Blogs

Movember has become such a gigantic (and global)

charity initiative since its launch back in 2004 that it’s easy

to forget that it’s not the only charity drive to use facial hair

as its primary mode of fundraising – there’s Decembeard

too.

Decembeard, for the few of you who aren’t familiar with it,

encourages guys to grow a beard during December and

raise cash for the Beating Bowel Cancer charity. It started

in 2011 after DJ Chris Evans announced he was going to

grow a beard for December because he’d missed out on

growing a ‘tache for Movember (something we’ve all done

I’m sure).

Although one of the least talked about diseases, bowel

cancer is the third biggest cancer in men – and the

second biggest killer – with more than 23,000 of us

getting it each year. That’s the bad news. The good news

is that, if caught early, it’s also one of the most treatable

cancers – which is where Beating Bowel Cancer comes in

since it’s all about helping men conquer the disease.

I first came across the charity a couple of years ago when

they approached me, in my capacity as a grooming writer,

to provide them with some basic beard growing and

maintenance tips for those taking part. Since then

Decembeard has grown from a small, but immaculately

trimmed goatee of a thing into a big old full beard of an

event and it just gets bigger and better with each passing

year.

Having said that, a lot of guys still aren’t aware of it so I’m

using my first blog post for the BBA to ask you to spread

the word: mention it to your customers, to your mates and

hey, even think about getting involved yourself. And don’t

let the fact that you already have a beard stop you either. I

shaved mine off one year and started all over again just

for Decembeard – a process which made me realise a.

how weirdly miniscule my mouth looks once the face

furniture isn’t there and b. how much I love having facial

hair because it disguises how weirdly miniscule my mouth

looks!

Anyway, Decembeard is a fantastic initiative and also

gives men an opportunity to experiment with facial hair

and you an opportunity to share your very best beard-

keeping tips and products with customers, some of whom

may well keep their beards and need your trimming

service sin the future. You can even form a beard growing

team and share your progress via social media.

Whichever way you look at it, get involved and everyone

wins: you’ll feel good; your customers will feel good (well,

after the itchy bit is over anyway) and, most importantly,

all the guys you’re helping to beat bowel cancer will feel

good too. What’s not to like?

For more info go to http://www.decembeard.org