Rules of Movember: When you can start growing
Rules of Movember: When to start growing your Mo
Movember has been a huge force for good in promoting positive mental health and for highlighting support that is available to people.
With a focus on men’s mental health, Movember helps causes related to prostate cancer, testicular cancer and men’s suicide.
The event takes place every year in the month of November.
There are some specific Movember Rules though, which we will come to.
It’s a fun and engaging way to fundraise and you can let people know your progress, how your new facial hair is looking and the challenges along the way.
The aim of Movember
The main aim of Movember is to simply grow a moustache to raise awareness for great causes.
Along the way, while raising awareness for men’s health, people often raise money for charities.
The movement has gained traction and grown over the years, as more and more people can be seen sporting a new moustache in November.
Charities that are donated to usually include ones for men’s mental health, prostate cancer, and testicular cancer.
Movember also goes a long way to support local charities that offer men support in communities, for a range of issues.
Pre-Movember preparations
Movember encourages anyone able to grow a moustache to take part, but there are some steps to take before you take the plunge.
As mentioned, there are some Movember Rules.
Research and planning
Chances are, you may have never grown a moustache before.
If this is the case, it could be worth taking a bit of time to consider how you want to grow it and what style you want to go for. It could even be worth having a chat with your barber.
Grooming tools are also a must – do some research about what products you’re going to need to keep yourself looking neat and tidy.
The clean shave rule
One of the most important rules of Movember is starting with a clean shaven face.
This means you can’t jump ahead if you already have an existing moustache, facial hair or a style already.
The point of Movember is to promote togetherness with other participants – everyone is going through it together, even the awkward growing-in phase.
The Movember Timeline
As alluded to, there are some rules set out.
Movember.com said: “Once registered at movember.com each Mo Bro must begin the 1st of Movember with a clean shaven face.
“For the entire month of Movember each Mo Bro must Grow and groom a moustache. Don’t fake it. No beards, no goatees and no fake moustaches.”
A clean start: 1st November
The clean shaven face must begin on November 1st. Not the week before, not on Halloween. November 1st.
This specific time also gives you a great chance to kick off your fundraising as you have a time and goal in mind.
It could also encourage a fun pre-Movember fundraising event like a sponsored shave or a communal shave with a large group.
Progress throughout the month
Movember is a great way to fundraise as it is essentially just a really fun way of raising money.
From updates, videos and photos, you can keep track in a physical way how your journey is going.
Whether you’re struggling for weeks to grow anything, or you’ve got a full beard by day 1, these updates can be a great way to keep your donors involved in your progress.
You can post these updates on social media, on your fundraiser page or on other outlets.
And you can use these updates as an opportunity to encourage more donations – why not consider a sponsored style? Or a poll about what style to grow in?
The end of the month
The end of the month is your big chance to raise more funds or reach your goal.
This is the point where all your hard work is coming to an end. You could prepare a collage of photos or show a before and after image to show how far you’ve come.
What’s more, you can use the end of the month as a chance to get together with other Movember fundraisers.
You could organise an end-of-month shave as a fundraising event. Or live-stream you shaving the moustache off and thanking donors.
Beyond Movember
Once you’ve raised all this money, for whatever cause that motivates you, it’s a great opportunity to keep people talking about men’s health beyond Movember.
Keep the conversation going by raising money for causes near to you and do some research about how you could continue to help.
You could also look into the work the charity you’re raising money for does – why not make this an annual event and raise money on GoFundMe every year?