Justin and His Wonderous Scalp Cream by Josephthepencilcase

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Micky stood at the till of the shop completely confused; he had no idea what to think of his desire to shave his head. It was something that had been going on for some time, he remembered sitting outside the barber’s shop in his town hoping for someone to get a buzzcut or a full head shave. But lately it had begun to really get to him, the temptation to go bald was becoming almost too much to the point where he consistently gave himself a number 3 buzzcut hoping it would be enough, but it wasn’t. Mickey’s friends and family were so confused when his thick surfer hair went so short, but he didn’t care. The clumps of hair falling from his head, how light his head felt, the shape of his head, even the slight breeze of the wind against his scalp all were very enjoyable but Mickey new he’d never really be satisfied until he finished the job.
He soon snapped out of this thought, the customer in the shop had gone up to pay for a coat from the third rack. The walls covered in clothes and the room packed with racks mostly obscured Mickey from view giving him time to ponder his thoughts. And right now going bald was the only thing he could think about. So when the woman had left he slid into the back room, a small room used mostly for storage covered by a rack of scarves. Mickey slid into it like it was an entrance to an abandoned grove and stepped over the many boxes of clothes to the mirror. As he stared into it he once again (for the third time that day) he inspected his reflection, and sure enough the same face stared back at him. He was quite good looking, he had defined features and a strong jawline with a perfectly round head; none of this was given attention as he stared deep into his hair. It was the same thick layer of short brown hair that he’d had for months but he was sick of it, when he felt his scalp he longed to shave it. Also, he reckoned he had the perfect head for it from what he’d seen.
As Mickey stared into the mirror he soon heard a familiar voice.
"Mickey, you in here?"
"Yes, just give me a second"
Mickey made his way back over the boxes to see Kyle. Kyle was an old friend of his, they went way back and they’d even had the same haircuts up until Mickey’s change of style. But as Mickey re-entered the main area of the shop he was taken a back, for sure enough Kyle was standing at the counter but he was completely bald. Mickey almost jumped a mile, this was such a coincidence considering what he’d been just pondering over. At first, he was trying to figure out what the polite thing was to say upon seeing Kyle’s new style, but he didn’t have to.
"What do you think?" Kyle asked with a grin, even turning slightly to give Mickey a better view.
"Well, yes, it looks, well, great." Mickey tried to reply, completely stumbling over his words. "You’ve got a great head for it" was this polite to say? It was true though.
"Thanks, I’ve been wanting to get this done for ages now but I never have." Mickey could barely believe it, he wanted so desperately to shave his head and here his friend was right from the barber’s chair.
"Why did you do you go through with it? Did you lose a bet?" Mickey joked.
"I heard from a friend of mine that there was this place where they provide a special head shaving service when the shop closes. It keeps a low profile because of how strangely radical it is." Kyle explained still with the grin on his face, he was loving all the attention. But Mickey blurted out his next words like Kyle were about to run away.
"Where is it?" These words just tumbled out, his voice has such a desperate tone he feared what Kyle would think of him. But Kyle just chuckled and leant over the counter as if someone were listening in on the conversation.
"There’s a little barber’s shop in the town centre called Justin’s, the shop closes at nine pm but if you knock on the door in the hour after Justin will give you the service. But I’ve got to warn you, it’s not your average headshave, there’s another procedure that you may not be comfortable with." This just intrigued Mickey more.
"How much is it?"
"He gives them out free of charge, oh and don’t tell him this the first you’ve heard, you’ve got to be pretty much on the inside already before he gives you the service."
"I’ll do it tonight."
"If you’re quite sure then go for it, can’t wait for you to join the bald club mate." And with that Kyle left the shop leaving Mickey with a level of excitement he’d never felt in years. But after Kyle had left Mickey noticed a strange detail, Kyle’s hair used to be just as thick as Mickey’s and was even darker, he had no signs of thinning hair or any such balding yet he had no sort of shadow on his head. From what Mickey noticed from men who were bald by choice on the internet was that even when they had the closest shave possible there was still some sort of shadow left over yet Kyle had no such thing. Now this was the sort of thing Mickey wanted but it left him wondering, but he put this out of his mind and it stayed there.
When Mickey had finished his shift at the shop he headed straight for Justin’s to be as early as possible, he remembered what Kyle said about being on the inside. Mickey had never noticed the shop before that day, it wasn’t a big town and he’d been living there for some time. As he fought through the cold winds and the dark he eventually made it to Justin’s. It was just as it had been described, it was a small place with an authentic sign and every window including those on the doors were covered by blinds. Mickey followed the instructions he’d been given and tapped on the door, at first it sounded like nothing was happening but after a few seconds the door swung open a crack to reveal half a face peaking from behind. Mickey recoiled at the bright light that shone through the shop as it contrasted to the dark of the night.
"Who are you?" A stern voice from inside the shop.
