The men at Maple & Lather have been using our soap to shave for a long time now. Its rich lather, silky texture and moisturizing shea butter make it versatile enough for showering, shaving and even shampooing. But this month, many M&L men will be participating in Movember – and so perhaps a little less soap will be used when it comes to that delicate area above the lip. It’s time to grow mustaches for Movember.
Movember’s Importance
Most of us know that Movember hasn’t been around for that long. If I had to guess, I’d figure that it’s been around for about a decade, but this will actually be Movember’s 17th year. It’s hard to believe that from 30 “Mo Bros” in Melbourne, Australia, this movement now attracts tens of millions of participants and has raised over $1 billion for important causes that are taking men’s lives far too early. While Movember’s origins were focused on fundraising for prostate and testicular cancers, today, they focus on one other cause that is taking our fathers, brothers and sons before their time: Mental Health.
Suicide is actually the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45 Moreover, the suicide rate of men is more than 3 times that of women. Surveys have shown that a staggering percentage of men have considered taking their own lives. Without adequate support mechanisms in place, coupled with a significant lack of awareness around this issue, Movember’s addition of Mental Health as a cause it supports seems quite natural and critical.
Don’t Want to Grow a Mustache?
Our M&L men aren’t great mustache growers and were surprised to find out that there are multiple ways to contribute and participate to this movement. Most interesting to us is the 60km in 60 days, which allows fundraisers to walk or run 60km over the course of November as a means to raise money. 60 represents the number of men who take their lives every day, so this would be ideal for those of us interested in acknowledging and supporting mental health initiatives. There are also fundraising options to host a Movember event (virtually, of course) and if you’re especially creative, you can create your own event too!
Get Involved and Support the Men in Your Life
Many of our society’s gender-based initiatives are righty focused on the empowerment and wellness of women. These initiatives are well intended, important and causes we all need to get behind. In contrast, there aren’t many causes solely aimed at men’s issues. Movember is a notable exception, and what we learned about mental health and men simply left us stunned. Based on current U.S. estimates, COVID-19 will likely claim more than 250,000 lives in 2020, most of them elderly and with compromised health. But on an age-to-age comparison, suicide will likely claim the lives of more men under the age of 40 than this pandemic The numbers aren’t tallied yet, but projections support the conclusion.
We’ll keep you posted on our fundraising efforts on our Instagram and Facebook pages, so be sure to check in. In the meantime, we encourage you to get something going yourself. Find out more about Movember here.
xoxo
– Team M&L