Mo Bro’s, leave your razor or beard trimmer for a while. Movember is just around the corner, or for a while: the Moustache-November. With this recurring event, November is dedicated to men’s health in general and to create awareness around prostate or testicular cancer. A fantastic initiative if you ask me that I would like to pay more attention to.
Where does the initiative come from? From 30 moustaches to 5 million
This November initiative comes from charity “November Foundation” which is committed, as they themselves state on their site, to changing men’s health- whether it is prostate cancer, testicular cancer or mental health problems and suicide prevention. We men, or at least most men, have in common that we don’t like to talk about.
The goal is to reduce the number of men dying at a young age by 25% by 2030. They do this by raising money for various health projects and by drawing extra attention to this during the month of November.
In 2003, Movember was founded by two men from Australia and for the above reasons they grew their moustaches for the entire month of November. Now, 19 years later, more than 5 million men worldwide participate. Great, right?
The rules: how do I participate?
For a very long time I did not know about the motive behind Movember. I thought men did this mostly for fun, which is of course partly true. But I really like the true meaning behind it. I hope to encourage you to join in. How do you participate as a beardman/gentleman in the UK? There are several ways to do so, and not just by growing your moustache or beard.
- Grow your moustache: as they put it so nicely on the Movember website, “your face raises funds and raises awareness around men’s health”. Do this with others, have some fun! Sign up and ask friends and family to contribute. You will collect this contribution at the end of the month with proof that you really left your whiskers on.
- Move for Movember: another option is to walk or run 60 km for the 60 men scattered around the world who take their own lives every hour. Organise an event, get as many people involved and raise as much money as possible.
Movember moustache or beard?
The month of Movember comes from letting your “moustache” grow. But at the end of the day, awareness is the most important thing and that can also be done simply by growing your beard. So the choice is entirely up to you!
Will you join in?
If you want to take part in this wonderful event and raise awareness for all the men in the world struggling with health diseases, sign up and join in!