No Shave November: What's the Purpose? (a female's perspective)

This week, I have devoted to 'Movember' or as some might refer to it as 'No Shave November'.  Some individuals do it for the sport of growing a beard where as others may do it for awareness.  Either way, beards grow in numbers during the month of November!

I questioned the purpose of this endeavor….

Was it because men wanted to compete and take pride in their growing accomplishment?  'MY beard is fuller than your beard!'

Was it because they wanted to feel cool and fit in? 'Well everyone else is growing one…I guess that is the IN thing to do…'

Was it just to get back at girlfriends and wives that just don't have enough hours in the day to shave their legs? '….Now you know how I feel hunny…it's gross isn't it!'

Next, what the heck are the rules of No Shave November besides the obvious?  Aren't men at least given a chance to trim or groom at all?  The answer is "negative ghost rider" (Top Gun reference)  No trimming.  No shaving.  No touching the beard until December 1 hits!  30 days of growing, itching, and showing off that manly facial hair…supposedly...

So what does any good researcher do?  They Google the request of course.  Google gave me a lot of information to sift through.  It was pretty comical and informative actually.  This whole No Shave November thing is actually taken pretty seriously!  Here I just thought it was the man's excuse to annoy their significant others and obnoxiously show off…here is what I found!

http://www.heavy.com/social/2013/11/no-shave-november-beards-movember-photos-memes-moustaches-women-girls/6/

This website is all inclusive with video, diagrams, and reasons to participate.  It definitely has some compelling arguments as such to join the bandwagon.  They are promoting the growth a burley beard.  Are these men trying to look like Lumberjacks?  Not bad for the first round Google but, I think you can do better.  http://www.no-shave-november.com .

Ahh….here.  Now we are talking!  An actual Facebook Page…https://www.facebook.com/NSNCharity/info.

I mean, even the Huff Post Style Dept is writing about it!  This article had "best of" photos from Instagram.  SO….#NSN has to be legit right?  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/14/no-shave-november_n_4274893.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000003

On a less shallow note, the American Cancer Society also is mentioning this November phenomena. Their approach is very different than the other thoughts or information I found online.  Their purpose is to raise money.  That is pretty cool.  You can get T-shirts for your donations, create No Shave Teams and really give it a new purpose.  It didn't appear to promote awareness toward any one specific cancer as noted on their website just to raise awareness of cancer as a whole.

http://www.no-shavenovember.com/#!apparel-and-donations/cee5

The concept is a solid one.  "The goal of No-Shave November is to grow awareness by embracing our hair, which many cancer patients lose, and letting it grow wild and free.  Donate the money you usually spend on shaving and grooming for a month to educate about cancer prevention, save lives, and aid those fighting the battle." (http://www.no-shavenovember.com/#!what/cjg9)

One other site that I came a crossed in my search is Adhere Creative's fundraising site for "Fighting Prostate Cancer" through No Shave November.  They are a Creative Marketing Agency out of Texas.  I really don't know anything about them aside from finding their fundraising page.  If you are interested in checking their cause out though, please feel free to do so!  They have a fun and interesting way of presenting this fundraiser: http://fundly.com/adhere-noshember.

All in all, it seems as though males across the board have different reasons to participate in No Shave November.  Some for personal reasons, others for raising awareness, and many I am sure just simply to grow a solid beard.  Whatever the reasoning may be, November seems to grow in attention and beards seem to almost plague the universe for the month.  That is a simple fact.  I don't see this changing anytime soon either.

So from a female's perspective, if you can't beat them--join them?

http://www.heavy.com/social/2013/11/no-shave-november-beards-movember-photos-memes-moustaches-women-girls/4/

Totally just kidding…good luck for the remainder of No Shave November!

Catie Manning