No Shave November: Ready… set… grow!
By Forrest Lewis and Gregory Arena
 “This, then is the mark of the man, the beard…It is therefore unholy to desecrate the symbol of manhood: hairiness.” – St. Clement of Alexandria before convicted of hair-esy in 271 AD
No Shave November is more than just a hair-larious custom. It is cutting-edge journalism. It is described by Urban Dictionary (A completely credible source) as, “The month of November in which you don’t shave any hair of your body but instead you grow more bestial, brutish, and manly.” Comb to think about it, I could not imagine a more suitable definition that could razor awareness of the world.
While many participate annually in this remarkable act of manliness, few are aware of the true origins of this tradition and its superfacial roots.
Extensive research on the subject of No Shave November revealed a plethora of websites, blogs, images, cartoons, and videos. One false source claims that No Shave November has been around since the Civil War, when Abraham Lincoln made his famous speech: “The Gettysbeard Address.” The most common explanation for this shave-less month is actually quite hair-raising. As many of you probably know, October is breast cancer awareness month. In 2003 in Melbourne, Australia, an idea sprouted in the minds and on the faces of a daring group of young men who wanted a month purely dedicated to male-related issues around the globe. They therefore began a movement they called “Movember,” in which they let their mustaches grow free for thirty days to raise awareness for prostate and testicular cancers. Their campaign was extremely successful, quickly crossing the Pacific Ocean where it has been dis-blade as a “testi”mony by college students throughout the United States. “Mo Bros,” as these mustache-bearing men began to call themselves, raise funds for the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong, which in turn attempt to find cures to these devastating illnesses that affect 1 in 6 men in their lifetime.
“Movember” was a revolutionary idea at the time, but it was not enough. Men craved to get rid of their razor altogether, abandoning the idea of the solo mustache and reviving the concept of full blown facial hair to welcome in the winter months. Thus, No Shave November was born, bearing a set of rules that could rival those of Fight Club:
1. Do not shave in November
2. Do NOT shave in November
There was only one way to truly understand the epicness of this ritual. On October 31, 2011 at approximately 11:59 P.M., I retired my Gillette Mach 3 Turbo Razor into the dark confines of the bathroom cabinet. While this marks my 9th annual participation in No Shave November since its invention in 2003, I must admit that I was unaware until this year that I was, in fact, fighting for a cause as I strutted my mane (although I’ve had trouble surpassing the peach fuzz stage in previous years). I cannot explain what compelled me to take part in such activities, but I mustache you a question: who doesn’t love beards? Besides girlfriends, pogonophobiacs*, and the Texas Rangers (who simply fear them).
The average man spends 201,000 minutes of his life shaving. So why not eliminate 16, 881 of those by exhibiting your manliness for only one month of the year?
To clairify any fuzz around this issue, I interviewed a series of community members throughout November on their experiences with the current month. The redhead, who I initially thought would give excellent insight on this event, proved to be a “red-hairing” and “gingerly” brushed me off. The Rastafarian hippie on the Arcata Plaza told me that he “dreaded” ever taking part in the task while the 80’s rockstar politely told me he would “mullet” over. The antique dealer announced that the No Shave November tradition was a family “hairloom.” I attempted to query James Washington on the facial hair he was sporting, but he told me he “must-dash” and ran away.
Many students have their own reasons for not shaving. Junior Kasey Cather confessed, “I’ve always wanted to be a man!”
Senior Mathew Nelson went retro and grew out only his mustache, declaring “Rich Macey told me that Movember was the new No-Shave November so I hopped on the mustache express.” An anonymous student, who may or may not be the contributing pundit of this article, added, “At first I wasn’t a fan of No Shave November…but now it’s growing on me.”
Nathan Hemmingsen, a senior notorious for his manly beard, is more of a No Shave No-ever type guy. “I enjoy it and the ladies love it” said Hemmingsen regarding his facial hair.
No Shave November is not purely a masculine tradition. “I went all last November without shaving,” said junior Sage Fanucchi. Speaking of which, this reminds me of a tragedy that happened to a stingy woman named Penny who had much facial hair. Finally when she was 40, she went at her whiskers with a razor, cut herself badly, and proceeded to bleed to death. She was cremated and put into a vase with the motto etched: A Penny Shaved is a Penny Urned.
November flew by – it was hair today and gone tomorrow. At one point my 6th period teacher started yelling at me for my facial hair, but luckily I was shaved by the bell. But gentlemen, don’t bring out your razor too soon. Besides, Decembeard has arrived and Manuary and Februhairy will be hair soon. Keep it going and remember…shave the best for last.
Filed Under: Feature
Legend has it that the Pepperbox originated in the 1930s, when Arcata High had just moved to the current campus. There was a box in the library called the "Pep box," where students put in suggestions for teachers and administration. This box also happened to be a used pepper (the spice) box. When the Arcata High Student newspaper was founded, it was appropriately given its current name, "the Pepperbox".
