No Shave November - The Collegian

Kiersten Kiene

kiene1@tritons.iowacentral.edu

No Shave November—The best things that’s happened to girls since 1920

It’s November. We all know what that means...beards, mustaches, chinstraps, and more beards. That’s right, it’s No Shave November. For the fun of it I’m going to call it NSN from now on. NSN is this totally awesome month were boys have an excuse to not touch their face with scissors or razors. I’m going to admit it, facial hair on a guy is like the touch of God upon such beautiful faces already. Well, as long as it is neatly kept and doesn’t look like their first growth of facial hair. (When freshman boys in highschool think it is the greatest thing and just let everything grow in different places, very patchy. Unacceptable in college, I will not stand for it.)

But wait. Why does such an awesome thing like this even exist in a world full of hate and judgement? There is an actual website out there to explain what NSN is and what it’s for. No-shave.org tells all about such a beautiful thing, “The goal of No-Shave November is to grow awareness by embracing our hair, which many cancer patients lose, and letting it grow wild and free.  Donate the money you usually spend on shaving and grooming for a month to educate about cancer prevention, save lives, and aid those fighting the battle.” So wait.. boys can grow out their hair, look good, and have such a good reason to do so?? How wonderful, everybody should participate. Hey, what about us girls? One of the worst things about being a girl is shaving legs. I absolutely dislike, hate, despise, detest, loathe even the thought of trying to perfectly groom my legs in a shower the size of refrigerator. That may seem like enough room, but believe me, it’s not. Unless you are the size of a stick and haven’t eaten a hamburger full of cheese and bacon in the last four years, it is almost impossible. There is no sitting (unless you want butt fungus from roommates), there is no stretching out of the legs, there is no comfortable way to get every nook and cranny, in and around when shaving legs in the dorm showers. Are girls expected to look perfect everyday when given the quite small bathrooms we have here at college? That discussion will be for another day. But for real, can girls participate in NSN?? I have done it before, senior year of high school, it was the greatest thing. No cheerleading competitions, pants everyday, no shaving. I went the entire month without shaving my legs and it was by far one of my best life decisions to this point. Nobody saw my legs. I wore pants everyday, even at practices. So who cares what I do and don’t do to my legs? Even no-shave.org says I can, “Participate by growing a beard, cultivating a mustache, letting those legs get mangly, and skipping that waxing appointment.  Give back even more by picking up some sweet merchandise to show your support.  If you're not ready to sport a new shaggy look, consider donating anyway to support the cause.” See?!? We can ‘let those legs get magly’ and ‘skip waxing!’ Oh thank the good Lord, sweet Jesus! I can once again participate in NSN, having an excuse to do so is even better and one of the most awesome things, ever. So come on girls, let that leg hair grow out, wear pants everyday, who cares what anyone else thinks or says? This is your life, not theirs. Besides, two years from now, nobody is going to give two shits that you participated in NSN. In fact, they will probably start doing it too. So lets start now, join the revolution. But most importantly, skip the razor and stand up for cancer!