On Your Mark, (Lather Up) Get Set (Grab That Razor), GO… SHAVE!
It’s December and all the men who grew their mustaches in November get to shave!
What? You didn’t know about this? It is because of Movember.
Has anyone seen this typo recently? Well, it’s not a typo…it is actually a fund-raising campaign with an International flare. Movember is the month November and Mo, which is a slang term for mustache in Australia.
Movember’s History
In 2003, a couple of mates sat in a pub bemoaning the loss of the mustache…apparently few men in Australia were sporting a crop of hair on their upper lip. They came up with the idea of spending a month, November, trying to grow a mustache or in Australian parlance a “mo.” They recruited other mates and decided to raise money for men’s health.
Creating a website in 2004, the number of mos grown increased to 480 and funds went to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. The US came on board in 2007. By 2012 581 men’s health programs had been funded and 22 countries participate.
Dr. Brian Stork-a urologist from Michigan and a physician actively engaged in social media-started his blog in solidarity November 2012. This year, he joined a group of Urologists at Toronto East General Hospital, to raise Awareness for Men’s Health and Money for the Movember Campaign. “Joining this team has made this Movember even more fun and we have, working together, been able to raise a considerable amount of money,” he says.
Four million mustaches and $91,926,571 have been “raised” this past November.
Who would have thought that all that hair could make such a difference?
I really do love this men’s health initiative because I think it has actually been successful at getting more men to openly discuss their health issues. You see a buddy rocking a wacky looking mustache for a month, and suddenly opening up to your doctor about your prostate health doesn’t seem like that big of a deal anymore. In just ten years, Movember has grown from just 30 innovators in Australia to millions around the world, sparking conversations just like this that could very well have save someone’s life. That truly is some powerful stuff when you think about it.
I completely agree!