Moustache tips from the MP who knows

(Sean Kilpatrick/Canadian Press)

It's Nov. 10. How thick is YOUR moustache?

That's right. We're 10 days into Movember, the month-long initiative during which clean- shaven men across the country grow moustaches and seek sponsors to raise money for Prostate Cancer Canada.

Sounds easy enough.

But what if your moustache isn't growing quite as quickly, or as lustrously, as you'd have hoped? Might you be doomed to permanent peach fuzz?

To answer these questions, the team at CBC Radio's Ottawa Morning on Wednesday turned to the one man we can all agree has "the most famous moustache in the Nation's Capital" - NDP Leader Jack Layton.


"Just spotting these people with these emergent shadows above the lip, it's hysterical," Layton told host Kathleen Petty and newsreader Stu Mills, himself a Movember member.

"I'm embarrassed, a little," Mills then confessed. "There's some faint shadow above my upper lip, but there's a not a lot to see just yet."

"This idea of being embarrassed about it is ridiculous!" Layton said comfortingly.

It was an endearing exchange, a sort of father-to-son type moment that rarely makes it to morning radio. (Note that Layton didn't actually give away the secret behind his own famous 'stache, however.)

It's not the growth, but the cause, that's most important, stressed Layton, who announced in February that he has prostate cancer.

"A huge thanks to everyone that's participating," Layton said. "It's so moving to me, and I'm sure to the other guys going through this to see so many people ... putting their lip on the line."

Last year, Canadians raised $7.8 million for Movember.

"The more funds raise, the brighter future we all face," Layton said.

No pun intended, we presume.

Full audio of the interview is here: