Warilla mates making good ‘mogress’

Mr Piper, along with millions of men across the world, has reached the halfway point for annual fund-raiser Movember – and has a dirty red mo to prove it.

The team captain of Warilla bunch Morilla told the Mercury he was proud of his ‘‘mogress’’, already successfully managing to cultivate some hefty upper lip hair.

‘‘It looks pretty good but it’s definitely at that dirty stage,’’ he said.

‘‘It’s running straight across the top of my lip and it’s red...it’s definitely getting there.’’

The Morilla team have already raised more than $4000 for this year’s Movember cause, which aims to raise vital funds and awareness for prostate and testicular cancer and men’s mental health.

Mr Piper said this year was set to be the 100-strong team’s biggest yet as they hoped to raise around $20,000.

‘‘We’ve already raised a lot and we still haven’t had our big events yet,’’ he said.

‘‘The response has just been awesome this year.’’

Since the lads joined the moustache movement in 2007, they have raised more than $80,000 for men’s health – a fair feat for a group of blokes who ‘‘just wanted to grow a mo’’.

‘‘We were really just mucking around at the start, now we actually plan things and have meetings,’’ Mr Piper said.

‘‘It’s really just two months of mayhem, we love it.’’

But how are the blokes’ wives and girlfriends handling their handle-barred partners?

‘‘Well, I don’t have a partner but I know some of the other boys have copped it,’’ Mr Piper laughed.

‘‘Their partners do get a bit upset, they don’t really want to kiss them this time of year.’’

Movember was born in Melbourne in 2003 when 30 moustaches were grown.

Last year, more than 1million  adorned men’s lips worldwide.

Today, more than three million ‘‘mo bros’’ and ‘‘mo sistas’’ participate from 21 countries and more than $440million has been raised for men’s health.

To donate to the Morilla team, visit au.movember.com.