Fionn McGorry | Blogger
I have never seen my father without a beard. The reason, I’m told, is that the last time he shaved it, my mother was reduced to tears. Though I wasn’t yet born, I have a vivid image of her collapsing into an armchair, face in her hands, wailing in her broad Australian accent “It’s just not Paddy, it’s just not Paddy.”
I open with this example merely to illustrate that facial hair conjures up and excites a variety of emotions. Some, like my mother, find that facial hair can truly change a person, forming an integral part of their countenance. We admire Dali moustaches or Handlebars, looking appreciatively on the effort people go to to adorn their faces. Some of us look fondly upon our bearded lecturers, likening them to Santa Claus or Dumbledore. Various celebrities become known for their lip furniture, and many would struggle to recognise a clean shaven Jonny Depp, Charlie Chaplin, or Freddie Mercury. Other people, however, dread every 1st of November, wincing at the varying states of kempt-ness and grooming that are certain to eventuate as a result of the recent phenomenon that is Movember. In my own experience, one will get fewer glances walking down a Dublin street dressed as a Zombie version of a deceased political figure than with a fledgling moustache.
We have a variety of terminologies for the growths that sprout from men’s mugs which are wholly negative. In Ireland, we chiefly use the term ronnie for the fluff that appears on the upper lip of boys and young men, perhaps originating from the actor Ronald Colman, who did indeed possess such a moustache. Ronnie is synonymous with immaturity, a boy wanting to be a man, an awkward time in a young man’s life. It is with a heavy heart, therefore, that I am to reclaim the term, by sporting a ronnie for at least a week, until the tea strainer currently resting on my upper lip fills out a little.
But why do Movember? Why, to change the face of Men’s Health, of course. Women’s cancers have laudably received increased levels of the attention necessary to raise awareness and encourage women to be vigilant in looking after their health, but many men can be very awkward about these things, myself included. Testicular cancers and prostate cancers have the unfortunate characteristic of being in locations many men aren’t keen to be prodded in. Men’s mental health is a similarly under-discussed topic, with men often being unwilling to discuss their mental health. Movember has been helping to raise awareness of the necessity of vigilance to look after our health and ensure we are able to discuss our health and claim sovereignty over it.
I have watched as men around me have grown moustaches in previous years, and looked on with mirth as some of them have made an early start in early October so as to be properly moustachioed by the beginning of November. This process is, in my opinion, helping to subconsciously raise the profile of men’s health, and do it in a way that has style and panache. I am now five days in, and I believe a healthy caterpillar is being encouraged to prosper. How I will end up shaping my moustache I’m not entirely sure, but I think I shall be adopting a Clark Gable mo’, as a month isn’t long enough to produce a Dali on my face. I shall be documenting the dear thing’s progress once a week, and you can share with me my fan-tache-tic Movember. Check out my Mospace at the link below. As you can see, I need all the help I can get.
@fionnmcgorry
