No-Shave November

Have you heard of this phenomenon?

I've known of this for a while, or rather seen the look sported by many a male, but never heard of it referred to as the "No-Shave November" look until last week. Several people in a span of three days referred to the look, and since then I've noticed more and more guys with more facial hair than should be permitted.

I actually googled it. It a real thing.

"The cultural phenomenon, affectionately coined 'No-Shave November,' encourages young men to put the razor down, testing their will power to resist shaving. Women are also welcome to participate in the month-long movement." (Found here.)

(I think all women should avoid participating in this month-long movement. I get itchy enough after just four days. Unless you are a mountain woman. Then I guess it's okay. I once when whitewater rafting in the summer, and one of the guides, who was Sharon Stone's niece no less, had extremely hairy legs and said that she hadn't shaved in about four months. Gross. But I digress...)

Anyway, it seems as though this phenomenon has been tagged to charitable giving. Noshavenovember.org (which is a site that is still a work in progress) takes the long-admired month of willpower and attaches it to a pledge driven fundraiser for a non-profit organization every year. This year, all participants will be collecting pledges for the Save Darfur Coalition.

I'm guessing you follow the same rules as the old school Read-A-Thons and Walk-A-Thons. Someone pledges a certain amount of money per day you don't shave. Pretty neat idea.

For guys, this seems like a pretty easy deal. Well at least for the non-wussy ones who can get past the itchiness. Most guys I know carry on the NSN look long past November throughout the winter months before finally shaving it all off mid-February...or at least until their mom's or girlfriends or wives talk some sense into them.

I'm not a big fan of facial hair. I can handle the scruffy look and I've dated guys with the goatee, but massive amounts of hair on the face really get to me.

But girls, is a charitable cause worth looking like a cave woman for a month? Maybe? Maybe not? I don't think I'm willing to try it out. There are definitely more avenues I can take to give to these causes.

The itchiness would drive me nutty. I can't even stand to were an itchy sweater for the sake of looking cute during the winter. What makes me think I could do this? Plus, I have a hard enough time landing a guy in the first place. What would I say? "It's all for the cause, honey! Just think of the children."

It would take a really strong man to get past that.