My Journey Through No Shave November

When everything started shutting down due to Covid-19 I gave up shaving. I figured I wasn't going anywhere anyhow so why bother. I went months without shaving and ended up looking like a mountain man. After three months of not shaving I got fed up and decided to take it all off. Was the first time I was clean-shaven and probably 15 years or so.

At the beginning of November, I decided I would take part in No Shave November. It was originally started to raise awareness of male cancer issues like prostate cancer, but since then it has evolved into awareness for all sorts of cancers. Back in 2008 and again in 2009 I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. They basically just went in with a laser and lasered the tumors out. I was lucky because I never had to go through chemo or radiation.

My wife had Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma and had to go through chemo and I saw the toll it took on her. That's why I love to support organizations that help people fight cancer. So I decided I would take part in No Shave November. I haven't shaved since the week of Halloween and as you can see in my photo above, the facial hair is filling in.

With No Shave November, they encourage people that have stopped shaving to donate the money they would normally use for grooming to a cancer organization. The organization's this year that they recommend include The Prevent Cancer Foundation, Fight Colorectal Cancer, and The St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital.

Being that I only shave once or sometimes twice a week, I don't spend that much when it comes to shaving. I'll buy a four or five pack of shaving cream and I'm good for the entire year. If I remember correctly, that was about 15 bucks if that. When it comes to razors, I might change my Razor once every four months. So a year full of razors might cost me 12 bucks. But I couldn't just donate $27 to a cancer organization, so I decided to round it up and donate $50 to the St Jude Children's Hospital. If you would care to make a donation to any one of those three organizations you can click here.

[via: No Shave]