To make a donation or sign up for Movember, visit movember.com or call 09 889 0466.
From today, thousands of previously bald upper lips will be growing fuzz, fur or a full-blown moustache for the month of Movember.
Movember is a month-long celebration of the moustache to raise awareness and funds for men's health, in particular prostate cancer and depression.
Men are encouraged to register on the site with a clean-shaven face to become a "Mo Bro". For the month they grow a moustache and ask people to pledge money in support.
Last year more than 13,000 Kiwi men took part, raising almost $1 million.
Movember organiser in New Zealand Jim Slattery said the week leading up to Movember had been "full on".
He said the support had been "overwhelming. It's been fantastic."
Slattery said every year there is more support for the month and there had been more than 4000 people register on the site, an improvement on last year. He urged people to register.
"If you don't register you're not supporting Movember - you're just supporting looking creepy at work."
He also recommended that women, even though most do not like moustaches, should encourage their men to get behind the cause by becoming a "Mo Sista".
He said this followed a new slogan they have released: "no mo, no go".
An independent survey commissioned by Movember found only one in five women find a moustache sexy.
But almost all - 97 per cent - would stand by their man if he grew a mo for the cause.
Cancer Society CEO Dalton Kelly will sport a mo for the month. "The glorious thing about Movember is you can address men's health issues."
He said a third of the money raised will go into research, a third will go into the men's health challenge and a third goes into the production of promotional material to raise awareness.
With around 3500 men diagnosed and 700 dying from prostate cancer every year, he recommends men get checked out. "The earlier the intervention, the better chance you have," he said.
Mental Health Foundation CEO Judi Clements said this is the second year the foundation has been involved.
"Movember is a really great way to both raise awareness of depression and create networks of support among people."
She said they would use funds to further awareness and break down stigma of mental health in New Zealand.
- HERALD ON SUNDAY
