Why we should not let vanity trump supporting a good cause

As November comes to an end, many of us have probably heard of  “Movember” and “No-shave November” – let’s ditch the razors for an entire month to raise awareness and funds for people with cancer-related diseases.  As leaves are falling, hairs are growing, and towards the end of the month, many men are proudly sharing their ‘before’ and ‘after’ photos in support of a good cause.

But how do womxn fit in the picture? Well, I was about to find out.

Already in October, without much consideration, I decided that I will join the movement and let my face (and body) hair grow. Who cares? – I was thinking.

As soon as November started, I was caught by surprise – oh boy, did we care about hair! I was stunned – how can a subject like body image get intertwined with such a noble cause? And how a “no action” can trigger so many prejudices, judgment, and criticism?

So here’s what happened:

Let’s get the facts straight, what are “Movember” and “No-shave November”?

The inspiring story of Movember started in Australia in 2003 when “two mates (Travis Garone and Luke Slattery) meet up for a quiet beer, and the idea that sparked Movember is born.” What started as a fun challenge among 30 friends in Melbourne soon turned into a worldwide movement supporting men’s mental health and suicide prevention and raising awareness and funds about prostate cancer and testicular cancer. By 2019 more than 6 million people from 20 countries joined and raised funds for over 1,250 men’s health projects.

According to the official website, No-Shave November is a web-based, non-profit organization devoted to growing cancer awareness and raising funds to support cancer prevention, research, and education. No-Shave November was founded on Facebook in 2009, but in 2013 began a partnership with the American Cancer Society. Today “No-Shave November” is working with Prevent Cancer Foundation, Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC), and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. You can see the progress of this year’s campaign here: https://no-shave.org/leaderboard.

What did I do?

Well, I didn’t remove my hair for an entire month (and I felt pretty cool about it!). It’s important to note I’m generally not the *hairy* type (I guess I’m “lucky”), and November was a month of lockdown in Germany, so nearly no one noticed my body hair.
Would I have done it if it was a regular “work from the office” kind of month? Absolutely.
Would I have felt as comfortable and confident while doing it? Probably not.

I donated to a cancer-related cause. On the 4th of November, just as I started the challenge, I found out that a former classmate of mine suffers from cancer. I didn’t hesitate for a moment and I donated an amount to their dedicated medical bank account (this is something that I would have done regardless of the month but it just happened to be November, so I am including it in the story).

I conducted a little research – my personal Movember/No-shave November project, so to say. As a part of my research, I read dozens of news articles and blog posts about the movements (and I wrote this one). I also diligently scrolled through hundreds of IG posts tagged #noshavenovember and #movember on a daily basis.

But I didn’t stop there! Even though my Instagram community is fairly small, I decided to conduct a survey. My IG friends didn’t disappoint, replied to my IG stories, and gave me some really good insights.

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What happened next?

Raised awareness

The bare fact that I took the time to research about Movember and No shave November (and write this blog post) made me feel engaged with the cause. So the movement did work its magic! I read about various cancer-related activities, voluntary initiatives, and ways to raise funds. I found out that no matter where you live, there are numerous local cancer-related fundraiser activities that you can dedicate your time, effort, and money to. You can just type in “___(type of cancer illness) fundraiser ___(location)” in Google and you will get a list of all active initiatives in your proximity. You can also start a fundraiser yourself through the “Mo-ment” initiative on the official Movember webpage.

My personal body image

Shaving has been a part of my shower and grooming routine for 15 years. You cannot beat that with a month of not shaving during a lockdown. However, as the days were passing and my body hair was growing, I started to rethink my relationship with body hair. It was very curious to me how not doing something to my body was actually doing something for my body! Not shaving felt empowering and helped me reclaim something we were thought to be ashamed of as womxn.

How vanity gets in the way

Unfortunately, as my research showed, some of the gentlemen were not joining for the right reasons. As the copywriter, Natasha put it: “It tends to turn into a competition over who can grow the biggest beard or the weirdest mustache for their selfies.” Furthermore, I came across dedicated product campaigns and carefully curated website articles promoting a variety of beauty products and grooming accessories, which completely defeats the purpose of the movements since none of the manufacturers, resellers, or authors of these lists were donating a percentage of their sales to the cause.

On the other hand, many ladies didn’t get the courage to take part in the movement – 100% of the respondents to my survey knew about the movements, yet it was just me who was participating. Even though the official websites of the movements clearly state that the participation is open to anyone, who wants to join, regardless of their gender, it was still kind of a “male thing” to take part. Some ladies who answered my IG survey questions shared with me:

Quote 1: “If society was more forgiving, I’d easily join the challenge. I do shave for hygiene purposes and I prefer the way I look and feel, but maybe I wouldn’t feel as under pressure and worried if I forgot once in a while.” – S., 30
Quote 2: “I don’t think I can stop shaving for a whole month. I don’t mind a slightly grown-in stubble, but with my pale skin and dark hair, hair growth is very visible and I do shave daily.” – K., 27
Quote 3: “It’s a pity that women are not explicitly encouraged to join this cause, imagine if all ladies, who shave daily couldn’t be bothered for a month! If I knew I’d have a no-shaving buddy, I’d gladly forgo hair removal for a month.” – M., 34

On that note, Movember even added “Mo Bros & Mo Sisters” in their statement to promote the inclusivity of the cause, but still, the IG photos tagged #movember (total of 2,1m posts) and #noshavenovember (total of 1,1m posts) were shared by males in more than 99% of the cases (yes, I literally saw less than 1 womxn in every 100 posts).

For reference, the “female” version of the hashtags: #noshavenovemberladies, #noshavenovembergirls, and # movembergirls had each fewer than 100 posts. It was bothering to see that men were commenting on these photographs of bold womxn, calling them names and offending them for their choices and the cause they support. It’s a no brainer that belittling a womxn doesn’t make you more of a man, yet some of the comments read how “disgusting, gross, and unladylike” the hair on these womxn’s legs or armpits was. It was a sad finding that vanity, distorted body image, and societal norms of what is “ladylike” intertwined with such a noble cause.

Conclusion

The relatability of the initiative and the fact that many people across the world are doing (or not doing) something for a good cause makes “Movember” and “No-Shave November” an easy way and to express support, build awareness, and raise funds. Although both “Movember” and “No-shave November” started as movements for men, they now stand for inclusivity, embracement of body hair, and charitable support of men’s health, regardless of the gender of the participants.

Needless to say, womxn do fit in the picture! Some of us have a male friend suffering from mental health-related illness. Some of us have lost a male relative to cancer. But all of us love our men, and we do want to evoke a conversation and bring awareness to their health.

So dear society, let body hair just be.. well, body hair.

Treat it to your preference regardless of the month, and don’t let it get in the way of such an important cause!