
World’s Greatest Shave Timeline
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!
Our TV ads including our famous chins have been an iconic part of the campaign for nearly 15 years.
This time around — with the introduction of Max Shaver — is no exception.