SOME STUDENTS SHOP AROUND FOR THE CHEAPEST PLACE TO KEEP THEIR HAIR IN TOP FORM. OTHERS LOOK FOR THE BEST ATMOSPHERE. BUT ALL ARE IN SEARCH OF A...

When it comes to finding the perfect hair cut, Provost Jerry R. Green says he has exhausted his barber options. Instead, Green has taken a balder, er, bolder, approach.

"I cut my own hair," Green says. "I have not been to a barber in 10 years because I can't stand waiting in lines."

Some students also refuse to take the plunge and place their hair in the hands of complete strangers. But few students say they trust themselves with the scissors.

While some say they wait for vacations when they can return to their hometown hair cutter, most say the trips are too far apart to prevent bad hair days--and a baseball cap may not be the answer to all their follicle problems. Instead, they must make arrangements with someone near Harvard to comb away their problems--and their options abound.

Of course, ear lowering can be a less painful, and less expensive, process if a skilled friend offers to perform the deed.

Adams House resident Frederick J. Leidner '95 says he doesn't charge to cut any sort of hair style although he says he prefers cutting straight hair instead of curly hair.

"Anything, anybody wants. Never had an unsatisfied [customer]," says Leidner. But he says he once cut hair for "a guy who had a Jheri-Curl. It was a living nightmare. All he wanted was a trim, but I have a fear of cutting curly hair."

Leidner says he started cutting hair before he came to school when he lived in New York. Although he had never attended a barber school he just started cutting hair for friends.

"We just started it," Leidner says. "We all gave each other cuts."

Customers embarking on the quest for a compatible commercial cutter need not worry, for the multitude of local shops are out to establish long-term relationships.

The key to keeping customers, according to barbers in the area, is to deliver a quality haircut.

"Loyalty in hairdressing has changed," says Joseph Gino Ruotolo, the owner of Gino who has been working in Cambridge for 20 years. "It was taken for granted in the 60s. But today, unless you deliver a quality product, loyalty, you can chuck it out the window."

According to John G. Weston, a stylist at About Hair, most people return to the salon, although they don't always go to the same hair designer.

"Students take whoever is available," he says. "It is not necessarily the same stylist."