I mustache you a question…what is Movember?

Family gatherings, turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, “Black Friday” shopping, and… mustaches?

That’s right; November is the time for Thanksgiving, holiday shopping kickoff, and, most importantly, men’s health awareness. Thanks to a couple of men in Australia coming up with the idea over ten years ago, the month of November has also become the month of Movember. You may see someone growing a mustache this month, but how did the campaign start and what is its goal?

Back in 2003, a pair of friends were joking about mustaches and vowed to bring them back into the forefront of fashion. After getting thirty people to join the movement, they decided to charge $10 each to raise money for prostate cancer awareness. After that inaugural year, the group chose to see how far they could grow their moustache charity. The 2004 campaign included 450 “Mo Bros” and raised $54,000; all of which was donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia.

Now in its eleventh official year since that first night of decision making, the Movember movement has seen over four million Mo Bros and Mo Sistas – who have raised $559 million dollars since 2003. The idea behind raising money does involve asking others to donate to your mustache growth – but, the mustache is mainly for raising awareness. The founders of Movember believed that growing a mustache would be something that surprised enough people to ask why it was being grown and want to learn more about the mustache and cause.

“Movember is a great idea that has resulted in a lot of positivity for men’s health,” said Dr. Mohammed Raheem, a hematologist/oncologist with Advocate Dreyer Medical Clinic in Aurora, Ill.  “Coming out of October, where pink is everywhere for awareness about breast cancer, the mustache is an excellent visual way for everyone to be reminded about men’s health problems too.”

A simple concept has resulted in an amazing movement.  While the official Movember fundraising involves mustaches, there is also a “No Shave November” hosted by American Cancer Society if you are interested in raising awareness, but not growing just a mustache.  If you are interested in joining the Movember movement, visit Movember.com for more details.

Just remember, as you are around the Thanksgiving dinner table or racing to the mall on Black Friday morning, to spread the word about men’s health as you are cleaning gravy out of your ‘stache!