How a shaved head went from being a hairstyle to a national beacon of hope for Aussies facing blood cancer.

The Graydon family hosted the first‑ever shave event.

World’s Greatest Shave — originally named ​“Shave for a Cure” — began following a successful event organised by a family on the NSW North Coast of Lismore. Eric Graydon was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and needed to relocate for emergency treatment.

His family decided to do something BIG to raise both funds and awareness for those suffering from leukaemia — they challenged the Leukaemia Foundation to come together and shave the greatest number of heads in 24 hours. Word got out to the media, and nobody could have foreseen what happened next.

The results? $80,000 raised, and 200 heads shaved. And just like that, World’s Greatest Shave was born. 

The rest — as they say — is history.

First official ​‘Shave for a Cure’ event occurred, with 1.85 million raised 1,700 heads shaved!

Name is changed to ​‘World’s Greatest Shave’ and was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records for most heads shaved.

Our famous ​‘chins’ were introduced to Australia.

The Leukaemia Foundation made a radical, fun, and hilarious change to World’s Greatest Shave by introducing our iconic ​‘chins’ — and we haven’t looked back since.

This year marked the biggest fundrais­ing year in shave history with over $20,000,000 raised!

In 2018, World’s Greatest Shave celebrated 20 years of shaving the world and was cemented as one of Australia’s most iconic fundraising events.

Australia starts shaving their heads from home.

After an unprecedented start to the year — including bushfires and the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic — The Leukaemia Foundation and the rest of Australia needed to raise funds for people living with blood cancer in completely new and creative ways. 

A new hero is born.

Australia is introduced to Max Shaver — the ultimate zip-lining, gadget-wielding, helicopter flying, wire-hanging, head-shaving action hero who is ready to kick blood cancer’s gluteus maximus! 

Cel­e­brat­ing 24 years of World’s Greatest Shave!

In 2022, the Leukaemia Foun­da­tion will cel­e­brate 24 years of World’s Greatest Shave — mak­ing it one of Australia’s longest-run­ning and most loved fundrais­ing events.

Peo­ple of all ages chan­nel their inner action-hero and shave, cut or colour their hair — sup­port­ed all the way by proud fam­i­ly, friends, col­leagues and classmates.

Some will have a per­son­al con­nec­tion to blood can­cer, while oth­ers take part sim­ply to have fun, tick some­thing off their buck­et list, and to raise mon­ey for a good cause.

More than 2 mil­lion Aussies have tak­en part over the past two decades, with an estimated 37,500 kilo­grams of hair removed!