i need a haircut

it's a little too messy. my take is you want to either a) clean it up - cut it short to match/emphasize the head shape - not quite the Rock, but closer to him than where you are now, a corporate-ish look you might have to adjust to, or b) take it a bit further and grow it out somewhat - not truly long hair, but longer, for a vaguely hippie-ish look that might not be you either. you probably want 'a' when going into the job world, but you could consider trying 'b' beforehand (tho school is basically the job world, lol). either way, i'd say lose some of the sideburns with 'b' or most/all with 'a'.

can i rebrand 'vaguely hippie-ish' as 'vaguely 70s'?

Yeah, I definitely want to clean it up some at this point. I'm fortunately/unfortunately in a job right now where my appearance doesn't matter much so I tend to let it go a little.

My problem is that usually when I get it cut short I either wind up looking too straight or with some stupid rooster-crown gelled thingamabobby that I hate. Or they try to do that styled "messy" thing in the front which doesn't work that well with my hair because of the texture.

you don't want the styled messy thing, you want it just as short in the front as elsewhere. you're gonna have to get used to looking too straight. it might be easier to do that if you let yourself go really non-straight beforehand.

THE ROCK HAS AN AFRO

ok, this one is not growing in well. Can someone recommend a good, relatively reasonable place in below-14th Manhattan or nearer-Brooklyn? I've tried pretty much everywhere in JC/Hoboken and I'm fed up.

charles li hair salon, e. 19th st just west of 1st ave, on the north side of the street -- you wont' regret it

http://www.welovelocal.com/en/london/islington/highbury/barbers/hair-machine-n78jz.html

indeed

I think I might get my hair cut like Hitler's again. You know, for the lulz.

where do you all go in london these days? been going to stamp on bethnal green road, it's decent but i never feel like they deserve 30 quid, not least cos the staff change so often you hardly have the same person twice, hence no conversation or memory of who you are.

has anyone got their haircut by toni and guy students for 5 quid or whatever or is this just an urban myth? sounds good...

a few friends of mine have done the toni and guy student thing - it's not always good, apparently (a friend had a four-hour 'haircut' that mostly was some trainee cackhandedly straightening her hair after cutting about half an inch off and leaving a bunch of split ends in). but i guess at free or five pounds of whatever it is you can always just get it fixed later if necc.

there is a really good place called 'studio stage door' in muswell hill, mostly staffed by japanese people, not dreadfully expensive and all the haircuts i've seen from there look good and wear well. on the other hand, fuck muswell hill.

Yeah otm, it is a bit far. I don't even mind spending 30 quid or whatever because hair is an item of clothing you wear daily! Like a smile! Just want to feel they deserve the 30 quid. My old hairdresser might ask "what have we done to make you leave?" to which I would say "what have you done to make me stay"

Been going to 'enry 'iggins on flask walk NW3 for the past couple of years and it's doing me very nicely. Cool, but not intimidatingly cool.