"My name is Mickey and I’m here for one of your headshaves."
"Who told you." Clearly this was a man with little patience and slight paranoia.
"Kyle, I really wanted to know how he went bald."
"But Kyle was in here a few days ago!" The man shouted as if Mickey had caused great offense, but maybe he had.
"Please sir, I’ve been wanting to be bald for months and things are becoming desperate. Also, I want to know about your great service, I’ve been told wonderful things." Upon hearing this the man yanked the door open further to reveal himself. He was tall and slim with a perfectly bald head that shone under the bright lights, but to Mickey’s surprise he was a young man who couldn’t have been over older than thirty. But he had no sought of sign of hair on his head, just pure scalp.
"You seem genuine enough, but tell Justin that I’ll be more cautious of those he sends in the future. My names Justin as I’m sure you’ve guessed" Justin vanished inside the shop and Mickey obediently followed. The inside of the shop was styled just like an old-fashioned barber’s, the same panelling and chairs with a record player in the corner. As Mickey inspected the shop Justin rushed around collecting things scattered around the room, he never spoke a word as he went. Even when he’d set all of his things down he only gestured to the far seat, once again Mickey obediently followed this command.
"Are we ready to get started?" Mickey timidly asked but there was no reply. Justin only approached and firmly grabbed Mickey’s head, he sharply moved his victim’s head around to inspect what he was working with. Then he reached for the clippers he’d just set down and began to shave, Mickey was in heaven. He’d never felt the clippers with no guard before, it was a wonderful sensation to feel in against his head and the feeling of lightness on his scalp was on an entirely different level. Mickey tried to savour the moment, but Justin’s hands worked quickly and eventually the number 3 hair was down to a number 0. Mickey bit his lip in anticipation of what he knew was coming next, and as he’d predicted the barber pulled out a razor and cream. He closed his eyes as he felt the cream being applied and the razor gliding over his head, this was it, he was finally getting what he always wanted, and he was happier than he expected. Once again Justin was such a master of hair cutting the procedure took only minutes and before Mickey knew it his head had been shaved. He finally opened his eyes to look at his new look for the first time, and what he saw took his breath away. Just as he’d predicted his head was of perfect shape, his features completely complemented his bare head and the feeling was beyond what he imagined. And when he took out his hand to feel his scalp his heart leapt a mile, but something still wasn’t right, and he quickly realised what it was. His scalp had a clear shadow, in fact under the light he could clearly see where his hairline was. His heart sank slightly but he didn’t let this show, he kept on smiling and rubbing his head as he expected this was the end of the service. But when he got up to leave Justin’s hand quickly grabbed his shoulder and almost pushed him back into the chair.
"You’re forgetting the last step." These were the first words Justin had uttered since the headshave began. Mickey couldn’t believe he’d forgotten the other procedure Kyle had warned him about, even thought he was still clueless as to what it was. Justin reached into once of the large pockets on his apron and pulled out a jar of purely white cream. Mickey had no idea what it could be, it wasn’t labelled and the jar didn’t resemble something a normal cosmetic product would be kept in.
"You must not tell anyone of this step, even if you are recommending my service. This cream will make you truly bald, forever." Mickey’s heart raced like it had just been thrown off a cliff, but he wasn’t sure whether it was from excitement or fear (or a bit of both).
"Now then, you may walk out of here at the stage you’re at, or we can finish the procedure." Once again Mickey’s words tumbled out without control.
"Do it, this feels right." This felt absurd, he felt like he should’ve got up and ran out by this point, he felt like he should’ve found the idea absurd. But no such thing happened, he wanted this.
"If you’re sure, this is your last chance." Justin uttered these final words but Mickey said nothing, and with that Justin slowly unscrewed the lid and put a large dollop of the highly opaque cream onto Mickey’s scalp. He massaged it in, he covered every single bit of Mickey’s scalp, no part was safe. At first Mickey felt nothing, but just as Justin finished and took a step back his scalp began to burn. It was a bizarre sensation like ants were in his skull, it escalated further and further until Mickey couldn’t bare but looked down at the floor and squirm around in the chair in pain. Over the sound of his own cries he could just about make out Justin’s words.
"Don’t worry, you’ll be fine. This doesn’t last long, you’re doing so well!" Mickey could barely process these words as the burning reached its peak. But just as Justin said, the pain soon faded and Mickey made his way back onto the chair properly and looked in the mirror once more. Justin walked in with a towel almost instantly and wiped off the cream from Mickey’s scalp which was still very sensitive.
When Justin wiped away the excess cream Mickey saw what he came for, the shadow was long gone and now his scalp was completely free of hair. He had been freed from hair and he was finally satisfied.
After that day Mickey’s hair never came back, he always had a strange feeling that he’d come to regret his decision, but he never did. He and Kyle never stopped loving the bald look.

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