Movember vs No Shave November: the rules, the difference, and what to grow

Movember is the mustache. No Shave November is everything. Both run from November 1 to November 30, both raise money for men's health, and both start with the same question: what are you going to grow?

Movember asks you to start clean-shaven on November 1 and grow and keep a mustache for 30 days. The money goes to the Movember Foundation for prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention.

No Shave November asks you to put the razor down for the month and let whatever grows, grow. The money you would have spent on shaving goes to cancer charities through Fight Colorectal Cancer, which has run the campaign since 2024.

The difference in one line: Movember has a rule about what you grow, No Shave November has a rule about what you do not do. Beards are welcome in one and against the rules in the other.

Movember vs No Shave November at a glance

• Started: Movember in 2003 in Melbourne, by a group of friends. No Shave November in 2009 in Illinois, by the Hill family after their father's death from colon cancer.
• Dates: both run November 1 to 30.
• What you grow: Movember, a mustache only, from clean-shaven on November 1. No Shave November, anything: beard, mustache, head hair, leg hair.
• Can you trim: Movember, yes, keep it tidy, but no beard. No Shave November, up to you; purists say no, most men tidy the edges.
• Where the money goes: Movember Foundation (prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health, suicide prevention). No Shave November: Fight Colorectal Cancer, the Prevent Cancer Foundation and Man Up to Cancer.
• How you give: Movember, sign up at movember.com and fundraise on your page. No Shave November, donate what you would have spent on shaving, or fundraise.
• Best for: Movember, the clean-shaven man who wants a visible 30-day project. No Shave November, the man growing a beard, or who already has one.
• Bearded men: technically against the rules in Movember. Welcome in No Shave November.

One minute from Viking Valley, Norway, on why we put the razor down every November. Shot by our own crew in 2021 and still the thing we post on November 1.

What is the reason for No Shave November?

It started with one family. In November 2007 Matthew Hill of Illinois died of colon cancer. Two years later his eight children launched No-Shave November as a Facebook campaign in his memory, with a simple idea: the hair you grow is the hair cancer patients lose, so let it grow, and give the money you would have spent on razors to the fight.

That is still the whole rule. Fight Colorectal Cancer, which took over the campaign in 2024, puts it plainly: do not shave, grow what works for you, and donate or fundraise. Funds raised go to Fight CRC, the Prevent Cancer Foundation and Man Up to Cancer, for early detection, research into early-onset colorectal cancer and peer support for men going through it.

There is no sign-up requirement and no judging. Men mostly grow their beard, some grow their head hair, and anyone who cannot grow can donate or recruit. The point is the conversation the beard starts, not the beard.

What is Movember?

Movember is older, stricter and bigger. It began in Melbourne in 2003 when a small group of friends decided to bring the mustache back for a month and talk about men's health while they did it. It is now the Movember Foundation, which says it has funded more than AUD $1.8 billion of work on prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health and suicide prevention.

The rules are specific. You start November 1 clean-shaven. You grow and keep a mustache for the full 30 days. A beard, a goatee or a chin strap does not count, and the mustache should be kept tidy, because the whole point is that people notice it and ask. You sign up at movember.com, raise money through your page, and the Foundation calls you a Mo Bro.

If you already have a beard, Movember is the harder of the two, because it technically asks you to lose it. Most bearded men who want to take part do what we cover below: keep the beard, grow the mustache out past it, and let the Mo do the talking.

Can you trim during No Shave November?

Yes. The official rule is "do what works for you", and nobody is checking. The purists say no razor, no trimmer, no scissors for 30 days. Everyone else cleans up the neckline and keeps the mustache off the lip, and keeps the spirit of it, which is the conversation and the donation.

Our line, after watching the Brand Viking group do this for ten Novembers: do not touch the length, do touch the edges. Three things are fair game.

• 1. The neckline. Shave below a line about a finger above the Adam's apple. It is the single thing that separates "growing a beard" from "forgot to shave".
• 2. The mustache lip line. Scissors or a trimmer with no guard, straight across the top of the lip, once a week. You will eat in November.
• 3. Stray cheek hairs above the natural line. Tidy, never lower.

What you do not do is take a guard to the whole thing on November 15 because the itch got to you. That week is the whole test. If you are the kind of man who needs the rules, the Movember version is the stricter one: mustache only, kept neat, and the Foundation would rather you trimmed it than let it hang over your mouth.

What if you already have a beard?

This is the question we get most, usually phrased "what if I'm a bearded dude doing No Shave November?" Three honest options.

