Starting on Sunday, Nov. 1, students across campus set aside their razors to let their hair grow wild. From scruffy mustaches to wild leg hair, patchy goatees to frayed neck beards, disheveled hair from head to toe, began making a common appearance around campus.
What once began with Plato as a way to praise Greek gods, the November tradition transitioned into something more applicable to our modern society when 30 Australian men grew out their hair in November of 2004 to raise awareness for cancer. Ever since, the movement has picked up steam, standing for something greater. And so, while the effects from a month of no shaving can be hilarious, disgusting or something in between, it’s important to realize what No Shave November tries to do — bring awareness to cancer by embracing the hair that many cancer patients lose. So the next time you see the long, all too common lip hair standing alone and protruding off a fellow Wolfpacker’s face, please do laugh out loud at the ridiculousness of it all, but also remember what the awkwardly long piece of hair is standing for.
As a student body, nearly all of us have felt, at one time or another, the effects of cancer, some more than others. However, as college students, we can often become sheltered, living in our own NC State bubble, forgetting how rampant cancer still is until it hits us directly. No Shave November attempts to penetrate our bubble, reminding us that while we may not be feeling the effects of cancer currently, we must continue to directly combat cancer before it’s too late for someone we love.
This year’s No Shave November comes at a particularly apt time in the cancer conversation, as a new report came out last week saying that the rate of breast cancer among black women has seen a large rise, drawing even with the rate in white women. What is even more troubling is the fact that black women have a higher rate of dying from breast cancer than white women. And, if all that disconcerting news wasn’t enough, throughout the last twenty years, cancer rates in America and the rest of the world have been growing dramatically, nearly doubling from 1995 to 2015.
Today, cancer touches more lives than it ever has before and, as students at a premier university, we must strive to learn and discover the tool and techniques to combat it. Even if cancer is not what calls you into action, there are thousands of other things that need the attention from our educated generation just as much as cancer does. As students studying and researching, we owe it to not just the rest of the world, but also ourselves, to use what we’re learning today to combat something as traumatic as cancer.
As a member of the Wolfpack, I’ve put down my razor this month not only to raise awareness for cancer, but also to state my commitment to use what I’m learning at NC State today to fight to make an aspect of the world better tomorrow. Because of this, whenever I see hair growing wild across someone’s body, I don’t just see a funny, hairy mess, but I also see a member of the Wolfpack confirming to themselves their promise to find something in our world that inspires them, and to use that inspiration to change both the world and their self for the better. I hope you’ll see the same thing.