(C-Day minus ch.1 edits, revisions and defence) Today is the day that I feel ready to announce the arrival and residence of my mo'. In honour of the month of Movember, I, along with several thousand other men around the globe, will become a Mo'Bro and grow a moustache in order to raise awareness for men's health, specifically prostate cancer. This is one of the few awareness campaigns I have ever supported and I am happy to see fairly widespread recognition from both men and women who know why half the city population suddenly (-ish) got a little bit (very much) uglier...if not manlier. It is a month of pride and the gentlemanly pursuit of reaching out (from the upper lip) to our brethren struck (and not yet struck) by cancer. Grow on!
The moustache culture is a funny one, in that there is (in the "literature") some animosity towards the beard growers, and definite differentiation from the goatee sporters. I suppose that is fair though, given the vast number of moustache jokes (and seemingly few beard jokes). Though it cannot be denied that it truly is a community, with undoubted claim to a culture. There are the hardships of growing our first, the resilience of the first week past the "studly shadow" through the "teenage lookalike" into the majesty of the "Tom Selleck" or the "King of Diamonds", the "Freddy Mercury" or "Hulk Hogan" and all the unnamed hair-bars in between. These hardships bring these men together in a ridiculous looking yet studly bond. We are, you could say, waxed together into a community of the upper (lip) crust. My advice to people new to or looking to join this illustrious club has always been 'commitment'. If you commit to the 'stache, the 'stache will commit to you.
There are most certainly communities of men that are closely tied with the sporting of the lip warmer (policemen, firemen, lounge singers, upper lip wax 'before' models), and I would say I fall on the fringe of one of these: the academics/jobless. I say fringe because these are traditionally (for the men) bearded populations, and there is that gentle animosity/healthy competition between them. Nonetheless it does put me in a solid position to take part in Movember without being told that I am being disrespectful (to aesthetics), am too unkempt (to work) or merely gross (from the hairless perspective), but rather that I am in a community that supports me in my (upper lip's) endeavour (to shame the rest of my face). So too, I will say to my other Mo'Bros: Grow on!
