“He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he that hath no beard is less than a man.” – William Shakespeare

What really is the significance of “No Shave November?” It is a movement where men start off clean-shaven on the first of November and don’t shave the entire month to promote various causes primarily prostrate cancer awareness. If you are seriously interested, sign up at  www.movember.com . Once you sign up you’re officially titled a ” mo  bro” or a ” mo   sista .” Throughout the month these ” mo  bros” and ” mo   sistas ” support their cause and raise awareness. To spread awareness, men grow  moustaches , not beards or goatees.

“Each year, the  Movember  Foundation funds and delivers a high-impact awareness program, which aims to communicate men’s health messages to the  Movember  community and its supporters. Through this,  Movember  endeavors to inspire action through education. It is only by successfully achieving this goal that  Movember  will one day realize our vision,” the Movember  website said.

Movember is supporting the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong . Statistics from the Movember website state that last year about 450,000 global participants personally informed about 27 million people worldwide about men’s health.

The other website that is supporting “No Shave November” is  www.noshember.com , where they plan refrain from razors. Women can participate in this movement by not shaving their legs or armpits. They campaign for prostate cancer research as well as National Multiple Sclerosis Society. They even have “No Shave November “merchandise.

“I plan to go through without shaving for the rest of the month,” Nick Baum, a freshman in materials engineering, said. “But I’m not really spreading awareness for a cause. It’s just a competition among friends to see who stays the longest without shaving.”

Hunter Sipe , a freshman in nuclear engineering said, “Well, I don’t shave much anyway but I do know a lot of people who aren’t shaving for November. But I didn’t know it was to raise awareness for cancer and neither do a lot of people I know.” Most youth do it for fun as a competition with friends or just to see how long their beards grow or to make a style statement.

Ryan Hill, a men’s cross-country runner, said, “It was kind of started by fifth-year senior Adam Henken . He’s got this big red beard that he started back in the summer, so the rest of us kind of latched on to it and said, ‘We really need nice beards for Nationals.’ Most of us started in October to have nice beards by November, so our whole top-5 has some nice facial hair going on right now. So just look for the nastiest beards out there, that’s gonna be the Wolfpack.”

Women don’t have to feel left out of the activities, because even if they don’t want to participate, they can support friends. But Daisy Lopez Sophomore in Animal Sciences said, “I don’t like how guys who sport beards look. But if it were for a good cause I would be very supportive.”

“No Shave November” is a popular movement all over the world, irrespective of whether people know what the true significance is or not. The movement as a fad has caught on. Any kind of awareness is good. If it causes at least a few people to donate to some causes or even go get themselves tested, it’s not a waste.

So this November, all you hairy boys and girls, make use of your dead cells and spread awareness to people about remaining healthy. You never know who it might help.