can anyone reccomend a good mod for new faces/haircuts when starting a new character?

Better Heads is about as good as it gets.

For hair:

You might want to try out Kateri's conversion of http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=5357

I used to always begin a game with http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=4187

For more hair do a search on PES for Mandamus

For faces:

You could do a search for Westly and you'll find yourself spending days sorting through the faces

It depends a little on what type of character you are wanting to play - for redguards you might want to check out my http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=7493 or http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=7497

I haven't seen too many new face mods lately - Westly did provide some quick links in his faces thread for Orcs which I found to be very good - I'm not sure what his thread was called someone else might be able to provide a link

Westly's http://planetelderscrolls.gamespy.com/View.php?view=Mods.Detail&id=6173 is probably the largest, and the quality is great.
It will take you a long time to pick a head now.

I'm also a big fan of http://lovkullen.net/Emma/faces.htm. She has a lot to choose from.