Some of us are no strangers to No-Shave November. No-Shave November is a month-long journey during which participants forgo shaving and grooming in order to evoke conversation and raise cancer awareness. It started as something for men to raise awareness for prostate cancer by letting their beards grow out all month long, but it’s 2019 and we don’t play by those rules anymore. No-Shave November can be for everybody.

In the spirit of No-Shave November, I’m taking a look at body hair that everybody has – the pubes.

Men and women both have it and have our own grooming preferences. For women, I’ve heard everything from how pubic hair shouldn’t be groomed because if the body grew it, it must be there for a reason to how it needs to be waxed on a regular basis to stay hygienic. Just who’s actually got their hair facts straight?

Contrary to some beliefs, pubic hair actually serves a purpose.

Reducing friction
The skin on your genital region is delicate. Pubic hair acts like a protective buffer, reducing friction during sex and other activities. Some sources even refer to pubic hair as a “dry lubricant.” That’s because it’s easier to rub hair against hair than it is to rub skin against skin.

Protection from bacteria and other pathogens
Pubic hair serves a similar function to eyelashes or nose hair. That is, it traps dirt, debris, and potentially harmful microorganisms. In addition, hair follicles produce sebum, an oil that actually prevents bacteria from reproducing.

Your pubic hair protects against certain infections, including:

• cellulitis
• sexually transmitted infections (STIs)
• urinary tract infections (UTIs)
• vaginitis
• yeast infections

Signals reproductive ability
This one’s pretty useless but pubic hair appears at puberty. It’s a physical sign of sexual maturity one’s ability to reproduce.

Pheromone transmission
Another theory links pubic hair to the transmission of pheromones or scent-carrying chemical secretions that affect mood and behavior. Pheromones are secreted from apocrine sweat glands. Compared to other areas of the body, the pubic region has a lot of these glands. Therefore, as the theory goes, pubic hair may trap pheromones, increasing how attractive we appear to potential sex partners even though we spend over USD 500 billion a year on the beauty industry to eliminate our natural body odor and chance our appearance with makeup.

So, here’s the question. With obvious advances on personal hygiene, do we still need to keep our down their hair?

No. Waxing and shaving is a norm for men and women. It’s all based on your personal preference. Whether you’re going for a full Brazilian, landing strip, trimming the hedges, growing a wild bush, it’s all perfectly normal. In other words, you do you.

Shaving and Waxing

The two most common methods of hair removal are shaving and waxing. There’s also laser, creams, and threading but for most of us, it’s still the classic wax vs. shave.

Shaving is the easiest method. You can do it every time you shower, but the downside is that your hair ends up growing back pretty quickly. You’re also supposed to keep your razor blades fresh and new, and from personal experience, I can tell you that I’ve got too much going on in my life to remember to change my razor blazes regularly. Occasionally I’d end up with dull razors blades and lot of razor burns.

Waxing is a more care-free method. Sure it hurts (and don’t believe anyone who tries to convince you otherwise), but you don’t need to worry about it for weeks. Waxing can get pretty pricy but when it comes to your hoo-hoo health, don’t cheap out. It should go without saying that the wax applicator stick should be thrown away after each use, but there are salons in Beijing that don’t follow this rule. Don’t ever, ever, ever use a waxing place that doesn’t voluntarily throw away sticks after each application. If you need to ask them to do it, chances are that hot pot of wax has been previously double dipped. Point out that it’s an unacceptable sanitation practice and leave.

Photos: unsplash, giphy, totallysororitymove.com
Source: https://no-shave.org/, https://www.healthline.com/health/purpose-of-pubic-hair#primary-purpose

It’s that time of the year again folks! When leaves start to change, we trade in our tank tops for sweaters, and men all over the world grow out their mustaches for a good cause. That’s right, it’s Movember! Or as it’s more commonly known here in Beijing, Maovember; a playful little portmanteau that combines the international title for the fundraising effort and the ‘mao,’ a coin worth one-tenth of the yuan.

The idea behind calling this month-long event Maovember is not only to work a little Beijing flavor into the mix, but rather to suggest that even the smallest donations can add up to big results. Put another way, enough small change equals pretty big change.

This year, the volunteers behind Maovember have teamed up with The Library Project, an organization that, since its founding in 2006, has furnished more than 2,000 libraries with books, tables, chairs, and shelves. Maovember is dedicated to working with groups that display the utmost transparency so that participants can see tangible results from the work they do and the money they raise. Last year, this resulted in a delivery van and baking equipment being donated to Bread of Life, an organization that employs orphans who suffer from brittle bone disease. 

