Shaving My Head and mi inspiración by Joseph The Pencil Case

---

So, it all started back when I was in high school and I was fifteen years old. I was quite skinny as I am today and I never really knew what to do with my hair, it always seemed to go in directions I didn’t want it to go, but for some reason I never got a buzzcut or any other short haircut (until the events of this story that is).
At my school there were Spanish exchange students who came over to my school and sat in for some of the lessons. Each student who studied Spanish had one, and when registration began the Spanish students lined up at the front of the classroom to introduce themselves, at first, I glanced their way and gave them a smile before sitting down. However, when we’d all sat down I noticed there was a boy stood right in the centre of the line. He was kind of tall and quite skinny (kind of like me), he was dressed in plain cloths, but what caught my eye was his bald head. I don’t mean a crew cut, I don’t mean a buzzcut, I mean completely BALD. I was instantly mesmerised, I’d always liked short hair but I had no idea I loved the bald look so much, I just couldn’t stop staring (I know that sounds weird). As they introduced themselves I couldn’t stop staring, just because I’d never seen a teenager with a bald head before, and I never knew I wanted to. But I presumed he had alopecia or something, for some reason it just seemed outlandish for someone to have a full head of hair but shave it. However, once they’d introduced themselves and sat the boy’s head caught the light and I swear I saw a shadow of a full head of hair on his head. I only caught a glimpse but I was certain I’d seen it.
When the register was over and my register group had time to talk amongst themselves I got up and went over to talk to the Spanish students (take a guess why) and as I did I noticed something. Of the people that had gone over to talk to them, the one with the biggest crowd was the bald guy. At first I thought it must just be a coincidence, but I also saw the people talking to him rubbing his head and laughing (he was laughing also). And as I got closer still I heard the things they were saying.
Luckily his English was really good so he could answer the barrage of questions, I found out his name (I’ll be calling him Paul but that wasn’t his real name) and why he shaved his head. When he was twelve years old he one day got fed up with the heat and decided to get a short buzzcut, but when he moved to Portugal for a brief time he was tempted to grow it back but when he did he didn’t like it as much. That was just before he shaved his head bald.
As the day went on I couldn’t help but take quick glances at Paul, whenever he was in the same lesson as me I couldn’t help but look around. I had no idea what was going on; it completely puzzled me why this guy’s bald head fascinated me. When the school day was over I went back home and immediately went on my computer and looked up pictured of teenagers with bald heads. I found out it wasn’t just Paul, all the teenagers with bald heads completely mesmerised me. I looked through picture after picture and tried to find someone who didn’t suit a shaved head but I couldn’t find one. I wanted to shave my head, every time I thought of the idea I loved it.
Two days later, I’d mostly put the whole subject of head shaving out of my mind, I just thought of all the comments I’d get and what my parents would think. I hadn’t stopped wanting to shave my head, it was just mostly supressed and out of my mind. But that morning as I walked into school I walked into the boys’ toilets which was used as a social area more than anything, and I saw the usual group of my friends but I noticed Paul was there also. He was chatting away with the rest of the students there and this carried on for a good ten minutes, the topics had as you’d expect moved away from head shaving onto other subjects. But he eventually left the group and went over to one of the sinks, he stayed in the corner of my eye but I really didn’t pay that much attention. It wasn’t until he pulled out a small bottle of shaving cream from his bag that I started to look around at him, and predictably some of the other boys did the same, all equally confused. Nobody asked him what he was doing, they just kind of stood on in slight shock, I thought he was just joking around or he was going to shave his face or something. But sure enough he lathered up his scalp and put the razor on his head, he got through three or four strokes before he noticed just how many people were looking at him. He laughed and replied.
"I forgot to shave last night so I thought I’d do it here." He chuckled a bit more and got back to it, but to my surprise he added one last comment to the group of his colleagues.
"I’d like to see you shave your heads." It was just an off-the-cuff comment but it was seen as a challenge from the rest of the boys. I expected a reaction from everyone but I didn’t expect anyone to actually step forward to take the challenge, my first instinct was to take the challenge (I finally had an excuse) but I didn’t want to be the only one to actually go through with it. But to my utter shock about three others walked right up to Paul and said they’d do it, upon seeing this I leapt forward like it was an instinct and tried to look seem like I too was taking it as a challenge.
When Paul saw this he reached into his bag and pulled out a battery operated shaver, but as he did I saw the grin on his face and I knew why he’d challenged his colleagues. He wanted people to take him up on his challenge, this was all going to his plan.
He told the first person in the line to get his head over the sink and he did without hesitation, all the time I was expecting them all to back away at the last moment but no such thing happened. Paul put the shaver on the first boy’s scalp and gave the closest shave he could, then he handed over the razor and foam before getting the second one in the line to put their head over the sink. As this was going on it all felt like a dream, this was something I’d fanaticised about a few days ago yet here it was happening right before my eyes. Because I was the final one in the group I got to see the others who’d been shaved, they all looked cool and not a single one seemed to really regret it. They were quite the sight all jostling to see the mirror. But soon I was up on the sink and Paul started to shave my head.
As I’d read through all of these sights on head shaving, a lot of the bad by choice guys described it as an amazing experience to put a razor to their heads for the first time. And honestly I thought they were being hyperbolic, but when Paul started clipping away the hair I was immediately amazed, then when I lathered up my scalp and cleared away the hair I had left I fell in love with shaving my head. When I went to the mirror and saw my new bald head all my thoughts were cleared up, this was the look for me.
But it didn’t end there. When everyone had been shaved and the hair had been bundled up into a plastic bag (and registration was about to start) one of my fellow students walked up to Paul and made one last remark.
"I suppose you’re not the only daring person now that we’re all bald" it was yet again meant as a joke in the form of a challenge, this caused a stir among the group now that it was Paul who’d challenged us yet someone had now challenged him. Paul didn’t say anything, he just kind of had a smug look on his face like he’d just risen to the challenge yet he hadn’t done anything. But, just as we were all ready to leave Paul picked the razor, splashed some water on his face and put the razor to his eyebrows. There was more shock from that then the head shave. After a minute his eyebrows were gone and his head was completely hairless.
What happened next was the weirdest bit of all, when I saw the newly browless Paul place the razor back down again my hand jumped towards the razor. I had some idea of what I was doing but it mostly felt out of my control, it was almost like I was acting on an animalistic impulse. I grabbed the razor and shaved off my brows also. Everyone including Paul was in shock, nobody else came forward and did it with me but I didn’t care, in fact I loved being the one who stood out from the crowd just like Paul.
As we all left for our registration rooms with our new looks I ran my hand over my head, and the feeling of touching my completely smooth head without a single bit of hair was an experience I’ll never forget. My parents and teachers looked like they’d seen a ghost when they first saw me, but I didn’t care, they all got used to it.
And here I am today, still with the smooth head and still in touch with an equally bald Paul. I told myself I wouldn’t grow my hair back, three years later and I’ve stuck to it.

---