New Brunswick man takes Movember campaign to a whole new level with bright pink moustache

Taking things to a whole new level, Brad Friars is hoping to spark an important conversation with his freshly dyed, bright pink moustache.

“I find that it's really difficult to find men that openly talk about mental health struggles,” said Friars. “I, myself, struggle with anxiety and ADHD, so it's really, really important to me to get the awareness out there and to accept that people struggle.”

His new look is all in support of Movember. With the campaign just days away from wrapping up, Friars wanted to keep the conversation at the forefront.

“This year I decided to put my face on the line,” he said.

This is actually the third transformation for Friars this month alone. He started with a monkey "stache," which only lasted for one day. Following that, once he raised $250, he bleached his moustache blonde.

"It gives the 'in' for people to ask questions about why you have a blonde moustache, what you're doing about it and then it gives you a way to openly speak about it and spread more awareness,” he said.

On Wednesday, he made his most drastic change to date, when his moustache took on a whole new colour.

Now painted pink, hair stylist Becky LeBlanc jumped on board to support Friars and Movember as a whole. 

"I don't have a lot of money, I can't donate a bunch of stuff, but something I can do is action and time,” she said. “It's really close to my heart. I have a 10-year-old son. Mental health is really important to me, period." 

“We all need to work together as a community and that’s where healing starts, by building a community.”

LeBlanc dyed Friars moustache for free and says it’s important to show that people do support mental health needs in men.

“Honestly, it was an honour for him to come to me and purpose this. It warms my heart that someone thought of me in this position and was like, ‘You know what, Becky can do that and she would love to do that,’” she said.

This year marks the 16^th annual Movember campaign across Canada and officials say, although a lot has changed, there is still more to be done.

“One in eight men in Canada will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their life time. On the mental health side, three to four people in Canada who die by suicide are men, so a lot of work that needs to be done to support the men in our lives still,” said Shane DeMerchant, Movember Senior Community Manager.

He says that through the annual fundraiser, Movember has supported around 300 men’s health programs right across Canada.

“As someone like myself who just became a dad for the first time in the last couple of years, I had my son who was born in 2019. So, he’s a three-year-old. I think there’s still a lot of work for us to do in terms of changing the landscape of men’s health for the next generation,” he said.

“We talk about changing the face of men’s health, both literally and figuratively, and we want to make sure for guys who are coming up now, they can be leaders in this men’s health conversation.” 

Movember goes towards prostate and testicular cancer, as well as men’s mental health.

“The power of the moustache is that it creates conversation, it allows guys to open up and it almost gives permission, gives them permission to have conversations they wouldn’t maybe otherwise feel comfortable having,” said DeMerchant.

Although he says there is still more to be done, DeMerchant says it’s people like Friars who really help breakdown barriers and make room for these important conversations. 

“Part of the power of the moustache is that it is our hairy ribbon. We’re kind of walking, talking, billboards for men’s health during the month and stories like Brad’s are my favourite stories where people are going above and beyond and dedicating their faces to the cause of men’s health during the month,” he said.

As for Friars, he’s upped the ante once again. He says now if he can raise $1,000 by the end of the month, his new pink "stache" will be dyed rainbow. As of Thursday, Friars had raised nearly $700.