I want to change my hair style to something that makes me look older and more confident. Gambler's book, "The Natural", suggests that I visit a good salon and ask them for suggestions that fit my face and hair type. I've only ever gone to the discount places like supercuts.

Anyone have any suggestions for a place in the NH/Boston area? Ideally I'd get something that I don't have to do much with, because I don't want to spend more than a few minutes getting ready in the morning.

Dude, a hair stylist can only cut your hair a certain way. Yes. Go get a good hair cut. But you're going to have to style it if you want it to look good every day.

Yes, there will be an element of styling regardless of the cut you have. However, if you get a great cut, the styling can be as simple as a quick bit of wax in your hair, rub palms together for 5 seconds, run through hair, done. If it's a bad haircut you're going to have to start arranging it into the style you want, whereas a good hair cut should fall into that style easily when it's got a bit of hold from a wax or mousse or gel or whatever.

Unfortunately, I'm not from Boston so can't help. Beware, you'll probably pay a bit more, but it's usually worth it. Often, you can have one really good hair cut and then maybe two "trims" or "tidy-ups" at a cheaper place before you need a great hair cut again.

Finally, how old are you? When you say you want to look older and more confident, I'm guessing you're probably teens or early twenties? Looking older often means going shorter and more conservative with your hair - in which case, a traditional barber might be the best place for you after all.

In saying that, yeah go to a salon and ask - I'm always surprised by how many men don't pay enough attention to their hair. It really can transform you from average to just above average - which can be quite a big difference!

Thanks. I'm 28, but I have a young face and people usually think I'm 22-24ish. My haircut, a buzz cut, probably doesn't help with this.

I realize whatever I do is going to take a little effort, but I don't want to be spending 10 minutes every morning on it or looking at it in the mirror 10 times a day. I'd think a good stylist should be able to find something that fits within this criteria (looks good and low-maintenance).

Any tips on how to find a good barber/stylist? Or do I just call some places and ask, and if so, what do I ask?

Other than word of mouth recommendations from friends and stuff like that, the only real way to see how good a stylist is, is to actually have your hair cut there and see. The one big sign pre-cut is how much of a conultation they have. The best stylist I have ever had used to sit down and have a good 5-10 minute chat about what I wanted, he would mess around with my hair practicing what he was going to do and analyse what my hair needed - then ask me about it (slight receding hairline, so he always used to ask about whether I wanted those bits leaving longer than the middle to hide it slightly etc.). A bog standard barber tends to say "what can I do for you?" you tell them, then they do their own thing anyway.

If you find a stylist who actually listens to what you want and then gives you exactly that, just stay there! They're harder to find than you might think, certainly in England.