Movember: Hair today, gone tomorrow

November, the month when men grow moustaches for charity.

From the pencil-thin Errol Flynn version to the coiffed homage to Ming the Merciless, thousands of normally clean-shaven men across the world had been embracing the lost art of moustaches last month, reports AFP.

‘Movember’ (a combination of moustache and November) is an international men’s movement whose members, clean-shaven at the beginnning, grow their moustaches during the month of November, making their new face known on a website and collecting money for research on prostate cancer, and shave it off on December 1.

Movember began in Melbourne in 2003 among a group of about 30 friends, primarily as an excuse to experiment with facial hair. “Moustaches had vanished pretty much off the planet, but when we looked back all our dads had them, our sporting heroes had them, and we thought why not see what it looks like for a month,” said the movement’s co-founder, who goes by the name JC. “So we brought back the moustache and tied it to men’s health, because there’s nothing more manly than a moustache.”

Eight years after the first ‘Movember’ in Australia, the campaign has become a big hit in Canada, Britain, the United States, New Zealand and South Africa, as well as winning fans in the Middle East and Asia, reports AFP.

In Britain, Formula One driver Jenson Button and England footballer Peter Crouch were among those sporting face fuzz, while actor Stephen Fry has recreated the glorious ‘tache worn by his “Blackadder” character General Melchett.

Daanish Amin, a 28-year-old accountant based in Toronto, participated this time round and would be happy to do it again, “If some additional hair on my face raises awareness and helps someone out, then I think it’s worth it. However, I’m dying to shave and my moustache will be gone on December 1.” On the other hand, 25-year-old Haroon Butt, who has never sported facial hair, remarked that keeping a moustache is not his cup of tea, but if someone was sponsoring him for a charitable cause he’d “gladly keep a pencil moustache”.

Organisers said this year’s campaign has so far raised $75.2 million across the world — already matching last year’s figure. “Somebody growing a moustache in the month of November talks to an average of three people a day about it,” said Owen Sharp, head of Britain’s Prostate Cancer Charity, who himself grew a neat handlebar moustache for the campaign. “That’s nearly 100 conversations that each Mo Bro is having, which is just going to keep raising awareness of the issues of prostate cancer and testicular cancer and men’s health in general.”

Although this trend hasn’t caught on in Pakistan yet, we spoke to a few male Pakistani celebs to see what they’d do if the ‘Movember’ movement came here. Singer Haroon Rasheed of Awaaz fame said that, “I grew facial hair once but it ended badly, however I would gladly sport a handle-bar moustache, with twirls on each end for charity.” Designer Mohsin Ali, stated, “I would grow a Genghis Khan, Mongolian type of moustache as that would complement me.”

Female celebs like designer Maheen Kardar and VJ Anoushey Ashraf were also asked whether they would abstain from using cosmetics for a month, had there been a campaign for women’s cancers. Both women were enthusiastic about the idea; “I would happily not wear lipstick or nail colour for a month. If it came to it I’d also not get my hair blow-dried,” says Kardar. Ashraf also agreed, saying, “I’d happily forgo both lipstick and nail polish.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 1^st, 2011.