Let’s just admit it, ladies: shaving sucks.

Hunch over on the bath rim or in the shower; drag a cheap disposable razor over the skin and cut yourself at least once; luxuriate in the smoothness for a couple of days before the stubble starts poking up and you have do it all over again; roll your eyes at the prices for a new set of blades, but get them anyway because hairy legs are ugly, right?

Enter Billie, a female-focused company launched by Georgina Gooley and Jason Bravman in 2017 and aimed, according to their website, at making shaving ‘a little more delightful and a lot more affordable.’ They run a subscription service where you pay $9 for a starter kit, and the same for each set of replacement blades, which you can get delivered every month, every other month or every three months, depending on how often you shave. They’re also cheaper than a lot of the products in your local Boots: Billie’s way of combatting the ‘Pink Tax’ that leaves women paying more than men for the same products. Their razors have had some pretty glowing reviews, giving a close, smooth shave without irritating even sensitive skin. And on top of that, they’re all about body positivity – particularly, body hair positivity. Their inaugural campaign, Project Body Hair, was the first razor ad to actually feature real body hair; the next year, their Red, White and You Do You campaign was the first to show pubic hair. It’s a marketing strategy that encourages women to love their body hair, rather than see it as a problem to be fixed by buying the razors, and Billie has carried on in that spirit this year, with their new Movember campaign.

We’ve probably all heard of Movember: participants start November clean-shaven and grow a moustache to raise awareness and money for charities focused on men’s health issues- specifically prostate and testicular cancer, mental illness and suicide (men are three times more likely to kill themselves than women). Until now it’s been a men-only gig. Billie’s campaign, launched with a funky 50-second video at the end of October, is determined to remind us that, hello, women can have moustaches too. And those women are being encouraged to grow their own Movember moustaches to raise money (Billie is pledging to match all donations up to $50,000). Just like the models in the video who, after showcasing all the ways- from shaving, painful waxing, time-sucking cream- that women try to erase their facial hair, are shown wearing their ‘taches with pride.

The one possible drawback to all this is that, while encouraging self-love for women is great, this isn’t about us. The Movember movement is about shining a spotlight on issues that primarily affect men- not just cancer but the high suicide rates, which can be traced back to the same sexism that screws so much up for women. We haven’t just been taught that women can’t be strong, but that men can’t be ‘weak.’ Men are tough and strong, they support others and they aren’t open about their emotions like women. If you do x y and z, you look pathetic. Man up. Boys don’t cry. Is it right, then, to jump in on a movement about growing moustaches for good causes, and add on a message that’s aimed exclusively at boosting women’s self-esteem?

At least, that’s what I’m imagining critics saying- and what I can sure-as-hell imagine so-called Men’s Rights Activists eagerly typing as they try to convince insecure, lonely internet users that FEMINISTS ARE RUINING EVERYTHING. But obviously, there’s more to saying ‘women have moustaches too’ than that.

For starters, Billie aren’t hijacking Movember and trying to make it all about women; they’re actively encouraging women to raise money for the worthwhile and yes, men’s health-focused causes, and contributing financially themselves. And yes, they’re doing it while encouraging women to feel proud of their body hair.

Because that’s the problem: right now, we don’t. Men don’t need to be reassured that it’s ok to grow a moustache but for most women, right now, it’s still unthinkable. We spend our whole lives being taught that body hair on women- and especially facial hair- is ugly, unfeminine, unloveable, the reserve of some of society’s least favourite people, from ‘butch’ queer women to ‘bearded ladies’ at circuses and freak shows. I’m pretty sure the last (possibly only) women in popular culture who was allowed to have facial hair was Keala Seattle in The Greatest Showman, and that wasn’t even a real beard. If women are going to take part in Movember, if those of us that can grow ‘taches are going to do it, get those sponsors and- with any luck- increase the amount of money that goes to those hugely important causes- then we need to be able to do it with confidence and pride. We need to know that it’s ok for us to grow those Movember moustaches, that we’re as beautiful with as we are without them. And for Billie to do that, while simultaneously raising money that could end up saving lives? That’s amazing- and next time I’m shopping for razors, there’s a pretty good chance they’ll have my vote.