Recap: A Shave-Free November

Where Zero Waste and Men’s Health Meet: A No-Shave November

November is a difficult a difficult time to go a whole month without shaving, because one thing I do every fourth Thursday in November is see my mom for Thanksgiving. There seems to be only one thing I can do in this world to bother her and that is to go a whole month without shaving. When I say shave I really mean trim, because rarely do I completely shave my entire face.

Days 0 and 30

I wrote about No Shave November and Movember at the beginning of the month to help create awareness for men’s health issues. The two primary non-profit organizations that fundraise for this movement, No Shave November and Movember ask that you (man or in theory, woman) go an entire month without shaving. For men who are accustomed to daily or weekly shaves, this could prove to be challenging. As I mentioned in my last post, I chose to start out the month by shaving my face completely so that I too would be out of my comfort zone, even if only for a week when my beard grew back in.

One in seven men will develop prostate cancer. That’s more that 14%! People will always cite the man who smoked like a chimney but died of natural causes at 100 or the woman who never smoked but died too young from lung cancer. To that I say, to each his own. I am a man of statistics and prefer to hedge my bets. I do this by eating a healthy vegan diet and exercising regularly. Since going vegan I have lost belly fat, which seemed to have always lingered and ran two half marathons. And, I feel great! Can you lose weight without giving up meat and exercising? Absolutely, but this is how I choseto do it.

Cancer doesn’t respect gender or ethnic lines and can affect anyone. If you are thinking about making a positive change in your life, the time to start is now. Themed days and months are great motivators, but if you want until the next Movember to come around before taking action, you’ll find yourself waiting a long time.