His 'Movember' Mustache Pays More Than Lip Service to a Cause [Photos]

Encino Patch recently a charity that encourages supporters to grow mustaches during the month of November to raise money and awareness for men's cancers, particularly prostate cancer.

One local participant is Encino resident Tony Caruso, who has been growing his mustache since Nov. 1, and is recording its evolution from fuzzy to furry in photographs.

Caruso told Patch he initially became involved in Movember because he lost his mother to breast and bone cancer. He said he became very supportive of women's breast cancer charities and organizations, and then realized that "men do get left out" when it comes to cancer awareness.

"Our mustache is our ribbon," he said. "It's that talk starter, it sparks a conversation about it."

Caruso said that he learned through Movember that one in six men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer during their lifetimes, and that one man dies every 15.6 minutes from the disease. He added that Movember participants hope to raise awareness and spur men to visit their doctors to get checked for prostate cancer annually.

In 2010, Movember raised $7.5 million for the Prostate Cancer Foundation and Livestrong and had 64,500 participants, according to Movember spokesperson Traci Coulter, who added that there are Movember campaigns worldwide.

Caruso has joined his mustache-growing endeavors with those of friends and colleagues; in total, he said, they've raised over $6,000 so far through donations to the team's Movember page.

For Caruso, growing a mustache is not too much of a hardship.

"I’m a fan of facial hair in general," he said, adding, "My wife doesn’t appreciate my mustache but she let me have it for this month. I get to have a good time with it."

Caruso has been dutifully taking photographs of his daily mustache growth since Nov. 3. Click on the photo gallery above to track its progress, and for daily updates, right up until Nov. 30, when Caruso's facial hair will be revealed in its final glory.

For more information on Movember, click here to visit the organization's website.