Bloomberg Interview with Movember CEO

http://www.bloomberg.com/video/845k-people-raised-126-3m-for-movember-in-2011-MMRAl7PAQwe1ZY_Jp1nTFw.html

Join in the fun.  Hey, it's for a great cause.

Grow a 'mo.

Brandon

Movember Team: Midwest Moustache Alliance

Now that Brandon has set up our Movember team, Midwest Moustache Alliance, we're open for business.  Number one priority right now is recruitment.  We want the Midwest Moustache Alliance to grow; in membership, moustache, and donations.  The more guys and gals we can get on board, the bigger our reach...so a quick promotion:

I have 4 VIP Lounge tickets to the Taste of St. Louis (http://www.tastestl.com) for Sunday, September 29th up for grabs ($50 value/ea). 

First 4 guys or gals(not counting me or Brandon) to sign up for Movember and team Midwest Moustache Alliance (here's our team page:  http://us.movember.com/team/429145) will get the tix.  Be sure to sign up soon, these tickets should go quick!


Cheers,

Brian

Movember is Live

Officially, Movember.com has opened their doors for business to kick off another Moustache Season.  The theme this year is Knowledge is Power - Moustache is King.  I love it!

This means that Midwest Moustache Alliance has registered as a team, and is seeking team members to help us be (on) the face of men's health.  Ideally, we would like to see a group of guys  - and ladies too! - join us in our fundraising efforts.  But perhaps more importantly, we would like to see people commit to growing the 'stache during the month of Movember.  This will create the conversations that are so crucial to encouraging our friends, family, colleagues, and community to see a doctor regularly and take proper precautions to catch diseases and cancers as early as possible.  Don't be shy about joining our group if you're from out West or Back East.  You can spread the good word and make a difference from anywhere.  Check out www.movember.com to get to know the cause.  Talk to me or Brian if you have any questions.

As more details become available, we will let you know about awareness and fundraising events that the Midwest Moustache Alliance will be hosting.  We plan to have a lot of fun with this, in addition bringing as much financial support as we can to the cause.

So, who's with us?! Grow a mo! Brandon

I'm Glad You Asked

“I’m glad you asked.”  That is what I’m prepared to say when someone asks, “what is going on with your moustache?”  I need a prepared statement that is more than just, “I’m growing it to raise awareness for men’s health.”  I thought having some statistics in my back pocket would help keep the conversation going and hopefully this will lead in to a conversation that results in, “I’m going to call my doctor to schedule a physical.” I think that’s an easier sell to most than “call your doctor, get a prostate exam.”  Your doctor can recommend whether or not you need to take this next step…here’s what to expect if he/she finds it necessary (exam).

A few statistics about prostate cancer (thank you, webmd.com):

·         80% of men will carry prostate cancer cells in their lifetime

·         1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer

·         1 in 36 will die from the disease

·         Nearly 100% of men diagnosed early, while the cancer is local to the prostate will live 5 years or more. (10-year survival rate = 91%, 15-year survival rate = 76%)

Most of us are going to hear the word “Cancer” and “Prostate” in the same sentence at some point in our lives, but if you get checked out and it’s caught early, you have a much better chance of living until you die from something else like heart disease or freak accident, which rank 1 and 3, respectively (all cancer is #2).

We all know about heart disease and what we can do to help prevent it.  Diet, exercise, avoid alcohol, don’t smoke, get enough sleep, etc. help to prevent heart disease and most other diseases, but how do you prevent freak accidents?  Three things come to mind:

·         Hire a professional to clean your gutters

·         Don’t drive like an idiot

·         Don’t tell inappropriate stories about your wife…(artificially forced) segue…

“I’m glad you asked.” That’s close to “Funny you should ask,” which was my lead-in when my daughter’s little friend asked why we had a bottle with a cork in it on our window sill.  I flatly told her that it was a captured fart that Mrs. Lyons let back in 2002.  We’ve kept it all these years…don’t open it, it will kill us all.  I could tell that at first she was trying to process how we could possibly capture a fart in a bottle, then why would we do such a thing, and eventually disgusted by the idea.  Both girls looked at my wife with twisted faces – “Is he telling the truth?” She just shook her head.  Worth the small percentage increase that I may die from an “accident”.

Cheers,

Brian

My Moustache Heroes

A couple more moustache heroes need to be highlighted.  Inspired by Brian's post, I will follow suit.  I, too, am blessed to have fathers in my life that are now, or have been, living the moustachiod American lifestyle.

First, my dad, Wayne.  I can hardly remember many days when my dad had a completely clean shaven face.  It was seasonal, though, his beard efforts.  Smooth in the summer, wiry in the winter.  Each time a new Spring would roll around, the fresh face would emerge from it's cloak of a rugged beard.  I admired the both the practicality and the execution of it all.  At some point during my high school days, though, we both made an effort at a goatee.  His was better.  That is all that needs to be said.  And he's never looked back since then... until a recent road trip to Louisville took us to the Derby City Chop Shop www.derbycitychopshop.com for straight razor shaves.  (Highly recommend this spot.) Thus, the fu manchu was born!

Perched atop my parents' old dresser was the wedding photo the elicited a snicker or muffled chuckle even when I was 10 years old. I remember the beard he rocked and that brown suit very vividly.  I'm not sure if he was joking, but I've heard him say he wants to be buried in that suit.  Which is good because my mother says if he's caught wearing it again, he's a dead man.  All in good fun!