Grow the mustache out. Stop trimming the lip line and let the Mo come forward past the beard for the month. It reads as deliberate by week two, it is the closest a bearded man gets to Movember without losing the beard, and it is the easiest way to get asked about it. Wax it at the ends if you want the full effect.

Grow a style instead of a length. Pick a shape you have never worn and spend the month getting there. The styles section below has the ones that work in 30 days. A man who has had the same beard for five years changing shape for November gets more questions than a clean-shaven man growing stubble.

Recruit instead of grow. If your beard is already where you want it, your job in November is the man next to you who has never grown one. Get him to Day 1, send him the week-two paragraph below, and donate on his behalf. The pledge at the end has a Supporter option built for exactly that.

What you do not do is shave it off on October 31 to "do it properly". Nobody at either charity wants your beard. They want the money and the conversation.

Which style to grow in 30 days

Thirty days is about half an inch of growth for most men, so the styles that work are the ones that read as finished at short length. Pick before Day 1, not on Day 20.

• Chevron mustache. Most faces, the Movember default. Day 30: full across the lip, thick, slightly covering the top lip. Needs scissors on the lip line weekly and balm to train it.
• Heavy stubble. Men starting from zero. Day 30: even 4 to 5 mm with a defined neckline. Needs a trimmer with a guard every 3 days and oil daily.
• Short boxed beard. Men with a few weeks' head start. Day 30: defined cheek and neck lines, mustache off the lip. Needs a trimmer weekly and a line-up every 2 weeks.
• Horseshoe or cowboy mustache. Men with strong growth at the corners. Day 30: mustache down past the corners of the mouth, chin clear. Needs a razor on the chin and wax on the ends.
• Beard with the Mo grown out. Men who already have the beard. Day 30: the mustache a finger past the beard line, waxed or brushed to the sides. Needs clear wax, a round brush and patience.

Every style on this list has its own page with photos and the trim that gets you there: mustache styles by face shape and beard styles. If you are not sure what your face does at 30 days, the 3-month beard rule explains why November is a start, not a verdict.

Week by week: the four walls

The month has a shape, and most men quit at the same point in it. We call the four stages the four walls, because each one stops a share of the men who started on Day 1.

Wall one, days 1 to 7: the prickle. Stubble, and skin that has not been under hair since you were a teenager. Nothing to do but leave it alone and keep the skin under it clean. Day Tonic in the morning, washed off at night.

Day 7. Half a centimeter, and the first time you notice your own jawline in years.

Wall two, days 8 to 14: the itch. New hair curling back onto the skin, plus dry skin under it. This is where November ends for most men. Oil on the skin, not the hair, and a brush to lift the hairs off the face. The full fix is in how to stop beard itch.

Day 10. The itch is the skin, not the hair. Oil goes on the face first and the beard second.

Wall three, days 15 to 21: the gaps. Patches show, the neck fills in faster than the cheeks, and it looks like a decision you have not made yet. Clean the neckline now and it looks like one. If the cheeks are the gap, the Patchy Grow Kit below is built for this wall, judged at 90 days rather than 30.

Day 18. Everyone has a thin spot. Clean the neckline and the eye goes to the shape, not the gap.

Wall four, days 22 to 30: the shape. It settles. Balm to hold the shape, the lip line kept clear, and whichever style you picked starts to show. Take the Day 30 photo in the same light as Day 1.

Day 28. Balm, a round brush, and the lip line kept clear. This is the photo you post on December 1.

If you want the full timeline past November, beard growth stages covers months one to twelve.

Before and after: 30 days in the Brand Viking group

These are members of the Brand Viking group, posted in the group in past Novembers and used here with their permission. Nothing in this section is staged. What you see is what 30 days gave them.

Tyler, Day 1 and now. He started the "post your last clean-shaven photo" thread that runs in the group every November.

Tyler M. shaved for years for work. Then he stopped. His first full beard came in over a November.

Jack grew his for a year, then shaved the lot for blood cancer research and raised $500 doing it. The beard is the lever, not the point.

Every man in this gallery started from the same place you are reading this from. The ones who made it to Day 30 all say the same two things: pick the style before you start, and get through week two.

Pledge Your Beard: our November, for the man who has never grown

Most of our customers already have the beard. This November we are backing the men who do not. Pledge Your Beard is our own campaign, not the official No-Shave November, and it runs from October 28 to November 26. Sign the pledge with one name and one email, confirm it, and we donate $1 CAD to the BC Cancer Foundation. Buy Clear Mustache Wax with the same email during the campaign and we make it $2. Free to join, no purchase needed, one eligible pledge per person.

