No Shave November: Rules + 8 Tips for the Best Experience

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no shave november

Have you been waiting to grow out your beard all year? No Shave November is almost here, and if you’re proud beard owners like us, November is the beard month to go all out with your facial hair and raise awareness for cancer. So, no shaving.

No Shave November calls on participants to grow out their facial hair to raise awareness for cancer. You can participate by refraining from shaving and grooming for a whole month. Then grow a fuller, bushier beard and mustache, while women are also encouraged to grow out their leg hair.

In addition to growing out your beard hair, you may want to consider making a donation or even set up your own fundraiser page. We’ve put together a list of No Shave November tips so you can support this cause, whether or not your work has strict facial hair policies.

What Month is Beard Month?

National beard month is November where participants donate to a cause related to cancer, then shave by November 1st. Typically, participants leave their mustache while others go clean-shaven, then grow their beard out and won’t shave again until December 1st.

No-shave November has a simple goal: raise awareness by embracing our own hair, which cancer patients typically lose. Then donate to your favorite cancer charity.

November Beard Month

Do you really have to stop grooming and shaving for No Shave November? This month-long campaign asks that you grow out your hair, but this loosely translates to thicker, longer beards.

No shaving November
What month is beard month? November! Don’t shave your beard and raise awareness for cancer.

Know by many as the “beard-growing month” or “Movember” as “Mo” refers to a mustache in the UK.

Movember vs No Shave November

Can you celebrate both Movember and No Shave November? Yes! While these organizations have somewhat different goals, they have the same idea at heart: raise awareness for health issues by growing out your facial hair.

Here are the big differences between No Shave November and Movember:

No Shave November

No Shave November (www.noshave.org) is all about growing your beard wild and free, but the rules are a little loose on grooming. The movement was started by the children of Matthew Hill who lost his life to colon cancer in 2007.

To participate in No Shave November, you simply grow out your hair. The website says you can participate by “growing a beard, cultivating a mustache, letting those legs go natural, and skipping that waxing appointment.”

VS

Movember

Movember (www.movember.com) also started in 2007 with the goal to simply “bring back the mustache,” but creators Travis Garone and Luke Slattery saw a huge response and wanted to raise awareness for men’s health issues.

Movember Rules

The rules for No-shave November:

  1. Starting November 1st, stop shaving for 30-days (until December 1st)
  2. Donate your facial hair grooming expenses to cancer awareness and research cause
  3. Be proud you took a stand against cancer.

By all means, if you have a work restriction, trimming throughout the month is acceptable. So, you don’t have to grow the bushiest yeard beard, but many do try to grow beards to ridiculous lengths to raise awareness on social media.

How to Participate in No Shave November

By growing your beard long and thick, you join a charitable tradition dating back to 2007. If you want to join in this cause, growing out your beard is one way to do so. We’ve got a step-by-step approach to help you get the most out of this charitable month.

1. Set Up Your Fundraising Page

The Prevent Cancer Foundation is one of the main charities for this movement. You can register here and start a fundraiser page that you can share across all of your social media profiles.

Registered participants on No-Shave.org get updates and special exclusives on products that benefit cancer prevention charities.

However, you can also start a GoFundMe or create your own fundraiser to donate to the cause. These can be shared via a link to any site that you wish.

2. Post Progress Under #LetItGrow

There are multiple hashtags that you can use to post your progress during the month. This is all part of raising awareness, so now is the time to show off your beard selfies.

Beard Brothers for No Shave November
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFGF-C5H54Z/

Here are a few popular hashtags to attach to your posts:

  • #NoShave
  • #NoShaveNovember
  • #LetItGrow
  • #Beard
  • #BeardGang
  • #BeardsofInstagram
  • #BeardLife

Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Snapchat are great places to show off your beard growth and join in with groups who are already posting their beard selfies.

Remember to also add the blue ribbon for men’s health awareness and prostate cancer awareness.

No Shave November awareness ribbon is blue.
The awareness ribbon for No Shave November is the color blue.

3. The Manscaping Tools You Need

Some interpret No Shave November as a “no grooming at all” month. However, that’s actually not necessary, particularly if you have work restrictions.

The rules do ask that you “put down your razor for 30 days,” but it’s also perfectly acceptable to groom and trim your beard or even shave your back. If you’ve never grown a beard before, you may want to invest in some of these tools to make your life easier:

  • Electric beard trimmer or a high-quality razor
  • Beard wash
  • Beard brush
  • Beard oil
  • Trimming shears
  • Beard shaper tool

Not all of these are necessary for getting through the month, but it can be fun to create a long beard style or full beard style to support this cause.

4. Use Beard Oil

One of the best things you can do for your skin and hair when growing a beard is to apply beard oil. These are products made from fine oils like jojoba oil, argan oil, and tea tree oil. They infuse vitamins and minerals into your beard hair for a shiny, healthy finish.

5. Brush Your Beard

This cause is truly about raising awareness through growing out your beard hair. When you have a long beard, brushing it out is a great idea to show the length and thickness. You can use a boar bristle brush to straighten and soften your beard hair with a daily brushing.

6. Wash and Condition

With longer beards, you’ll need to pay attention to cleanliness. We suggest getting a high-quality beard wash that won’t dry out your skin.

7. Resist Shaving

Growing out your beard can lead to dreaded beard itch, but there are a few products that quickly clear this up.

These products should make your beard hair more manageable and relieve the itch fast.

8. Make Your Donation

Finally, the best way to have an impact and spread awareness is to simply make any kind of donation to support cancer research and prevention during November.

If you’re not able to make a donation, just remember to link to fundraising pages that you support. You can include these in your social media profile and take selfies with captions that link back to your favorite charities.

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AUTHOR

I'm the founder of Bald & Beards, an amateur barber and I've been obsessed with men's grooming, styles, and trends for over 20 years.