can participate in showing their support so I hope people growing out their hair know the real cause.” So this month, when you’re growing your hair out, think about the real meaning behind that beard and consider becoming a Mo-Bro/Mo-Sister or a No-Shaver.