Lancs student’s guide to Movember

The dos and don’ts of Movember from personal experience

2 years ago

Movember is a great cause. Raising money to support men’s mental health as well as prostate and testicular cancer is an admirable thing done by men across the country every year. But growing a moustache can be daunting. I’ve been there.

Here’s my step by step guide based on my experience and what I’ve learnt.

Find a group

This is the easiest way to remove those nerves, because you can’t look stupid if you’re doing something as a group. Loads of Lancaster Uni societies took part this year. I personally took part with Lancaster University Men’s Cricket Club. It just means that you do things as a group and you can raise more money with other people.

Come up with a plan

Movember is very open to interpretation. The general rule is starting clean shaven and exclusively grow and maintain a moustache for the month. No beards! This was something we insisted on as a club. However the organisation also offers the opportunity for participants to do their own thing to raise money, with many people choosing to run for a month. So if you are embarrassed about your facial hair growing ability, I’d suggest looking at something like this.

Shaving

Shaving is one of the most forgotten elements to Movember. You need to do it almost everyday. Before starting, I sported a beard, grown in lockdown after last year’s Movember gave me faith in my facial hair. I had to use clippers before my razor to start clean shaven. I looked 10 years younger and my face was unusually cold for a few days.

A face moisturiser is also a must or you’ll be red with razor burn. Not something you want for a month.

Photos

The Movember app allows you to take daily pictures of your growth and compile them into a monthly time lapse. Try not to forget because you might as well have some memory of your attempt. Personally, I found myself only remembering that I hadn’t done it after I’d missed a few days. I managed 17 days.

Know your limits

After my Movember success last year, I was optimistic this year. I felt as if I could push the boat out. As if I could do something different, something new. This fell down rather quickly.

With this arrogance, I decided to extend the usual pencil style moustache from the top of the lip to descending down my cheeks. I was going for more of a handle bar. However, after 14 days of growth, by which point growth was going very well, the sides and top of the tache just weren’t working. I couldn’t get it to connect. And after taking a daily Mo photo and feeling inadequate, I went back to the old faithful, feeling a bit defeated.

Maintenance

As previously mentioned, you’ll be shaving almost everyday. For some lucky people, in which I am excited to include myself, trimming will be required as well. Around day 25, some loose strands started touching my top lip so a quick touch up with the clippers neatened this up.

Fundraising

100 per cent the easiest way to do this is social media. Updates on Facebook and Instagram are the way forward. Get your mum to share it, her mates and relatives will love it. Fire it into every group chat you’ve ever been part of. Haven’t spoken to them in three years? Doesn’t matter, give them the link. It’s for a good cause. My efforts managed £105, part of the £3906 by LUCC.

Movember is a big step. It made me realise that I could actually grow facial hair. So when you get to the end of the month, you are faced with the ultimate question: does it stay?