Although the festivities will be raging — and the funds a’ raising — all month long, Maovember officially kicks off this Friday, Nov 1 with a launch party at Hulu in Sanlitun (S4-32, Taikoo Li South, Sanlitun, Chaoyang). Beginning at 6.30pm, folks are invited to the “Terrace Party,” where for RMB 150, they’ll get one hot drink or wine, a 2019 Maovember pin, and snacks, with more drinks available throughout the night. Of course, all the money for this event will be going to The Library Project. What’s more, there’ll be games to round the whole thing out, with the chance to win boozy prizes to boot!

It would be great to start this celebration off strong, with a big turnout at Hulu, but if you can’t make it that evening, fear not. Maovember will be running all month long with a number of restaurants, bars, suppliers, and customers joining together for the good cause. Each event will feature food and drink deals, as well as fun activities such as beer or wine tastings, quiz nights, and sporty contests, with all proceeds going to The Library Project. There’s also plenty of other ways to support, such as purchasing an official Maovember pin (RMB 50), spreading the word on social media, or making a direct contribution to the The Library Project.

To RSVP for the Maovember-Hulu Terrace Party launch event, email nihao@maovember.com.

For more information about The Library Project, click here.

Photos: Pixabay, Maovember Organizers, The Library Project

Movember began as a joke in 2003 among some friends in Melbourne, Australia to bring the moustache back in fashion. For the month of November participants, called Mo’s, would be sponsored to grow a moustache. It proved so popular, that as a result the Movember Foundation was created and since 2003 has raised huge amounts of money, with funds going towards four key areas: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and – new for this year – physical inactivity. Research shows that a sedentary lifestyle increases your risk of cancer and many other diseases, and this year’s campaign is committed to raising awareness on the dangers of physical inactivity.

While most men (and some women) across the world will be growing a moustache and doing sponsored exercise during November, the main campaign here in Beijing will be done a little differently. You can still grow a ‘tache but it’s more about getting yourself along to various fundraising events and making a donation. Last year the Maovember campaign raised enough money to fund 131 cataract surgeries for men in rural China. There is a dearth of men’s charities in China, so for the team behind Maovember, it made sense to once again back Orbis for their 2015 campaign.

If you’re ready to take up the challenge, then put that razor down today. To keep you motivated and to keep the donations for Orbis coming in, here are just a few of the events planned for Maovember 2015:

November 8
The official launch of Pop-Up’s bar will double as a Maovember fundraiser.

November 11
One of the top three fundraisers last year, Paddy O’Shea’s is back with a charity quiz.

November 14
Find a partner, pay your team fee, get yourself to Irish Volunteer and try your luck at tossing beanbags into a hole in a board about 50 feet away.

November 18
Last year Q-Mex had a charity quiz, a raffle, and billiards competition, so expect some of the same shenanigans this year.

November 21
Jing-A Taproom will be putting their usual creative touches on this year’s Maovember activities.

November 25
Bungalow will bring you tiki drink specials, a limbo contest, and a Magnum P.I. themed “best ‘tache ever”.

November 28
Home Plate Barbecue will host a Mr. Maovember contest.

December 01
This year’s campaign will be brought to an end at Paddy O’Shea’s.

beijingkids Shunyi Correspondent Sally Wilson moved to Beijing in 2010 from the UK with her husband and son. Her daughter was born here in 2011 and both her kids keep her happily busy. In her spare time, Sally loves to stroll through Beijing’s hutongs and parks. She is a (most of the time) keen runner and loves reading: books, magazines, news, and celeb websites – anything really. Sally is also a bit of a foodie and loves trying out new restaurants.

Photos: Phil Long, Gerardo Obieta (Flickr)

After a humble beginning in 2013 that raised more than RMB 20,000, local charity event Maovember exploded in 2014 when it generated over RMB 100,000 in donations for eye health organization Orbis, with every RMB 800 raised representing cataract surgery for one recipient in rural China. As it gears up again, we spoke to Maovember co-founder and prime mover Jim Boyce about its roots and the plan for this year.

How did Maovember start?
Julian Tavalin and I were getting drunk at the Hilton wine fair two years ago. He was running Tavalin Bagels at the time and had some unsightly lip hair and we started talking about Movember, when guys grow mustaches during November to raise money for research into men’s health issues like prostrate cancer. I suggested a further word play and asked if he’d donate one "mao" — a tenth of a yuan — to charity for every bagel he sold in November. Maovember! It was also Halloween weekend and I remembered how in Canada kids dressed up and visited their neighbors to get treats as well as pennies for UNICEF. The idea of helping someone with lots of small donations sounded good.

