Hello everyone, here comes the 8 weeks update from me… sorry I've vanished from the forum in the last few days and completely ignored both my thread and other folks'… my birthday has just come to pass and I've hardly been able to stop and catch my breath since last week.

As you can see, the Riker's now gone and been replaced by a tailback/Hollywoodian (so Razorslave you can rest easy, your Riker primacy remains unchallenged). Put the torches and pitchforks away though, it was an accident! Started shaving my head, got a bit too low on one sideburn, had to lower the other one to make it even, didn't like it, did away with them altogether. But if I have to be 100% honest I find it a lucky accident, as I like it better this way actually. Nothing wrong with the Riker, mind you, but this somehow seems to sit better on my face, though I'd be hard put to say how or why exactly. Guess this is what I'm going to keep till the 3 months mark and beyond, with an option to try to grow back cheeks and sideburns together if/when I'll take a shot at the full beard again.

At the two months mark now I can say all in all it's not quite as good as I hoped, but much better than I expected, and I'm still motivated to see this through to three months at least. Whatever happens I don't think I'll ever go clean shaven again - it's probably the first time in my life that (minus the odd bad beard day) I actually like the mug staring back at me in the mirror every morning! If I could change one thing, I just wish it was a bit smoother, but at least with more length the hairs are starting to find their lay and the bum fuzz stage is definitely over. Still puzzles me no end, however, the way it looks good and solid at arm's length but sort of unravels into an unsightly tangle when I look at it close-up… but I'm trying my best to avoid inspecting it closely in the first place. As someone said on another thread - "if someone can see it that close, you've got to either kiss them or punch them". Very well put.

Feedback still positive, on my birthday party I've caught up with some folks I hadn't seen in weeks and they all complimented… my ex even asked if she could touch it and remarked on how soft it felt

Now, pics.

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Close-up - definitely looking stringy, but there you go :P

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… and finally, thuggin' it up a bit.

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