No-Shave November is now all of the sudden an annual holiday.  Why?  And how did it all start?  Well it all started on Facebook in 2009 by eight siblings to honor the loss of their father to colon cancer in 2007.

Recently the No-Shave November movement partnered with the American Cancer Society in 2014.  On their website they cite their goal as “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.”  If you want to donate to the cause here is the link to website and the link to their Facebook page.

The rules for No-Shave November are as followed.

1. Shave your face on Halloween.
2. Let your beard grow for the entire month of November. That means no shaving until Dec. 1.
3. If you’re looking to run with the manliest men, no shaving also includes no trimming or grooming and allowing your beard to grow wild and free. However, even manly men understandably still want to keep their jobs, so if your employer isn’t a huge fan of the mountain man look, some clean-up is allowed.)
4. Take a picture on Nov.1 to mark the beginning of your journey and on Nov. 30 to track how much you progressed. (via zeusbeard.com)

As Elder students, we can not follow this now tradition but that does no take away from the awareness that it spreads.  Last year at Elder we grew our facial hair in honor of Mr. Klusman.  Both of these causes have noble  roots and deserve all the notoriety.  Students at Elder would love for the Mr. Klusman no shave March to return.  Some students also believe that we should celebrate No-Shave November because cancer awareness is an important issue.

In my research I learned how just a little act like starting a campaign that some would think as stupid could blossom into something great.  Just this month they have raised $1,014,605!  That is money towards important research that could save countless lives.