Hello all, and thanks everyone for the all the good feedback on the new course, and the birthday wishes of course! A few days later I'm liking it more and more and I think it's a keeper… also seems to look better with glasses, which is a plus.

However, I have a couple of questions for the brotherhood, especially for those with the same hair type as I have. For one, what length do you find ideal for your curly/wiry beard? In other words, at which length did you notice it "come together" instead of running wild, bulging out in odd places etc? And how do you style it? Shape it in any way (by hand, comb etc) or just let it do its thing? Personally I like to keep it as "compact" as possible as I don't really have the density to pull off the full bushy look, but I'm open to suggestions from the veterans.
Also, something I've noticed in the last few weeks is that on the left side a lot of hair are curling up and outward. With the beard being, er, so wiry it's hard to tell if they're chin hair or hair from under the chin poking through the front. It's really only noticeable on one side (the one I also consider weaker in terms of density). My hope is that it'll sort itself out with more length - it may even be the start of a major wave for all I know. Whichever the case I'm not too happy with it right now, if only cause it makes grooming a lot more complicated (and makes one side look fluffier than the other… I know, I know ). A few times I've surface-trimmed by running a clipper with no guard on parallel to the main body; this does the trick, but there are so many hairs curling this way that I'd have to clip every day, which is obviously not an option. Any of you ever had the same happen to you, and if so, how did you deal with it?

OK, that was definitely more than "a couple" of questions but bear with me, this is the longest I've ever grown it and I'm a bit out of my depth. By the way, if this all sounds like I'm running off on another head trip feel free to tell me - advice is welcome, but so is a reality check if necessary

On a side note: Razorslave, I'd say let's keep our peace for now and work our own respective styles to perfection yeah, I'm still off cigarettes, and I've taken up vaping too - one of my birthday presents was actually a homungous mod, which definitely draws a few looks when I use it in public. I'm alternating between a 12mg liquid and a nicotine free one and so far I'm very happy with it. Works WAY better than NRT at killing the cravings, and goodbye to the bloating and heartburn I used to get from nicotine mints and gums. The plan is to step down to lighter and lighter liquid in the next few months and ideally go nicotine free altogether by the summer. Once I've flushed out all the nicotine I'll probably stick with using just 0 juice until I wean myself off the psychological habit of puffing, which WILL take time (been smoking for almost 17 years).