Movember and Me: A History

The result of my first Movember, 2021. Left a lot to be desired!

   I was born in Dublin in September of 2004, meaning I turned twenty-one just over a month ago. I have had so far in my 21 years, a life where I’ve had the most fantastic privilege any young man could wish for; a loving, supportive family who were never too busy to hear my concerns or worries, and if you’ve got that, I don’t think you need anything else (though I’ve even more than that to be thankful for).

    I suspect I started seeing my first facial hairs in early 2019, when I was fourteen. As you can imagine, the moustache I was rocking at that stage was an absolute EYESORE, and yet my parents had a very hard time convincing me to shave it off! Even that early, mind you, I had been keen to give Movember a go, but up to when I was seventeen, it was pointless to even think of it. But when I did, the excitement I felt was unimaginable. My first year doing Movember left a lot to be desired, when I think that the only change the facial hair made to my appearance in that time was that I had some curly sideburns and a moustache that looked like it was drawn on with a HB Pencil.

  Fast-forward twelve months and we went again, my facial hair still too thin and patchy to consider just growing out my ‘stache. I think, looking back on it, this is extremely impressive for an eighteen-year-old who was extremely tied up with the Leaving Cert. This was the year the name Joseph’s Movember Journey was born, and I started putting up  one or two small posts on the page, mainly just photos of my progress.  I definitely came out of Movember 2022 on a high, having successfully raised over €260 for the Movember Foundation.

  By 2023, I was well-seasoned in the Movember process, and though I was both working and in college I decided I wanted to ramp up my campaign. I started a page on TikTok which amassed more likes, views and other social media statistics than I ever could have imagined. I raised €100 for the Movember Foundation, and though I didn’t raise as much money as I did in the previous year, I raised more awareness as the social media stats were superb.

  That brings us up to last year. In 2024, I decided to go my own way in terms of my fundraising. I set up a new system, which meant that each year, I would fundraise for a charity of my own choosing. The first charity I teamed up with was the Irish Cancer Society. I was more active than ever before on my page in this particular year, posting 35 videos throughout the month of Movember. 2024 was my biggest success yet, raising €420 over the month of Movember. I was so proud of this campaign and all we managed to achieve.

So that’s a little history of my fundraising in Movember, and I have very high hopes that 2025 will be our biggest year yet!