Movember

The movement began in 2003 in Melbourne, Australia, with two friends, Travis Garone and Luke Slattery. Over drinks one night, they joked that the moustache, the “mo” in Aussie slang, had gone out of style, and wondered whether they could bring it back. Inspired by fundraising efforts to combat breast cancer, they sent friends an email asking a simple question: “Are you man enough to be my man?” Thirty of their friends agreed to grow a moustache for the 30 days of November, and they dedicated the challenge to men’s health and prostate cancer. No funds were raised that first year. What the group gained was something harder to measure: the discovery that a moustache is a sure-fire conversation starter, and that conversations save lives.

The next year, the Mo Bros took the idea further. In 2004, with 432 participants, the group raised about $55,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, the largest single donation that organization had ever received. The Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia became Movember’s first official men’s health partner, and in 2005 the campaign raised over $1 million. In 2006, the Movember Foundation was granted charity status in Australia, the campaign expanded to New Zealand, and beyondblue, the Australian mental health organization, became its second partner. After only four Novembers, nearly $10 million had been raised for men’s health, and it had all started with 30 friends growing facial hair.

The causes behind the moustache deserve to be named plainly. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men over 45, with more than 1.4 million men diagnosed annually, and it is treatable, indeed curable, when caught early. Testicular cancer, though relatively rare overall, is the most common cancer to affect young men, anyone with testicles between the ages of 15 and 49, and it is one of the most curable forms of cancer when detected in time. And mental health carries the heaviest statistic of all: across the world, one man dies by suicide every minute of every day, with males accounting for 69 percent of all suicides globally and 80 percent of suicides in the United States. On average, men die nearly five years earlier than women, and they are less likely to visit a doctor regularly or to seek help for emotional struggles. Movember exists to close that gap.

Today the movement has grown far beyond its Melbourne pub origins. Movember runs in more than 20 countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, and Brazil. More than 4.1 billion people had internet access by 2019, and the campaign’s message travels in 11 languages, though researchers note that reaching the older men most at risk for prostate cancer remains a challenge. The funds tell their own story: Movember has raised more than $837 million globally and funded over 1,250 men’s health projects, from biomedical research and early-detection programs to large-scale mental health interventions and community-based support services.

The ritual itself is simple and disciplined. Participants, known as Mo Bros, and their supporters, Mo Sisters, begin on November 1 with a clean-shaven face. Then they grow a moustache for the entire month, tending it for the full 30 days while family and friends donate to their mo-growing efforts. The official guidelines treat the moustache as a catalyst for change: a visible symbol that prompts questions, and questions that open doors to conversations about checkups, screening, and asking for help. Alongside “Grow a Mo,” the movement also promotes “Move for Movember,” a fitness challenge, and community fundraising events that broaden the invitation to everyone.

There is even a charming footnote in the history. The earliest documented use of the term “Movember” comes from a 1999 Seven News report about a pub in Adelaide, South Australia, where a small group joked about growing moustaches for charity and coined the name for a campaign supporting the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Unrelated to the 2003 Melbourne founders, that earlier “Movember Committee” grew to over 80 people selling T-shirts and “growing whiskers for whiskers.” The name was waiting in the wings; the cause found it four years later.

What makes Movember endure is not the novelty of facial hair but the honesty underneath it. Men are asked to do something visible, slightly vulnerable, and sustained for a whole month, and in return the world gets a walking reminder that men’s health cannot wait. Every moustache grown in November stands for the father who gets his screening, the young man who checks himself, and the friend who finally says he is not okay. That is worth 30 days of itching.

The invitation for this November is the same one extended in 2003: be man enough to start the conversation. Grow the mo, move for the cause, donate to the research, or simply check on the men in your life and mean it. Movember asks little and offers much: a month where caring for men’s health is not awkward, not optional, and not postponed. The moustache fades in December. The conversations should not.

THE STORY BEHIND MOVEMBER

🍴 Two Friends in Melbourne
In 2003, Travis Garone and Luke Slattery wondered over drinks whether they could bring the moustache back into style. They emailed friends asking, “Are you man enough to be my man?” and dedicated the challenge to men’s health and prostate cancer.

🤝 Thirty Mo Bros
Thirty friends agreed to grow a moustache for the 30 days of November 2003. No money was raised that first year, but the group discovered that a moustache starts conversations, and conversations about men’s health save lives.

💰 The First Big Donation
In 2004, 432 participants raised about $55,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia, the largest single donation it had ever received. The foundation became Movember’s first official men’s health partner, and by 2006 the Movember Foundation had charity status.

💙 Three Causes, One Moustache
Movember stands for prostate cancer, the most common cancer in men over 45; testicular cancer, the most common cancer in young men ages 15 to 49; and mental health and suicide prevention, as one man dies by suicide every minute worldwide.

🌎 A Global Movement
Movember now runs in more than 20 countries and has raised over $837 million, funding more than 1,250 men’s health projects spanning research, early detection, and mental health support.

🧔 Shave Down, Grow Out
Each November 1, participants start clean-shaven and grow a moustache for the full month, using it as a visible prompt for donations and dialogue. Mo Sisters support the cause, and “Move for Movember” adds a fitness challenge for all.

WAYS TO CELEBRATE

🧔 Grow a Mo
Shave down on November 1 and grow a moustache for the full 30 days. Let every question about it become a conversation about prostate health, testicular health, or mental health.

🏃 Move for Movember
Take on the movement’s fitness challenge through November: run, walk, or work out in honor of men’s health, and invite donations for every mile or session.

💬 Start the Conversation
Check on the men in your life and mean it. Encourage a father, brother, or friend to book the screening he keeps postponing, and share resources with #Movember.

Honor Movember

This November, grow, move, or give, and stand with the men facing the fight of their lives. The moustache fades in December; the conversations should not.