One day late, sorry about that. I waited too late in the day and needed to use a flash which made the pictures look a bit off. So here you go, 7 weeks 1 day:

 image

image

 image

 image

So it started to poof out this week. On Monday or Tuesday my beard was a little sore. I had been brushing the hair straight down from my jawline to my throat but as you can probably see the growth pattern lowest on my neck goes the opposite direction, straight up. I think the hair was matting into itself and I was feeling the pressure on the follicles. Additionally, it's pretty clear my hair is growing faster under the jaw and closer to the ears. I started brushing in towards my chin to try to get closer to the shape I want. I've also been fluffing out the hair with a good comb to take care of the "matting". Combing it outwards solved the irritation and I can feel the beard is more even than it was.

The cheeks continue to slowly fill in but I'm not convinced they'll get properly full, especially my right cheek. Much of the new hair is the clear immature hair (can't remember the name). Does the clear hair turn darker with length or age? I'm sticking with the 12 week target before shaping.

Jon

Follow my beard journey here

Beard start date: 01-Aug-2013
Goal date: 01-Jan-2014

Every man deserves to see what his beard looks like.