First-time Flattop - Part 2 by Tate

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After sharing the joy of my first flattop with my parents, I went to my room and studied it in the mirror from every angle.

The sides were not skin tight. The hair was just long enough to cover the skin. But there was no styling it. No combing it back on the sides as was my custom of many years. It was still soft, and it lay just right.

The nape was tapered to show off my natural hairline, which had a nice shape. It felt a little shorter than the sides and really made my nerves tingle when I rubbed it against the grain, from bottom to top.

The top still looked too long to me. The hair at the front was at least an inch and a quarter long, maybe a little more. When I tilted my headed down, I could see that it got shorter near the crown, but you could see no skin.

I took a shower. I was curious to see if I could get my hair to stand back up. In the shower, it felt great. Why had I not gotten a flattop sooner? What had I been scared of?

When I got out of the shower, the wet look of my hair in the mirror was funny. The flattop cut is not a versatile one that can be styled in different ways; with my hair laying down, I looked ridiculous. I toweled it almost dry and combed it upright. It wouldn't stand erect on its on and was rather floppy.

I put mousse in my hair and blow dried it back up. It went right back into shape. My only surprise was that this primping process took longer than my prior haircut, which was a 4 inch long side part, just over the ears, and blocked in the back. I used to towel it dry and comb into place, apply a light hairspray, and I was done. Now, my hair was shorter than ever, and it actually took longer for me to get ready. This was a total surprise. I always assumed that shorter hair would always be quicker. Not so.

I was glad to see, however, that my fine, straight, brown hair would flattop.

Overall, I was pleased with the cut, though I knew I wanted the top a little shorter, down to about an inch tall. The sides and back looked great. My barber Kevin had done an amazing job.

I was interning in a manufacturing job for the summer, and I would be curious to hear my colleagues' reaction. A flattop was not a common sight in 1991, and I hoped they would not give me too hard of a time. I was not military, not into fashion. Honestly, I didn't really care too much what others thought. You don't get a flattop if you are sensitive about what others think of your hair.

I did it for me, and I liked it. I looked forward to getting it fine tuned on future visits to the barber, so that it looked just like I wanted. I was planning to increase my barber visits to every other week, if not every week. For me, a perfect flattop is one that looks like it never grows, and I intended to make people believe this was the case.

It was going to take some time to get used to the look. I still shocked myself when I saw my reflection or shadow. But it would take no time to get used to the feel.

It felt so good!

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