Things are getting shaggy. Each November, in support of men’s health issues, millions of men forgo their morning shave to help raise awareness and, in some cases, money for charity.
Not exactly warring factions, but the newly hirsute generally belong to one of two tribes: Either clan Movember (marked by wild mustaches undiluted by the the unruly and distracting beard) or house No-Shave November (in which all facial hair is fair game). The differences are minuscule, though, so here’s your field guide to spotting them in the wild:
Movember
The slightly older tribe traces its roots back to Australia, circa 2003, when a small group of men challenged each other not to shave for a month. Movember (an amalgamation of “men’s November”) quickly grew as a popular cause that raises money to support charities related to prostate and testicular cancers, along with men’s mental health issues. “Mo Bros” are encouraged to grow Tom Selleck-worthy mustaches to help spur discussion of those issues.
Full beards, though, are not part of the tribe’s ethos. (Women, called “Mo Sistas,” can also raise money and awareness, but are fervently NOT encouraged to grow facial hair.)
No-Shave November
Years later, word of Movember had spread – like a finely waxed handlebar mustache – across the globe. In 2009, the family of Matthew Hill started this new offshoot genus. Hill had died of colon cancer in 2007, leaving behind eight children. The family started promoting No-Shave as a way to more directly raise money for men’s causes.
Participants are marked by the lack of any facial landscaping at all during the month. “Let is grow wild and free!” the group’s website proclaims.
No-Shavers encouraged to donate whatever money they would normally have used during the month for shaving products to the Chicago-based Hill Foundation, which still organizes the movement. The charity helps support several groups and efforts, including the American Cancer Society, the Prevent Cancer Foundation, Fight Colorectal Cancer and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Facial hair throughout history
It’s easy to think of great beards and mustaches over the centuries, from Abraham Lincoln’s full beard and bared lip, to Salvador Dali’s exaggerated handlebar, from Duck Dynasty to ZZ Top. Not many were a statement in themselves. Mostly, they’re for vanity only.
However, it wasn’t always so. The Aussies who started Movember cited the ancient Greeks as their inspiration. November didn’t exist then, of course, but Greeks had at one time believed that a proper education meant imitating the gods’ facial hair. That included observing a month-long period each year going without a shave. Plato, the great philosopher, was a big proponent of the idea.
Aristotle later asserted that the beard-growing was a necessity if a man wanted to embody an ethical life.
So, you could call the recent facial follicle philanthropy a return to the ancient Greek ideal.
