Formerly known as winter, Beard Season is a melanoma awareness movement encouraging guys to grow a beard from June 1st to August 31st and to get a skin check with their GP. The beard is then there to spark conversation and inspire others to do the same.
Jimmy Niggles, Beard Season ambassador and CEO, founded the movement in 2010 after his mate, Wes Bonny, died from a melanoma. Since then the challenge has grown into a global movement. As Jimmy says, “We now have ambassadors in over 24 countries, (have) amassed a community of over 80,000 people and (have) gained millions in earned media.”
“But by far our proudest achievement is that we now potentially save a life a week.”
Testimony to Jimmy’s hard work is the number of Australian men who have jumped on board (from Chris Hemsworth to Hamish Blake to – hopefully – your neighbours and mates). In fact, even Richard Branson has got involved in recent years.
This – and the steadily growing ‘beard season’ hashtag (which has been posted to Instagram 248,738 times and counting) – suggests men worldwise are neglecting their razors in unprecedented numbers.
Of course, the important aspect to this movement is the health. However, the ‘beard season’ hashtag, which has seen an uptick in America and Europe (two places where, as time and time again, we’ve seen Australian style and grooming trends originate) also suggests some interesting new trends could soon be seen on Aussie mens’ faces in the coming months.
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To spare you the scrolling, we’ve picked out The Big Three beard types from Europe and America’s winter just gone, which we’ve seen crop up post and post again, and which we’d bet our rusty razor will soon be seen in the antipodes.
The Viking by day, f*ckboi by night
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The mountain goat
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The ‘what I lack up top I make up for down below’
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View this post on Instagram
Moving away from trends, the following post, featuring Mike Goldman, the host of Big Brother AU, which Beard Season recently posted to their Instagram page, proves how the movement is more than just fluff.
If you are interested in joining yourself, founder Jimmy says there are two ways to join: “If you’re super committed, you can sign up as a #BeardSeasonAmbassador and grow your beard – using it as a life saving conversation starter – challenging as many people as you can to get a #BeardSeasonSkincheck.”
Otherwise, “you can sign up as a #BeardSeasonGardener, and tend to the facial follicles of your friends’ – starting a team on our website and making sure your (proxy) beards are growing strong.”
Follicular glory (and a safer face) awaits.