Hello and welcome to the beardboard! On my eyes i see a beautiful red beard in the making just like Manuel's! Saying red because you yourself said that if gets red in some points plus i think i see your hair having a red-ish tint! Anyway, the growth you have at the momment in about 1 week is quite good and although you lack on some coverage on the cheeks and chin, the strong moustache you have achieved gets all the spotlight which means that people look on that first and dont see the lack of coverage! Which means that you can do two things in my oppinion! First one is to keep on growing that blooming beast and see where you will be in around the classic 3 months! Now a second option is to just sport the classic Van Dyke (moustache and chinstrap) which will look quite good in my oppinion and will get a lot better in the 3rd week, 1 month and 2nd month!

Well before you do all these though, you must get a new mindset! You must accept yourself that you will get bearded, that people around you may be harsh if you decide to do something out of the everyday you that they used to see, for example if you let your beard grow long as i'm trying to do now you may get called stereotypical names like a terrorist or such! And although they are doing it for fun they may get annoying after a while! So as i was saying you must see yourself bearded and say that i want to have a beard and dedicate yourself on that! If you see yourself in a beard and you like it, trust me the patience and willpower to hold one will come by itself! By the way the hobo stage is just another stereotypical thing! If you have your beard cared, brushed, cleaned and such it will look a lot better!

So decide what you will do, change your mindset and keep on growing that blooming beast! By the way update us every 2 weeks or so, i'm really interested in your beard!

Days of growing my beard