series of bad haircuts

I'm an older guy, and never thought I'd be posting on this kind of board. For my entire life, I've kept a simple, low-maintenance style. I have moderately wavy hair that I prefer to keep pretty short, with no sideburns and a square back -- slightly shorter on the sides than on top. After a shower, all I had to do was brush it for a strokes and be on my way.

I've been going to the same barbershop for about 7 or 8 years. About a year ago, I came home from a haircut which seemed fine. The next day, after I washed my hair (taking the gel out, shampooing, rinsing), my hair hasn't been right since. Hairs stick up from the top of my head - especially toward the front. It's not my entire scalp -- only some hairs, but enough of them so that it's noticeable.

I've had several people cut my hair since, in different barbershops and everytime I come home from a haircut, it seems OK. But the day after, after a shower, it starts sticking up (and I've been having the barber/beautician not cut it as short as in the past, but it doesn't seem to matter). So, for the last year or so, I've had to use jel to keep it from sticking up. I feel that if it was cut right, I wouldn't have to since I never had to before in all this time. Even the jel doesn't work sometimes. And when it does, my hair starts to stick up again after a while.

Does anyone have any pointers for me? How can I get out of this rut? How can I get back to having low-maintenance hair w/o having it stick up, and is there something I should tell the barber/beautician?

Thank you.

Well Freddie, I am not a stylist or barber or anything, but I had the same problem a while back. I went from using the gel you buy at a grocery store to a gel used at a salon (Paul Mitchell styling gel) and it works much better. Hope this helps.

Actually, I'm 27. Older is a relative term since it seems most people here are, like, 12.

Interesting replies - thanks. Maybe my hair is changing. I've had the same easy haircut for years now, but maybe my hair needs more work. Great comment about the gel. Although I never wanted to put chemicals in my hair, applying the same gel as the barber under the same conditions might be better than what I'm doing now.