18 Nov Skip Shaving – Save Time, Save Lives and Save the Earth!

The popular No Shave November campaign that has so many dudes looking pretty scraggly by mid-month now has multiple positive ecological impacts, in addition to the awareness for men to get screened for cancer. My brother Robbie has participated for years but I just learned that women are invited to participate too!

The goal is to grow awareness by "embracing our hair, which many cancer patients lose" and the organizers ask participants to donate the money they usually spend on shaving and grooming for a month to educate about cancer prevention, save lives, and aid those fighting the battle.

As a social networking model it is brilliant. The idea is that guys not normally sporting facial hair will elicit comments from their friends (I'll leave the female version out of this for the moment – most people don't see my legs in November) giving them an opening to mention something about getting cancer screening and the fact that it only takes a few minutes, saves lives, etc.

The time you spend not shaving on day one could be used to set an appointment for your screening. The time you would have spent the rest of the week shaving will make up for the time it takes to drive to the screening and get it done. The rest of the month you just save time… maybe catch a few more minutes of shut-eye.

So as for the environmental benefits of No Shave November, the most the obvious are:

• Water conservation – At at time when "drought of record" and "persistent droughts" are being bandied about, an personal choices that lead to less faucet use is helpful.

• Fewer chemicals being manufactured and used & fewer chemicals being sent to our wastewater treatment plants for processing – The chemical soup that is in most mainstream toiletries are to be avoided. Despite the fact that we absorb chemicals through our skin, the government does not require testing for toiletries for safety. If you want to green your grooming routine check out products like Dr. Bronner's which won greenest business in America a few years back and review other options compiled by Environmental Working Group. They have some amazing consumer guides and a database with 79,000 products that can help you figure out which are the safer options. Did you you know that some of the ingredients in male grooming products "are specifically linked to male reproductive system disorders". Look at this chart from EWG's Top Tips for Safer Products:

When it comes to razors, the remember the mantra: reduce, reuse, recycle. In this case, reducing your shaving has the greatest effect. Fewer disposable blades and razors, less product and less water. If you do choose to shave you still have options of reusable handles or ones that are reusable and recyclable like Preserve. Much like the Rayovac battery double standard for European and US markets, Bic offers disposible razor recycling in Europe but not here.

Having spent a lot of time with my mother in a hospital this last month (not cancer related, thankfully) I can attest that being in a hospital is about the least green place one can be.  For sanitation reasons nearly everything is single-use and disposable. I thought if I watched one more person walk in my mom's room and don a full length plastic gown and gloves to talk with her for one minute and then tear it off throw it in the trash while walking out of the room I was going to pull my hair own out!

Without any more of the details of hospital life let's just agree that avoiding sickness is good for people and the planet. ANYTHING that helps people avoid pain and suffering associated with cancer (or any other illness) as well as hospital time (that means screenings, folks) is a GOOD and GREEN thing.