Not to be gender-stereotypical, but I've found at least here that male hairdressers are much more willing to comply with what you want and giving you things like "low-maintenance" (though part of that may be that I've had very few female hairdressers who believe me when I tell them how short I want my hair to be)

But going on recommendations is usually good!

The Dark is Rising series is among my all-time favoritest ever. I'm planning to reread it as soon as I finish with the Belgariad series that I'm working on right now. Cooper is such a wonderful writer.

Yes, recommendations from friends whose hair you like is one of the best ways to find a hair person. And when you find a good one, you have to hang on to him/her like gold. (I had a scare a few years ago when it seemed like the person who's been cutting my hair for years and years had gone out of business. The panic at the prospect of having to find someone new was quite intense.)

Not yet. I hope to get to the other series' soon too. :)

*barges into conversation*

OMG other people who have read the Belgariad! Yay! I actually just finished rereading the Mallorean before winter break ended (I love Silk, but I especially love Silk and Barak).

Yeah, Barak is the one who has the bear-tendencies.

Yeah, the books do descend into cliche a bit. But I have been quite enjoying them none-the-less.

Yeah, Barak's the berserker. And he and Silk had that "Odd Couple" type relationship that I'm such a sucker for.

I did love those books, even though they did contain every fantasy fiction cliche ever written

They really did, but I love them anyway. I think because they didn't seem to take themselves too seriously. And there was lots of humor, which will get me to forgive a lot in terms of the cliche factor.

Eddings' other series, though? Took themselves too seriously and were not nearly as enjoyable. I actually gave up his books after awhile.

*pets you and your curls gently* Hope you find some hair resolution that you are happy with! I think you do have to go in with the attitude that it's *your* hair, and no one knows it better. Let them know what you *don't* want (high maintenance style, etc.), and then it's their job to come up with something that meets the requirements. But it helps to have a 15 minute conversation with them before any cutting happens, just so everyone is clear!

I love the Run Lola Run and The Saint soundtracks. The Matrix one is really good. Um, Transformers isn't bad either.

You can do it! Channel Sam Carter punching Ba'al in the face. ;D That'll raise your confidence!

OK, I would highly recommend renting Run Lola Run (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130827/) - it's a fascinating movie. And you've never seen The Saint? With Val Kilmer? It's a little cheesy, but entertaining. And Transformers... robots turning into cars! Things blowing up! More things blowing up! What's not to love? ;)

Because Dirty Dancing is exciting and gothy? I do like the X Files film soundtrack though, despite not having seen any X Files ever.

Good luck with the hairdresser, though (although low-maintenance and curly? Beyond one-length-in-a-ponytail, that exists!?)

*has to read some Susan Cooper, as feels sadly lacking*

Thanks for the hint! I tend to make up my mind about books fairly early on, but if/when I ever find a copy, I'll stick with it. (although I might keep my Welsh pronounciation to myself - Liverpool is far too close to Wales to attempt it without being mercilessly mocked *g*)

It always sort of astounds me when I hear that someone hasn't been to a hairdresser in years. I'm going on 12 years with my hairdresser. I had my hair butchered so many times before I found him. Dennis is the god of hair as far as I'm concerned. I can take him a picture and say 'I want that' or I can say to him 'I tired of this, I want something new.' It always come out fabulous. And he always takes the time to give me some tips on styling the new 'do and how to change it up. I've been obsessed with vintagehair lately and Dennis gave me a little tutorial on pin curls and some setting tips. Not to mention he fixed my color after the unfortunate 'I'm going to dye my hair purple for DragonCon and then fix it before I go back to work, but I some how ended up with hair the color of Raggedy Ann' incident.

But enough squeeing about Dennis. Since he's on the other side of the Atlantic from you that doesn't help. It's been my experience with haircuts is you get what you pay for. You don't have to pay an outrageous amount for a haircut, but if you pay 10 bucks for a hair cut, your hair usually ends looking like it cost 10 bucks. Personally, I'd rather pay a bit more, than be too embarrassed to go to work the next day or have to pay someone even more to fix it.

Hey, when you come over for Dragon*Con I can hook you up with Dennis. Savannah's not too far from Atlanta. : )

Muzak for you:

Nick Cave- Let Love In

http://www.sendspace.com/file/nbwnh6

Nick Cave- Abbatoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus

Disc 1

http://www.sendspace.com/file/yy0t1o

Disc 2

http://www.sendspace.com/file/j095zj

I've got some other stuff for you too, but I don't have time to upload them tonight.

^^;; I have a ridiculously good relationship with my hairdresser. She simply rocks. I have yet to have a bad cut from her and I'm so loyal that I only get my hair cut when I'm home. Granted, I also have a freakishly good relationship with my dentist... O_o

I wish you the best of luck conquering your fear!!!

Good hair people are hard to find. I have curly hair, too, although mine seems to be of the "Don't do too much to me, and we'll get along fine" variety. This was a hard, painful lesson to LEARN, though.

I've come across all KINDS of Heyer references since I read some of her books. It's pretty awesome. And Simon the Coldheart was delightfully over-the-top. (He's cold, but kindhearted! And ugly! But attractive! And she's just the right hellcat for him!)

I haven't tried the detective ones yet. *scribbles on book list*

You have my sympathy. I have hair that is so thick I have to keep it very short and thinned or else I end up with really bad excema in it. I'm mid haircut at the moment so am sort of Daniel season four at the moment. It also has a mind of its own, and if not cut properly (not many people know what to do with it) looks terrible ...

Speaking as someone who also has uncontrollable curly hair, finding a good hairdresser is hard. The best one I ever had knew exactly what to do because both he and one of his kids had hair almost exactly like mine. But then he started getting really eccentric (cutting dog chewies with his hair scissors while I was sitting in the chair. Not the pair he was using on my hair, but still.) and I've been wandering in the wilderness ever since.

Don't be afraid to describe exactly what you do to your hair in the morning because sometimes the hair dresser's idea of low maintenance is 20 minutes of styling since they do this for a living. Or make them describe exactly what kind of styling and product the cut they're proposing would require. I've had hairdressers say, "Oh it's simple, you just do this, this, and this and use these three products, and you're done." And then I very gently explain that I don't know how to any of those things and that any morning routine longer than five minutes is going to be seriously incompatible with my lifestyle.

I really need to re-read The Dark is Rising series. I've re-read The Grey King recently but not the others since I was a kid. I was such a huge fan of them.

I soooo feel you on the hairdresser issue. My hair has been doing that weird curly/wavy/straight thing the past couple of years, where the right side curls more than the left and the back isn't curling much at all anymore. But no matter how many times I tell most hairdressers this, they don't believe me and they cut both sides the same and one side always ends up looking shorter than the other. I finally found a hairdresser who knows what she's doing, but she's ridiculously expensive.

*sigh* What I wouldn't give for thick, straight hair sometimes.