Finally by Keepitshort

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I worked out that it had taken me the best part of 10 years to finally work up the courage to do what I was about to. Amazingly I had taken inner strength from the fact that I had avoided a visit to the barbers for 4 months , which, for me, was the longest time I had had between cuts since my teenage years.
It was an old fashioned barbers , wooden chairs and waiting bench, old posters on the walls, a slight smell of hair oil and the tinny sound of old music barely audible from an ancient radio, no -one waiting so I sat down on the bench. It wasn't by chance I was here but it certainly was the way I had found it ,helping a friend move house into a flat a few doors down. As soon as I saw the shop I knew ' this was the one' a wander past a couple of weeks later only reinforced my resolve to finally make my dream come true.
Tuesday afternoon and one barber in his 60's finishing off a classic businessman's cut, off came the cape then a nod to me ' take a seat be right with you'
I settled in the chair and ran my hand through my 3 inch long brush cut, the cape fluttered over me then a neck strip and finally the cape fastened tight to my neck.
' just a tidy up , or something else ? ' he asked
My reply gave him a little shock as he combed through my locks, this was it, I took a deep breath ' well I was hoping for an american style high and tight ' I announced.
He stopped combing and considered for a few seconds ' how short on top? '
' Well as short as possible - as long as it still stands up' -I quickly added- 'you know like bristles'
He nodded his understanding ' and the sides and back?'
' The same' he looked at me quizzically ' I mean short as you can'
He nodded and picked up a set of clippers and fitted a guard to them saying 'One h'nt it'll be then, going to be quite a change for you. Headown'
As I complied the clippers touched my neck and without ceremony he drove them straight up the back of my head to the crown, holding my head in position he continued to mow the back of my head for another couple of minutes. I knew i was being shorn but with my head on my chest i couldn't see just how short. Once he released me I raised my head as, with his comb he swept my hair from right to left , then ran his clippers teeth first along the parting dropping a soft flitter of hair onto my shoulder , leaving a fine score of scalp showing, he did the same on the other side checking for symmetry , then sheared off the hair right to the scalp on either side , I let out a gasp as great sheafs of my locks were tumbling to the floor leaving me with a shaved mullet.
He changed the blade and attacked the top , swiftly the blades ran front to back with huge swathes of hair rolling down in front of my eyes and onto the nylon cape , after the first going over I now looked like a GI Joe, he changed blades again and this time attacked the left side pruning the already shorn hair down to mere shadow with the merest hint of the line he had created still visible , the right side got the same treatment and as he again ordered ' headown' I was starting to regret my ' short as you can ' instruction, this wasn' t clipper short this was clipper shaved, no guard , blades tight against my scalp.
Once he finished the back , much to my relief the clippers were hung back on their hook. He ran his fingers over my head and slowly nodded to himself , then he took a straight razor from his top pocket and once again worked a tiny line across his original parting this time leaving bare skin behind, he continued the line round the back of my head creating a white circle. He reached into the jar of blue barbercide fluid on the counter and withdrew a long fine-toothed comb , then he plugged in a set of very high pitched clippers and proceeded to slide the comb into the little hair I had left on the top and ran the clippers over the teeth shearing off the tiny ends of my hair, he worked the comb in all directions taking particular time along the shaved parting line, eventually he was happy and stood back to admire his work.
I looked at my reflection 1/4 inch bristles standing poker straight across the top of my head contrasting with the dark shadow which was all that was left of the hair which had only minutes ago adorned the sides of my head and now lay in clumps on the nylon cape and around the chair, I showed my appreciation ' Wow' I said ' that's brilliant , shorter than I expected but really good'
He looked at me quizzically and said in a stern voice ' it's not finished'
He reached into a cupboard and brought out a canister of shaving foam , which he spread liberally all over the sides and back of my head , I wanted to tell him to stop but before I got the words out the razor was stripping the shadow of hair on my right side to skin. ' Headown' and the back was scraped bare , followed by the left side . This I was not expecting and although deep down I was enjoying the sensation I was also worried about the consequences from my boss, a super short haircut was one thing but shaved ! The remnants of foam were quickly re-covered by another white layer , then he started shaving against the hair growth from sideburn up my head, then from neck to crown and finally the other side , this time wiping any traces of foam off with a soft towel. Finally he rubbed some stinging alcohol into my shaved areas and stated . 'That's the sides and back as short as I can'
As he released the cape , mounds of my hair rolled to the floor I felt the silky smooth sides and back for the first time with bristles barely 1/4 inch long adorning the top of my head , he had certainly given me the ultimate high and tight.

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