Hullo all, here comes the week 6 update. Been a bit of a breakthrough week, it's not that obvious from the pics but to me the whole thing has definitely started to gel together. One development I've seen is that it's starting to curl, especially at the front where it's longer (the goat has a headstart on the sides so that's more like eight-nine weeks growth), and it takes on some really misbegotten shapes unless I keep brushing and combing through the day. Still getting odd moments when it looks weird and lopsided but I guess I'm growing into it, or it's growing on me, weak pun intended. However I've had to call on the 48 hour rule at least once when the asymmetry of the connectors got to me and I was about to get rid of both of them altogether - what I had in mind was the sort of Balbo / Hollywoodian hybrid that Christian Bale's been sporting recently. In the end I figured I can always do it AFTER the three month mark, and filed it away - but truly, growing a beard DOES put a man's control issues to the test. 

Feedback so far is either neutral or good, even my boss at work has encouraged me to keep growing it (he's got a pretty neat Django Freeman goat himself), though he joked that the MD might start to take issue with it when it grows past one foot. Only negative has come from a female colleague who's been throwing about remarks that I "should thin it out as it's too thick and looks like scrubber pad"; however when she whipped out a pic of what she considers a "good beard" - basically long stubble with the neck shaved to 1/2'' off the jawline - my reply was that "telling a man his beard's too thick is like telling him his car's too fast and his $%++$ too big: try again". That seemed to shut her up for the time being

On the quitting front, all good. Haven't gone out much in the last couple of weeks so it's easy to avoid the temptation of smoking socially. During the day I still get cravings but it's very very slowly getting better… fingers crossed. On the other hand I've calculated that with the money I have NOT spent on cigs I must be about £120 in already, and projecting that to the whole year and beyond is a huge motivator.

Here be pics. Morning beard:

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Combed, brushed and oiled:

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In natural light, weak side...

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… and strong side.

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What other people see - scraggly or not?

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Looking forward to your comments and advice gentlemen. All the best!

PS be very grateful if one the mods could add "week 6 update" to the thread title for me - I keep getting a "permission denied" message when I try to edit it myself. Thanks.

 

Last Edited By: tododuro Feb 4 14 10:45 AM. Edited 1 times.