Monthly Archives: November 2012

 

By Elyse Marriott

“Instead of a pink ribbon, it is an upper lip sweater preparing for winter, the mediator of flavor between your nose and mouth, a soup strainer, Dr. Fuzzenstein, Mr. Tickler, and most importantly, a symbol for all men that we recognize how impactful it is.”

–Max Avery

 

Max Avery stands at the bar, eagerly anticipating an introduction to his role model.  It’s his 24th birthday, and the event is exactly the way he wanted to celebrate that momentous occasion.

“Could life get any better than spending the night with the CEO of Movember, drinking Fosters and enjoying the lives we have been given?” asks Avery, team captain of Moustachio Bashio!

The Chicago Movember launch party was the perfect birthday bash for Avery. But the celebration was more than just a birthday gathering.  It affirmed the commencement of sprouting whiskers worldwide.

“I look extremely dapper in a mustache,” says Avery.  “But that is beside the point.”

Avery has been growing out his mustache since the start of November, and he is not the only one.

Aside from the amusement men find in watching their facial hair grow, why is it that thousands of men put down their razors for the month of November?

 

BACKGROUND:

It all started in Melbourne, Australia, back in 2003 when two guys, Luke Slattery and Travis Garone, “wanted to bring back a past fashion trend—the mustache,” explains Katelynn Whitaker, a staff member on the Movember communications team.

The two Australians were able to convince 30 of their friends to grow out their mustaches for a full month to see who could grow the best “Mo.”

“Amazed by the fun they had and the conversations that were sparked,” says Whitaker, “four of the 3o original members came together to make their Mo-growing an annual, official charitable endeavor by adding an important cause—prostate cancer.”

The movement became known as Movember.

According to Whitaker, Movember is a global charity that encourages men to grow and women to support the mo (mustache) during the month of November to advocate men’s health.  Awareness and funds are raised for men’s health, specifically prostate and testicular cancer initiatives, through the power of the mustache.

By the next year, 450 people participated, raising over $43,000— the largest donation the Prostate Cancer Foundation for Australia had ever received (at the time).

Three years later, in 2007, Movember made its way to the U.S. where funds are raised to benefit the Prostate Cancer Foundation and the LIVESTRONG Foundation.

Today, over 205,000 Americans are registered for Movember, making the U.S. one of the top four participating countries in the global initiative.

 

MOVEMBER STATESIDE

Here in Dallas, Movember is an affluent organization.

According to SMU alum Erik Herskind, the Dallas network ranked fifth last year and is shooting for No. 1.  “We want the Dallas network to be the biggest in the country,” says Herskind.

Herskind first heard about Movember four years ago in a Men’s Health article.

“It seemed like a cause that forced men to hit the issue head on and actually do something uncomfortable,” he explains.  “And as easy as it seems, growing a mustache forces you as a man to do something that is uncomfortable and unfamiliar.  Participation truly makes you talk about the issue of men’s health.”

Currently, Herskind leads the Dallas Mustache team and spends much of his time advocating men’s health awareness because men need to be proactive: In comparison to women, the men’s health movement is roughly 30 years behind, according to Herskind.

 

OVERCOMING OBSTACLES

The discrepancy between men and women can be attributed to men’s reluctance to visit the doctor and openly discuss the topic of their health.

“I think men are terrified of doctor visits mostly because they are afraid of their own mortality.  Men want to believe they are invincible, and doctors bring men back to reality,” says Herskind.

Unlike women, who are proactive and public about their health issues, men often deny themselves the opportunity to stay healthy by avoiding the possibility of hearing bad news.  Men need encouragement, which is why Movember came about.

“I think that men’s health should be made more aware,” says Nicole Avery, Max’s significant other.  “There is so much focus on breast cancer, but in reality, prostate and testicular are just as fatal.  Men think they’re too tough to get sick, and they don’t want to look weak, so if growing a mustache helps them feel tougher about it, then that’s a great plus.”

The mustache has the ability to encourage men to embrace their manhood and overcome their fears.  It’s a way to turn a serious issue into a more relaxed topic, allowing men to feel more comfortable and confident in the reality of their health; it’s a way to draw attention.

 

MUSTACHE SYMBOLISM

“Mustaches are great conversation starters,” says John Potts, an SMU senior participating on the Fiji SMUstache team.  “When you tell people you’re growing a mustache to raise money for cancer research, it helps make the topic of prostate cancer less taboo.”

A layer of fun and interest is added with the mustache.  And just as the pink ribbon does for breast cancer, the mustache acts as a symbol, or rather, a storyteller: It shares the facts of men’s health, the stories of those affected, while also narrating a MoBro’s personal traits.

“My mustache is a statement that I want to raise awareness and raise money for those who have been affected, are affected and will be in the future,” says Max Avery.

But, he notes, stylistically, a mustache is also a statement about who a man is and how he perceives himself.

“Too many people take life too seriously and are too worried about what others will think of them and their appearance,” Avery says.  ”We have grown to be a society that follows a lot of rules, and I believe that people are now finally coming to the realization that a touch of individuality may be more powerful and gain more trust and insight into who each other really are and what we stand for.”

Every mo uniquely represents its grower.  Just as clothes and a haircut can reflect personality and style, a mustache reflects individualism.

 

THE MUSTACHE TREND

Without realizing it, have MoBros fostered a fashion phenomenon by restoring an old facial trend?

The Movember site carries various promotional items—jewelry, T-shirts, sunglasses, hats, socks and shoes.  And mustache-themed products as a whole have become a popular fashion trend over the past few years as well.

But do mustache merchandise and actual hairy mustaches coincide when it comes to fashion?

According to Herskind, mustaches are no longer “in-style.”  “The mustache has been a part of fashion on and off for years,” he says. “In the 1960s, ’70s and early ’80s, men embraced the mustache.  Their mustaches were a huge part of their identities.  But for some reason, the mustache went out of fashion in the late ‘80s and has really never come back.”

So while mustache-themed fashion products are currently trendy, it is not very fashionable for men to sport a mustache.

Why then, if mustaches are considered a thing of the past and out of style, have they been so successfully worn during the month of November?

Herskind believes that because of its unfashionable nature, the mustache is able to serve as an effective tool.  “If men embraced the mustache and brought them back into fashion, seeing them on men would not seem out of the ordinary and would therefore not stimulate conversation, and conversation is what Movember is all about,” he says.

Therefore, a mustache is not a fashion statement.  It’s simply a statement, one with the intent to gain awareness.  And that is what makes it so powerful: its ability to stand on its own, representing its own culture and cause, breaking barriers and challenging the norm.  The mustache doesn’t do what’s expected or try to conform, it does what it believes.