Wet hair shows longer than dry hair. When you trim it wet, the hair shrinks back as it dries, and the shape you wanted disappears. One side ends up shorter than the other, and you're back in front of the mirror trying to fix it.

Wait until your beard is fully dry before you pick up the trimmer. Dry hair shows you the real length, the real shape, and exactly where you need to clean things up.

Your jawline is not your neckline. This is the single most common mistake and it turns a solid beard into a chinstrap overnight. One inch too high and the whole thing looks wrong.

Place two fingers above your Adam's apple. That's where your neckline should sit. Trim everything below that line clean and follow a slight U-shape from ear to ear. Keep the line soft and natural.

If you want to take off half an inch, start with an eighth. The trimmer doesn't have an undo button. One pass too many and you've lost weeks of growth in two seconds.

Start two guard sizes longer than you think you need and work your way down in small passes. It takes an extra five minutes but it saves you a month of regrowth.

Your beard hair grows in different directions depending on where it is on your face. When you trim against the grain before you've shaped anything, the trimmer catches hair at uneven lengths and leaves you with choppy, patchy spots you can't fix without going shorter.

Start by trimming with the grain to get the bulk down and the shape dialed in. Once the shape is where you want it, you can do a light pass against the grain to clean up any strays.

Beard trimming is difficult, extremely difficult. And finding a quality beard barber is even harder!! Don't worry, that's what we're here for!

We've made every beard trimming mistake at least a few times over the years, and we're going to share everything we know so you can save yourself the pain of hacking off months of growth.