For the Diamond Beach 23-year-old, the optimism of Melbourne Cup day at Taree Racecourse with girlfriend Rhiannon Brown – captured in the photo at left - has evaporated into a barren mid-Movember.

“It’s pretty pathetic at the moment,” he said.

“It’d already been growing for a while when that picture was taken. I had a head start, because I knew I’d need it.”

People have at least been donating money to Dane’s Movember fund, which will go toward treating men’s health issues.

Tuncurry barber Roddy Donegan is readying his clippers for a November 30 mass Shave Off.

“I’m going for the Ringo Starr look, myself. It’s going quite well, but it’s not curling like I’d hoped,” he said.

“The trouble is, I work around hair all day and it collects it. And I’ve found I’ve got to shave the rest of my face for it to stand out properly.”

He insisted his profession offers no edge in the race to cultivate lip foliage.

“There’s no real secret. Trimming it down isn’t going to make it grow back thicker, or anything like that,” he said.

“But it’s a perfect opportunity to see what you look like with one. At the moment I look like a porn star gone wrong. I just want to put some wax through it, and give it a twirl.”

Er, yes.

Meanwhile, Dane is hoping for a stronger finish from his mo than he got from his Cup day picks.

“No good at all,” was the frank assessment of his luck.

Tim Connell’s mo-logue: page 10

Great Lakes Mo Bros: page 10

Day 11:

AND it’s a big hello from sunny Mo Town, population: Me.

Today’s forecast: itchy, with the chance of a late desire to shave. But things are going well. It’s all in the contrast, you see.

If you merely don’t shave for a while, you’re the proud father of a goatee. The mo’s there, but you can’t see the forest for the trees.

Get rid of everything around the mo and the result is… well, a bit like Drew Barrymore’s fake moustache in Charlie’s Angels.