You pick how you take part: grow the beard, grow the mustache, or pledge as a supporter if you are already bearded and backing a brother. Then the razor stays down until November 26. Post your Day 1 and Day 30 photos in the Brand Viking group by December 1, the brotherhood votes December 1 to 3, and the winners, announced December 4, take home a Black Wraith Hero Bundle.

Thirty days has four walls, and the kits are built for the two that stop most men.

• The Grow Kit, for days 1 to 21 when the skin is the problem: Day Liquid Beard Tonic in the morning, Night Liquid Elixir before bed, and a free Black Wraith sample sachet.
• The Patchy Grow Kit, for the gaps: the Voxtr Support Serum 120-day supply, the 540-needle derma roller, Day Tonic and the sachet. Start on October 28 and judge it at 90 days, not 30, because that is what the Oath of Honor guarantee is built on.

If you are the bearded one, your job is the recruit. Send him the pledge; when he confirms, that is another $1 CAD to the BC Cancer Foundation, and you both earn Vikoins.

What the Brand Viking group does every November

We have run some version of this for ten years, and the group has its own rituals by now.

The last clean-shaven photo. Every November someone starts the thread: post your beard now and the last photo of you without one. It is the most commented thread of the year, and it is where most of the gallery above came from.

The week-two check-in. Around November 10 the "am I doing this right" posts start. The answer is always the same: yes, keep going, oil the skin. Half the men who post that question make it to Day 30 because someone replied.

The fundraisers. Members run their own pages alongside ours. Ryan has raised for the Movember Foundation for years and posted his Official Streamer badge in the group. Jack shaved a year's beard off for blood cancer research. Our own #StrongMenTalk pledge in a previous November put a dollar behind every name and mustache pledged, which is where this year's Pledge Your Beard comes from.

The December 1 reveal. Day 30 photos go up in one thread, the group votes, and the men who grew the most, changed the most or recruited the most get called out. This year that vote is the Pledge Your Beard final, December 1 to 3.

The recruit. If your beard is already done, your November is the man next to you.

What to say when someone asks about it

The beard is a conversation starter; the conversation is the point. Three answers that work, in the order people usually ask.

"Are you doing the no-shave thing?" Yes. It is for men's health. The hair I am growing is the hair cancer patients lose, and the money I would have spent on razors is going to the fight.

"What's the difference between that and Movember?" Movember is the mustache and funds prostate cancer, testicular cancer and mental health. No Shave November is anything you can grow and funds colorectal cancer work. Same month, same idea.

"Why does it matter?" Because men do not go to the doctor. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the US, Canada and the UK, colorectal cancer is now being diagnosed in men under 50 at rising rates, and three out of four suicides are men. Thirty days of a visible beard gets a man asked the question he was not going to bring up himself.

If you want the numbers to hand, Movember and Fight Colorectal Cancer both publish them, and the links are at the top of this page.

Movember and No Shave November questions, answered

What month is No Shave November? November, the whole month, November 1 to 30. Movember runs the same 30 days.

Why is it called Movember? Mo is Australian slang for mustache. Mo plus November. The men who started it in Melbourne in 2003 called themselves Mo Bros, and the Foundation still does.

Do I have to shave on November 1? For Movember, yes: the rules say you start the month clean-shaven so the mustache is new. For No Shave November, no. Start from wherever you are.

Can you trim during Movember? Yes, and the Foundation encourages it. The mustache should be kept tidy. What you cannot do is join it to a beard or goatee and still call it a Mo.

Can you trim during No Shave November? Officially, do what works for you. Our line is in the section above: never the length, only the three edges.

Is No Shave November only for men? No. Fight Colorectal Cancer invites everyone to take part, and plenty of women skip the razor for the month or fundraise. Movember is also open to everyone; the Foundation calls women who take part Mo Sisters.

Is No Shave November the same as Movember? No. Different founders, different countries, different charities, different rules about what you grow. Same month and the same reason, which is why they get confused.

What happens on December 1? Movember asks you to post your Day 30 and close your fundraising page. No Shave November has no rule. In our group, December 1 is the reveal thread, and a lot of men decide that day to keep what they grew. Some call December Decembeard.

How long does it take to grow a mustache? About four weeks to something that reads as a mustache for most men, which is exactly why the month is 30 days. A full chevron takes six to eight weeks. The mustache style pages cover each shape and its timeline.

Can I do both? Yes. Grow the mustache from clean-shaven for Movember and let the rest come in for No Shave November. The beard-with-the-Mo-grown-out option in the styles list is that exact plan.

The razor goes in the drawer on October 31. This is what comes out of it on December 4: the Black Wraith Hero Bundle, the prize for the Pledge Your Beard winners.