This November marks another yearly “No Shave November” or “Movember” to raise awareness for men’s health issues. Millions of men in the United States grow out their mustache or beard in November to raise awareness for issues causing premature deaths in men and to inspire others to donate to leading charities for prostate and testicular cancer research, such as Movember or No Shave.

The purpose is to raise awareness. By growing a mustache or not shaving at all, you are going to invite people to ask why you are doing so. This is an opportunity to raise awareness of men’s health issues and to urge people to donate to a good cause. Prostate and testicular cancer is a major cause of premature death in men, with 1 in 9 men being diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime and 1 in 250 men being diagnosed with testicular cancer in their lifetime. Prostate cancer mainly affects older men while testicular cancer can affect young men as young as 15 years old. The idea behind No Shave or Movember is for men to embrace the hair that cancer patients lose during chemotherapy treatment for these cancers and for them to donate the money they would otherwise use on hair grooming products to cancer research.

You do not need to be a man to participate in this. Women have also been participating in this month by foregoing their waxing appointments for their underarms, eyebrows, and legs. The same idea applies and the money they saved on growing out their hair instead can be donated to cancer research. Famous celebrities like Madonna have also participated in the cause:

 

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Long hair…… Don’t Care!!!!!! #artforfreedom #rebelheart #revolutionoflove

A post shared by Madonna (@madonna) on Mar 20, 2014 at 7:51pm PDT

Do not forget that the goal of this is to raise funds for crucial cancer research. Even if you cannot grow a beard, you can still donate to a good cause. Please decide to donate to one of the many charitable organizations dedicated to cancer research such as: No Shave, Movember, and the American Cancer Society.