Freshened up horseshoe flat by Gator

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Freshened up Horseshoe Flat
Gator

It was Friday. I had an early morning doctor’s appointment. Once I got finished, I decided it was time to go see Greg. It had not been quite a week since my last cut; I had planned on going Tuesday morning, but time got away from me before I had to leave for work. I drove to the university and got there in time for my 1:00 PM meeting. Just so that you know, I live on the coast of Georgia, but work at a university on the western side of the state. It is a 4+ hour drive one way. I stay over there during the week and then come back to the coast on Thursday afternoon. This first day, I decided to go to Ranger Joe’s Barbershop down by Fort Benning. Nice military type cuts; very safe and most often cut by women barbers. I went to get rid of the shaggy hair on my sides and back. I got a nice razor shaved high and tight flat. I had the barberette clean-up any stragglers on top. Like I said, it was a safe cut and it was well cut.

Back at my apartment, I was thinking I wanted to get a shorter flattop. I began thinking during the week about this cut. Well, not all week, but at night was definitely the time to wonder about going shorter. A while back, Greg had been giving me a very tight minimal horseshoe; I wanted to go that short again. This would mean that I would have to get Greg to shave the sides and back higher than normal and to shave the landing strip. I was ready for this cut.

Back to today. So, after my doctor’s appointment, I drove down to Greg’s shop. I rounded the slight bend in the street and saw the two barber poles lit and twirling. It was slightly overcast, but had not started to rain. I parked the truck and entered the shop. Only one guy was in the chair; no one was waiting. Very nice.

We spoke. I watched as Greg took the older guy down to a nice tapered cut and trimmed up his beard. By this time, a couple of other older guys came it for haircuts. Greg finished up the guy in the chair and I went and sat down. I didn’t have time to ask Greg to go shorter, so I thought I’d see what he would do.

He started up the clippers and placed them about at my temple on my right side to start cutting. He went higher than normal. Sweet! I didn’t even have to ask. Greg was taking his time – slowly skinning the sides and back taking the clippers to just a slight bit above the crown. He moved the clippers down to my sideburns and slowly peeled my right side. He moved to the back, tapped my head so that I would bend my head to my chin. He took the clippers down my nape and slowly made the trip up and over my crown. Greg moved to my left side. I naturally tilted my head to the right. The clippers made their slow path from my sideburns to my crown. At this time, I looked towards the mirror. The last older guy who came in was watching me get skinned. He was slightly shocked at how short Greg was taking me. I didn’t mind – I was amused.

Greg had finished with the Osters; he grabbed a set of edgers and placed them on my landing strip. I felt the edgers move forward as he leveled off my top. The small hairs tumbled down my face and tickled my nose. I always loved that feeling. Greg finished the top. Through the mirror, I saw him grab a towel, place it under the hot water. He rung out the towel and wrapped it around my head to get me ready for the shave. Greg went in to the back of his shop to get a Mountain Dew. By this time, the towel was starting to cool off. He took off the towel, got the hot lather from the lather machine and gently spread the lather around my sides and back; the last of the lather was placed on my landing strip. Oh yes! This was going to be short! And all done without asking!!

Greg got his razor, came around to my right side. He placed the razor at the bottom of where my sideburn had been and began shaving against the growth of my hair. He slowly scrapped away the stubble. He moved from my right side, slowly around to the back and then on to the left side. He razored from the bottom up to and slightly over the crown area. Man, it always felt so great. Then, Greg took the razor to my landing strip and shaved from the crown towards my front. The main part of the shave was over; now he had gotten his hand wet and started the shave over. As he shaved, his left hand was checking for missed stubble; when he found some stubble, he moved the razor to get rid of the stubble.

The shaving was over. Greg got his neck duster, put on the Clubman Talc and then dusted my head where the shave met the clipped hair. He used a brush and then took his edgers. He turned them around to blend out the line between the shave and the hair. After he had worked on the blend, he grabbed a single blade cheap razor and smoothed out whatever stubble was left.

At last, the cut was over. I watched Greg as he grabbed his bottle of after-shave which had the Eucalyptus in it. He put some in his hands and then rubbed in all over my head. At least it was now fall so the burn was still slightly there. Much better the cold feeling when it is winter outside. He came around to take off the cape. "Good for another 1,000 miles," he smiled. I returned the smiled, and said, "Yes, sir!" His next comment? "I will see you Tuesday morning. No excuses." "Yes, sir." I knew where I’d be headed early Tuesday morning.

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