Just six years after founder Luke Slattery and some friends came up with the idea of growing moustaches to raise awareness of men's health issues, focusing on prostate cancer and depression, Movember has become an international phenomenon.

''When we came up with the idea of something we could do for men's health, inspired by the women we knew doing work for breast cancer, we thought it might be something we'd do with our friends for a couple of years,'' Mr Slattery said.

''Full credit should be given to our 30 friends who believed in the idea and who had to explain their moustache every day, everywhere they went. They spread the word in the most viral of ways by talking to people.''

New Zealand, the US, Canada, the UK and Ireland have all taken up Movember, which last year drew 175,000 participants.

After registering with Movember, 'mo bros', supported by their 'mo sistas', start the month clean-shaven and grow their moustache through November. For their fashion faux pas the mo bros seek donations, which in 2009 in Australia totalled $20 million.

''We were able to hand over cheques of $8.1 million to each of our beneficiaries, beyondblue - the national depression initiative, and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia,'' Mr Slattery said.

For more, pick up a copy of today's Canberra Times