Get your whiskers ready, it’s moustache-growing season. Movember, the month previously known as November, is right around the corner. What is Movember, you ask? It’s only the best opportunity to grow epic facial hair that would make Salvador Dali blush.
“It started as a bit of a joke, to bring back the moustache. In Australia, ‘mo’ is slang for moustache and what we did was we called it ‘Movember,’” Adam Garone, founder of the Melbourne-based Movember Group, said.
Since the first celebration of Movember in 2003, it grew from an inside joke between friends into a massive fundraising event. Last year, the Movember Group raised twenty four million dollars internationally for prostate cancer research, making Movember one of the largest supporters of prostate cancer research in the world.
The rules for Movember are simple. Starting on November 1—clean-shaven of course—participants start to grow a moustache of any shape or size. Similar to Relay for Life, teams sign up on the foundation’s website to raise money.
“We challenge men to change their appearance and when people notice, tell them about Movember and our fundraising efforts” Garone said. “It starts some great conversations about prostate cancer and testicular cancer, the things people don’t usually talk or learn about.”
The fun behind Movember is that no two moustaches are alike. Styles can range from Hulk Hogan’s handlebar to Tom Selleck’s iconic soup-strainer, to Errol Flynn’s suave pencil ‘stache. Guys, put away your razors next month and live like it’s 1975. Just don’t forget, not everybody wants a moustache ride.
