The Popcorn Stand: No Shave November — I’m all for it

It’s No-Shave November, which is a duration and movement designed to give men (and women) the excuse to stop shaving and grooming to bring about cancer awareness.

I never understood the concept of supporting cancer patients, many of whom have lost their hair, by allowing your hair to grow as much as possible. But as John McKay once said about his team’s execution, even if I don’t understand it, if No-Shave November does a lot of good when it comes to cancer prevention, research and education, “I’m all for it.”

When it comes to grooming, I have a dilemma. I hate shaving. But I also hate facial hair. So I shave as little as possible until I just can’t take the forming facial hair anymore, which is twice a week. I shave every Wednesday and Sunday morning.

And I’m not particularly concerned about a close shave, just a close enough shave that provides a facial feeling of enough forming hair removed that I can tolerate.

But for the men who can take it, this is the month to let that beard grow to your heart’s content. I have just found out the hipster beard look for Millennials went out of style several years ago.

This may be a little surprising, but I’ve been OK with that Millennial hipster beard look because Millennials tend to be well-groomed when they’ve had that look. It’s certainly a lot better than those man buns, which I’ve seen a lot less of lately, and are hopefully also going out of style.

Anyway, I guess November is also a chance for Millennials who aren’t willing to give up that hipster-beard look to sort of regain that hipster-beard look, even if it isn’t well-groomed.

And actually it’s nice to write about November being a hairy month and not be referring to the election.

— Charles Whisnand