Tom E: Thanks for the feedback and the merge -- I should have posted this within my original thread (I'm a newbie to all forums, not just this one!). I guess i'll just have to be really explicit with the barber next time, though I thought I'd made myself clear when I went a couple days ago. It's just so frustrating -- 2 months' growth gone with a quick stroke of the clippers!! That said, I realize it could have been much worse. In fact, everyone's been so supportive here that i'm starting to wonder if the barber did me a favour. Maybe my beard's better off with the tighter sides... in my mind I still like the wider coverage. I guess it all boils down to personal preference.

My stache is something I'm really on the fence about. It's probably the strongest growth-area of my overall beard, but I've never grown one out to the point the I've been able to shape it outwards. I'm worried now that I will have a stache suited to a longer beard with an actual beard that hasn't reached a substantial length. I know this isn't a "bad" problem to have, and likely many would prefer to have stronger growth in their stache; but it's still something I think about/am self-conscious over for my own aesthetics.

Bear69, great to hear your success story with correcting a trimming mistake. I know it's never "the end of the world," but it's good to hear about how people have recovered from mishaps like this.