Thanks for the good thought Shaker! I think you're in a better cheek situation than I am, so your path is looking great imho.

Erik, no offense taken whatsoever. I think what you said is spot on and I really appreciate the advice.  Accepting that I will definitely be clearing my non sideburn cheeks is actually sort of a relief because they've looked so messy for several weeks now. I was getting a little apprehensive about the possibility of people telling me to leave them alone, even past the 13 week mark to 'give them time'.  

So if I go with the likely scenario that my cheeks (excluding sideburns) need to go and that I won't have a connected mustache, what are my options? I don't think I'll be able to connect a van dyke, so that probably isn't in the cards for me.  From reasearching styles I wonder if a balbo would be my best bet, as the style is shaved in the places I'm weakest but features the areas I have strength? In any case, I'm not in a hurry to do anything rash so I will keep looking into it.  As always, comments and suggestions are welcome and appreciated.

Nos