If it helps, my beard was super patchy underneath the 3 feet of hair that completely covers it up if it still is. Growing facial hair for most people is about being able to get through the patchy part. Movember helps if you want social cover. By the end of that month, if it still looks bad, you can decide then if it’s worth continuing or shave it off when everyone else does. Secretly, that is pretty much the whole point of movember, a socially sanctioned event where no matter how bad it looks, you aren’t supposed to shave it off. And it’s for awareness of men’s health issues. But mostly the first thing, hehe.