There was an attempt to…help a good cause.

I’ve always had a nagging guilt that with at least some of my spare time, I should be “giving back” to the community at large somehow. Whilst I was more than happy to contribute to other’s charity efforts, I had never led an attempt to raise money or awareness for a cause. Besides, all of the typical sponsorship opportunities like running marathons were not exactly part of my skill set. 

Then in 2009, something changed that led me to take a more direct approach when a family member was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Whilst being as supportive as I could be, in truth I felt a little helpless, and started to wonder if there was something more that I could be doing to help in general.  And that’s when I came across an initiative known as “Movember”.

Started in 2003, Movember is a charity movement to raise awareness and change the face of men’s health. Back in 2009, the focus was primarily centred around prostate cancer which drew them to my attention, but since then their mission has widened to cover all aspects of men’s mental and physical health.  One of their primary methods of fundraising is through an event known as “Movember”, in which “Mo Bros” volunteers would spend the month of November growing a mustache (or “Mo”, as it is known ) from scratch and would be sponsored for looking ridiculous in order to raise funds that supported men’s health projects.

2009 was some time before the great facial hair revival, so participants stood out in a crowd much more than today, where beards are cool and every hipster and his dog has facial hair of some insane variety or another. I figured that in 30 days I could grow something that would look sufficiently manly, would require pretty much zero effort on my part, and raise money for a cause I was looking to help, so I signed up without thinking too much about it.  Now all I needed was to get sponsored.

I didn’t fit the bill of a wacky or extroverted fundraiser, and I’m not naturally a self-promoter (he says, whilst writing a blog all about himself…), but I wanted to make as much money for the charity as possible. So on November 1st, I plucked up the courage and wrote a company-wide email asking for those who could spare some cash to donate, or for any like-minded folks to join in. I took a deep breath in, and hit send. 

The response still brings me joy today.  There were some fabulous messages of support, donations from incredibly generous people, and a few colleagues that even decided to tag along with the mo’ growing.

After about 10 days, the beard had grown out sufficiently that it was time to make a  crucial choice on styling. Some were to be clearly avoided, (i.e. the “Charlie Chaplin” ), most other options screamed “Sex Pest”, so in the end I went for the “horseshoe” moustache, favoured by bikers and Hulk Hogan.

The rest of Movember was a rollercoaster of experiences: Random secret nods from similarly hirsute strangers on the train. Itchiness at night that drove me slowly crazy. Strange looks during client meetings from those unaware of Movember, wondering who the twat with the stupid mustache was. And finally, developing an unconscious habit of running my forefinger and thumb down both sides of the ‘tache when thinking.

After 30 days, It was time to bid farewell to my ‘tache, which I admit I’d grown rather fond of, though I’m not 100% certain that my wife agreed. In my head I had a cool Dave Grohl biker-dude thing going on, whilst the reality was more like if Ron Weasley had joined the Village People. More importantly, we had raised over £2,000, which felt like a staggeringly large amount to have contributed to.

I actively took part one more time in 2013 with others at work, once again raising a great deal of cash for a good cause. Thankfully the movement had grown over the years, and so the random looks were a little less frequent. This time the mustache was a bit more of the traditional straight “lip-warmer” variety, which definitely looked less cool, and more likely to land me on some sort of register. Plus, there were some undeniable flecks of grey appearing in the once glorious auburn (alright, ginger) ‘tache.

So, whilst I’ve retired (for now..?) from donning facial hair during this month, it’s still a super-important cause and I still contribute regularly. If you are willing and able to help, you can also at https://uk.movember.com/donate. Alternatively, you can choose to grow a Mo of your own. Let’s face it, you have every chance of not looking as daft as I did.