All Hair Breaks Loose: Ferndale Cops Grow Beards, Mustaches for Cancer Research

FERNDALE, MI —Things are getting hairy around the Ferndale police station. In a good way. Ferndale police are about to let all hair break loose and grow beards and mustaches in support of No-Shave November, which kicks off Nov. 1. The idea behind No-Shave November: Let your hair grow for the entire month and donate the dough you would have spent on razors and shave gel to cancer research.

It’s a fun way to raise valuable research dollars and inspire more people to talk about and fight cancer.

And this year, Ferndale police are kicking their No-Shave November challenge up a notch with a friendly competition with the Hazel Park police. At the end of the month, independent judges will award prizes for “best” and “least best” beard/mustaches. Bring on the beard blitz!

So, how’s it looking for Ferndale police? Ferndale Sgt. Baron Brown reveals that “Last year we had 21 officers fully involved and I expect we’ll have at least that number this year.”

It turns out that letting your hair down — all of it — - is a total change for officers, who’ve been clean-shaven their entire careers, as the police force bans facial hair. So do Ferndale police prefer mustaches, beards or both?

According to Brown “Most of the guys do both. Growing facial hair is outside of the box for us. Guys either let it go crazy or are going crazy not shaving it every day.” Brown joked, “I guess technically I’m going to grow a mustache, beard or both. If you can call them that. Mine are pretty weak.”

You can keep up with Ferndale police’s No-Shave November progress by following their Twitter. They’ll post before, during and after photos with the hashtag #ReadySetGrow

Photo by talksrealfast via Flickr Commons