Facial expression
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on November 26, 2014 1:46 PM
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MOUNT OLIVE -- It's manly, it's intimidating, and yes -- people will make comments about it.
Matt Shields, a member of the University of Mount Olive's men's lacrosse team, grew a handlebar mustache for "No Shave November," or "Movember," as some call it.
And he didn't even need to use wax.
"I just give it a little twist here and there and it grows like that naturally," he said.
His teammate, Curtis McMullen, said that he and his two defensive line teammates, Luke Morris and John Williams, decided to grow beards throughout the season to be more intimidating when facing off against offensive linemen on the field.
"When you have a defensive lineman barreling at you with a beard, it's definitely more intimidating," Williams said.
While coach Michael Murphy might take a crack at the bearded team members every now and again about their beards, Shields said the majority of comments come from elsewhere.
"After a game, when we're shaking hands with everyone, guys definitely say something about it," Shields said. "They'll be like, 'Sweet 'stache,' or something like that."
Spencer Gelinas, Eddie Henderson and Niko May also all grew beards for No Shave November, but said they plan on keeping them at least until the end of the season.
No Shave November's origin has been traced to Australia in 2004 when a group of approximately 30 men decided to grow full beards for 30 days during the month of November, dubbing it "No Shave November," in order to raise awareness for prostate cancer and male depression.
Men opted to grow either full beards or only mustaches during this time period.
From their effort, the Movember Foundation was born.
Toms shoe brand embraced the trend, releasing multiple pairs of shoes during the month of November that have tiny mustaches on the heel. The trend has also been turned into a swath of Internet memes, such as "Overly Manly Man."
But no matter the reason, many men sport facial hair each November in some capacity.
In theory, money usually spent on shaving and grooming products is saved and donated to cancer foundations while men grow and embrace the hair that cancer patients no longer can.
But McMullen said it's more simple than that.
"It's sweet," he said. "It's manly."