Anyway, Tavalin agreed and some other bars, restaurants, and vendors soon signed up and we launched Maovember. We didn’t have enough time to find a reliable men’s health charity so the donation went to the Library Project. I had worked with them on Beers for Books and had faith the money would be well spent. We raised more than RMB 20,000, enough to furnish a library for a migrants’ school in Beijing.

Plus, we grew mustaches. Andrew Papas of Two Guys and a Pie had an especially dubious pie duster. He also turned out to be the ultimate salesman for our 50-kuai Maovember lapel pins — few people have the skill set to turn cynical and sloppy drunks into pin-buying softies at The Den at 3 AM. Anyway, Two Guys was kind of our unofficial headquarters and we ended the campaign on the last — and very cold — day of November by selling Vedett beer, with labels featuring pics of donors, and with a show by The Beijing Beatles, who were juiced up on CHEERS mulled wine, in its modest confines.

That was in 2013. What about 2014?If 2013 was a pencil ‘stache, 2014 was a full-fledged flavor saver with bonus sideburns. This time, there was a men’s health angle — George Smith, a part owner of The Irish Volunteer, works for Orbis and said we could fund cataract surgery for men in rural China at RMB 800 per operation. We also had a lot more events — over a dozen — and participating bars, restaurants and vendors. And it turned out many people were willing to donate RMB 800 to fund an operation. In the end, we raised over RMB 100,000, enough for more than 130 surgeries, including 60,000-plus from events, 20,000 from personal donations and 20,000 from pin sales.

How are the charities chosen?
The idea is to choose charities that show a visible result. We couldn’t find a men’s charity in time in 2013, so we teamed up with Library Project. Andrew Papas and I went to the partner school on the edge of Beijing to help put the tables, chairs, and shelves together, and stocked the shelves with books, so we saw the physical manifestation of the donations. Or maybe a more accurate way to describe it is that we figured we were going to some ribbon-cutting ceremony and ended up being given hammers and screwdrivers and set to work.

Last year, I tried to get in touch with the China branch of the Prostate Cancer Foundation several times–they didn’t respond until February! In the meantime, we connected with Orbis. George Smith provided photos and biographies for some of the guys we funded as well as the charity’s quarterly reports that list progress on the surgeries.

What are the challenges Maovember faces?
Like any project, it comes down to people. There will always have people who promise to help but don’t come through or who have hundreds of ideas but little interest in implementing them, but we’ve been lucky to team with a lot of people who want to do something good and believe in the cause.

We had great venue partners last year, particularly The Irish Volunteer, Paddy O’Shea’s and Jing-A — which also teamed up with Beijing Foodies, Home Plate and The Loca l– who raised the majority of the event money. But there were others who came out of the blue. At the risk of singling out some and being accused of ignoring others, I was surprised when Stefan Schober of Q-Mex got in touch about organizing a quiz night and even more so when it raised over RMB 3,500. Or when Teesh Law of Deli De Luxe, who I had only known a few weeks, agreed to sell hot chocolate and coffee for charity at The Turkey Bowl, an annual flag football game organized by Mash Up. One of my most vivid memories was seeing a taxi, its trunk loaded with full cups of coffee, driving at 10 km per hour around Chaoyang Park in search of a football field. That’s only a couple of examples. There are many more.

What’s planned for this year?
My suggestion is to focus on the basics, to be less concerned about beating last year’s donation total and more concerned about maintaining the spirit of the event and its focus on small businesses, transparent fundraising, and concrete results. My big worry is that as Maovember grows, so do the odds of something dodgy happening and reflecting poorly on everybody, one reason we were pretty picky about events last year. We also raise money through pin sales and it would be nice if the venues who sell them paid up front — we’re talking RMB 500 for 10 pins — as a lot of time was spent running around collecting money and unsold stock last year that would be better spent elsewhere. But mostly it’s about teamwork. I’m not even keen on doing interviews like this because there were literally hundreds of people involved last year, from bar owners to donors to — once again! — The Beijing Beatles. And why not get involved — most of us have our sight, and our health, and are lucky to be able to help.

Keep an eye on the Maovember website for more information.

Photo: Maovember/Jim Boyce

this post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on October 8, 2015