JUST WRITE!
Movember madness
By Tracey Coveart/The Scugog Standard

I have a love/hate relationship with facial hair.
_When I was 18, I was diagnosed with a seizure disorder and put on anti-convulsant medication for two years. Upside: no seizures. Downside: a moustache. One of the possible side effects of this particular medication is facial hair growth and, as with most medications I’ve ever had to take, if there is an adverse effect, I will be the one in 100,000 to suffer it. My boys accuse me of being a hypochondriac but it’s hard to deny the forest of downy hair on my upper lip.
_In fact, I once let Matthew and Patrick wax my medi-stache when they were teenagers. They thought this was terrific fun. They applied, then reapplied that nasty little adhesive strip until Patrick finally said to his brother, “Hey Mattie. I don’t think she’s supposed to be bleeding like that.”
_They didn’t get the hair, but they managed to remove most of the sensitive skin from my upper lip.
_That’s the hate part of the relationship.
_The love part is my dad’s beard and moustache. As long as I can remember, dad has had a moustache at least and usually a beard. The latter is because he doesn’t have a chin. Anatomically it’s there, but it’s so recessed it’s hard to locate without some sort of magnification device.
_When I was in my early 20s, dad made a bet with a friend. If Don paid cash for his new Cadillac, dad would shave off his beard. Don bought the car with a fistful of bills, but he didn’t wait for dad to make good on his end of the deal. He drove straight from the dealership to our house, dragged dad outside and shaved him in the back of the Caddy. I watched in horror as dad took handfuls of beard and shoved them between the cushions of that brand new car. Worse, I remember getting my suddenly chinless father. Not a good look for him. We called him ‘Joe Who Clark’ and averted our eyes at the dinner table until it grew it back so we could keep our food down.
_Which brings us to Movember ... and back to the hate part. While the Movember movement is admirable, and many moustached men - remember Paul Newman in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid? - are beyond sexy, there are some guys who should never go there. Make a donation by all means. Support someone who looks good with a ’stache. But don’t, for humanity’s sake, grow one yourself. It’s just not fair to the rest of us and a month is a long time.
_Here’s the skinny on the November ‘lip pigeon’ (as Rob call it).
_Each November since 2004, men around the world have been sprouting a moustache to mark Movember, an international movement to raise funds and awareness for men’s health issues, particularly prostate cancer.
_The ‘Mo Bros’ are encouraged to register at www.Movember.com with a clean-shaven face on Nov. 1, then grow their upper lip dressing for the rest of the month, with the encouragement of their sponsors and their ‘Mo Sistas.’
_For 30 days each year, Mo Bros are walking billboards for prostate cancer awareness, getting people talking about the oft-ignored issue of men’s health.
_Starting out small in Melbourne, Australia, Movember has grown into a global movement, inspiring the participation of 1.1 million registered Mo Bros and Mo Sistas around the world. As of 2010, Mo Bros and Sistas had raised $176 million. That includes 119,000 Canadians last year, who generated $22.3 million for education and awareness, survivorship and research.
_If my experience is anything to go by, many Movember men don’t even register as participants, which makes their unofficial numbers much higher. Chances are, if someone you know is sporting a new caterpillar it’s for Movember.
_Some guys look great and won’t shave well into the New Year. Others ... well, their Mo Sistas are going to be at the ready with a razor and a sigh of relief today (Dec. 1). Regardless, if men paid as much attention to their health year round as they do to their grooming one month out of 12, I’m sure we could all but eliminate prostate cancer.
_Know the risks. Get tested. Increase your chances of early detection, diagnosis and effective treatment.
_And make sure your Movember moustache is more than just lip service.