Next, my father-in-law, Steve.  He had donned the same glorious moustache for a full 40 years until last Spring.  Your read that right! Count them... one two three four decades.  In fact, his wife had never seen him without it.  Not once.  It is still hard not to picture him with golden locks on his upper lip.  It was iconic.  Anything that stands the test of time to the tune of 40 years, deserves legen...

wait for it...

... dary status.

Here's to two more great moustaches!

Grow a 'mo.

Brandon

Choose Your Moustache Hero

My Dad, Les

This is my dad(circa 1982).  He was my athletic hero growing up.  He could run 2 miles in 10 minutes, knock down any shot on the basketball court, and dial in a 4 iron within two feet of the pin.  He was a master at any competition and borderline folk hero.  I also remember his intermittent moustache vividly.  He would rock it for a couple of weeks – because it was cool, but couldn’t stay committed because it drove him crazy.  I think this will be the challenge for me in Movember; letting the moustache go all out.  I mentioned before one of the reasons I casually keep a beard is to carve it into a moustache for family photos – primarily on my wife’s side of the family.  Letting it go all natural and full will be a challenge, but I hope to power through and get something more like my father-in-law, affectionately known as Papa Joe.

Papa Joe

This man fears no stache, mutton chop, beard, side burn, goatee, or Fu Manchu. He will knock out a Mark Twain mop and wear it proud. This man is my moustache hero, no question about it.  My moustache can only aspire to be more like him. Here’s to you Papa Joe and may you rock out with your moustache out. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that you will be the man with the moustache of the month in Movember.

Men, choose your moustache hero.  I've got mine and he's a pretty big deal.

Cheers,

Brian

Upgrade your shave

Movember, being outwardly dedicated to the craft of growing your own mouth mop, can be about other things, too.  For example, in order to have a great nose nuzzler, you're going to need to shave around it.  Carve it out, if you will.  Movember is a good time to get your shave den in order and re-think how you approach the task.

 

About this time last year, fed up with grinding the 'ol electric razor across my face, I turned to an old school solution.  If it was good enough for my grandfather, it should be good enough for me!  So, armed with a modicum of information - like knowing enough karate to get beat up - I acquired the neccessary equipment to get started with a double-ended safety razor.  Among my weapons of choice, is a 1956 Gillette Fatboy I found at an antique mall in Warson Woods, MO. Gotta love vintage.

A badger hair brush, some good shaving creams and soaps, a variety of razor blades, and a handful of after shaves entered my life and changed the way I looked at the ritual of stubble removal.  What was once an experience I would call aggravating and irritating at best was transformed into my favorite part of the day.  Nothing beats a four-pass, luxurious, baby-butt-smooth shave to start the day.



If you're curious about the process of giving yourself a real shave like your grandpappy used to, check out www.badgerandblade.com. Everything you need to know to get started is there.  And if you really get into it, perhaps you'll consider donating the money you'll save by not having to purchase expensive disposable Mach 13 blades, to the Movember team at Midwest Moustache Alliance.  You'll thank me later.

Grow a 'mo!

Brandon

Follicular Marketing

It’s unfortunate that moustaches have fallen out of favor.  One of the reasons I casually keep a beard is to shave it off, leaving a well-groomed fu manchu for family photos.  I do this to humor myself and drive my wife crazy, which adds to the humoring.  She knows the lifespan of my moustache is short, yet will still look me square in the moustache and demand its removal.  She wins and I'll head into the workweek cleanly shaven.  I've observed that most men who can seriously pull them off have been sporting the lip sweater for over a decade (thank you, Chuck Norris).  You can look these guys in the eye – not the moustache.  Whereas you can take an image of Kip Dynamite and not even notice he's wielding twin sais because you can't get past the strip on his upper lip.


It’s the Y Generation that can somehow grow a beard without their pals, girlfriends, or wives raising an eyebrow – but trim everything but the cookie duster and you can’t walk through Dierberg’s without moms holding on to their kids.  I guess this is why the moustache, when grown on anyone less than 50 years of age is the perfect marketing tool.  It’s an attention grabber and a conversation starter.  That’s the goal for Movember – starting the conversation and raising awareness for men’s health.

Cheers,

Brian

Practice

Practice makes perfect, right?  Sure, I know my beard will grow, rain or shine, day and night.  But to mentally prepare myself joining the moustachioed American lifestyle, I set about avoiding dragging the razor over my upper lip.  By the end of 5 days time, a starter moustache was revealed to me, and my poor unsuspecting family.  Not quite the real thing.  Probably just enough stubble to generate phone calls from nervous parents and faculty near elementary schools.  Yet not quite enough to just waltz right onto the Glendale Police Department without at least a fitness test.  And I assume they would want to see how I look in aviator style sunglasses.











I learned a few things in my brief effort.  First, that time is my enemy.  Or friend.  Depends on how I look at it.  On the one hand, I must grow a moustache only for the month of Movember.  Relief!  On the other, I have but one short month to sport a formidable fu manchu.  Might not be enough time.  Worry!

Progress was made, no matter how you shave it, though.  There is no question about it, it will serve as a fine conversation starter.  That is one of the biggest goals of Movember, so I have confidence that the Midwest Moustache Alliance will do a nice job changing the face of men's health one upper lip at a time.

Grow a 'mo!
Brandon