It’s Movember. Do you know what it means?
Chances are you’ve heard of Movember.
For more than a decade now, men have been encouraged to grow a mustache during November to raise awareness and funds for programs dedicated to improving the quality of men’s lives.
Health problems highlighted during the month include prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health.
Movember started in 2003 in a pretty traditional Australian way over beers.
Speaking in 2011 at a TED talk show, founding CEO of Movember Adam Garone explained how they came up with the idea.
“It was with my brother and a mate having a few drinks and the conversation turned to 70s fashion how everything seems to come back into style.”
He added that after a few more beers, we said, ‘What about the mustache? Why hasn’t that come back?’
BRING MUSTACHE BACK
Then one more beer and it was, ‘Whatever happened to the mustache?’…. The day ended with a challenge: to bring the mustache back.”
From there, the idea snowballed, eventually morphing into a worldwide phenomenon that spawned the Movember Foundation charity.
The campaign has since raised millions of dollars for research into men’s health issues, shifting its focus from prostate male cancer to male health in general, including men’s mental health issues that have traditionally struggled for representation in public debate.
The November Challenge begins on November 1 every year to the last day of the month.
The Rules of Movember?
1. You must begin with a clean-shaven face on November 1.
2. For the entire month of November you must grow and groom a mustache.
3. No beards. No goatees. Mustaches* only. (*Fu manchus are acceptable)
4. You must act like a “true country gentleman” throughout the month.
It wasn’t easy at first, Garone added: “Trust me, when you’re growing a mustache back in 2003 — and this was before the ironic hipster mustache movement — it created a lot of controversy. My boss wouldn’t let me go and see clients, my girlfriend at the time, who is no longer my girlfriend, hated it. Parents would shuffle kids away from us.”