Movember: How a Melbourne Pub Joke Turned Into Mustache Month

If a colleague has turned up this week with a faint shadow on his upper lip and a slightly defensive look, you can blame Movember. We're nine days in. This is the awkward stage, when the mustache is visible enough to comment on but not yet good enough to defend.

Every November, men around the world shave clean on the first of the month and then let the mustache grow for thirty days, raising money for men's health as they go. The idea now runs in a long list of countries and has its own foundation, its own vocabulary and, in Sydney at least, its own buses. It started with a handful of friends having a beer in Melbourne, which is how a surprising number of good ideas start (and a much larger number of bad ones).

A conversation in a Melbourne bar

The usual telling goes like this. In 2003 two friends, Travis Garone and Luke Slattery, were drinking in Melbourne and talking about how the mustache had disappeared from men's faces. They decided to bring it back, at least for a month, and talked roughly thirty men into growing one. Each paid $10 for the privilege.

There was no charity involved that first year. It was a dare with a theme. But the group noticed the conversations the mustaches started, and the next year they gave the joke a purpose.

From dare to charity in a year

In 2004 the organizers set up what became the Movember Foundation and tied the month to men's health, starting with prostate cancer. About 480 men took part, and they raised around A$54,000 for the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia. That's not a huge sum next to what came later, but it set the template: grow a mustache, get people to sponsor it, and use the attention to talk about things men tend to avoid talking about.

The cause list grew. Movember now funds work on prostate cancer, testicular cancer and men's mental health. The campaign spread to New Zealand and then, by 2007, to the UK, the US and Canada, among other places. The foundation says it has raised more than a billion dollars over the years and funded well over a thousand projects, which is a lot of itchy upper lips.

The rules, such as they are

Movember has always had a few informal rules, and part of the fun is arguing about them. You start on November 1 with a clean-shaven face. You grow a mustache, and only a mustache, so no beards and no goatees. Connecting it to the sideburns is generally frowned upon, since at that point you're wearing a different style of facial hair altogether.

Participants are "Mo Bros," and women who join in by fundraising, organizing or cheering from the sidelines are "Mo Sistas." There's also Move, a fitness challenge that the foundation added for people who can't or won't grow anything. I'd call that a reasonable option for anyone whose mustache comes in sparse and slightly orange (a bigger group than the campaign photos let on, I suspect).

Why a mustache, of all things

It works because it's visible and a bit ridiculous. A pink ribbon asks you to stop and think. A bad mustache on a man who normally looks tidy gets people asking what happened, and the answer comes with a donation link.

Timing helped too. In 2003 the mustache was out of fashion in a big way. The Tom Selleck and Freddie Mercury era was long gone, and a full mustache on a young man in the early 2000s looked like either a costume or a statement. Growing one on purpose gave people a joke to share. Since then the mustache has crept back into fashion on its own, and I don't think Movember gets all the credit for that, but it didn't hurt.

How the money side works

Most people raise money through a personal page on the official Movember site, which they share with friends, family and workmates. Teams are common, especially at offices and sports clubs, and team leaderboards bring out a competitive streak in people who would otherwise never donate. You can also skip the facial hair and just give.

One practical point: if someone asks you to sponsor them, give through the official Movember pages or another channel you know is legitimate. Charity scams love a well-known campaign, and November brings plenty of them. The foundation also publishes reports on where its money goes, which is worth a look if you like to know before you give.

Joining in partway through the month

You don't have to have started on November 1. Plenty of people sign up late and just shave and begin. Facial hair tends to grow roughly half an inch a month, give or take, so a mustache started today will be modest by the 30th. Modest still counts.

A few things help. Trim the edges every few days so it looks deliberate rather than neglected. Keep the area clean, since a new mustache catches crumbs and coffee in ways that will surprise you. And tell people why you're doing it before they ask, because the whole point is the conversation. If you'd rather not grow anything, sponsor a friend who is. He'll appreciate the support more than you think, probably right about now.