Nothing ON Top?! by Barbershop Thrill

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Nothing On the Top?!

Disclaimer (This story was written as pure fiction and not meant to be realistic. It revolves around a mistake that results in becoming MPB during a haircut so if that doesn’t float your boat it’s not for you. If you like long descriptive barbershop sensory stories and your losing your hair you may like it.)



Chad ran his comb into the thick tall pompadour that sat on top of his head like a big crown. It was black and shiny and he loved how silky it felt when he patted it in place. He looked like a black haired version of the cartoon character Johnny Bravo except he had just grown a full black beard.

However, to get his haircut looking right he knew he need to get it cleaned up. About 6 months earlier he had decided that having his sides and back tapered and bald faded needed constant upkeep and since money was tight as a college student he decided to go old school and grow the sides out. Up until now he was only having the top of his hair trimmed so his sides were now long enough to use some gel or pomade. He had looked up some retro 50’s haircuts on Pinterest and he learned that they used to call full swept back sides "fenders." He also had started to comb his hair in back into a ducktail. Now, he wanted it to cut well so it would flow together better in the back and the bottom area would be the right length to flip in an upward curl like he had seen guys do in some pictures.

Chad and his roommate were headed to the campus barbershop to be the first to, "do the deed." Which was what the guys in the fraternity were calling the beard shave they were all about to have. The fraternities on campus had all decided to raise money for Men’s Cancer research by participating in Movember, but because they were young they allowed themselves to grow beards first and they could start growing at the beginning of the school year to actually have enough growth.

The Movember challenge has men wear a moustache for donations in November and it worked out perfectly that today was Halloween. Chad thought that made it a perfect time to change what he looked like. Cory, his roommate and best friend was a little more reluctant to shave the new beard he had grown. He and Chad both were lucky to be able to grow dense beards and his was dark brown. He had grown to like how his beard made him look older and more mature. He even stopped getting carded at the bar and sometimes hot older women would look for his attention when they went out.

Cory turned to Chad and asked, "Do you think this is a good idea? I mean, do you think I’ll look good with only a moustache? I like that my beard makes me look older." "Sure dude. It’s all how you carry yourself. Here put some of this Swagger Deodorant on!" said Chad as he tossed the stick to him. "Very funny!" said Cory. "Besides you’ve got a great chin so you’ll look like a hero and get all the babes," said Chad. "Ok then! Let’s do this," said Cory now encouraged.

Cory watched Chad doing his hair in the mirror and asked," Aren’t we going to the barbers? Why do you need to comb it just so now?" "So I can know how to tell the barbers to cut it. You said you were ready to get yours cut like mine right? So I’m figuring out what to say." "Ok. That’s probably a good idea," said Cory. "Do you really think I’ll look ok with hair like yours?" Cory’s hair was long in a hockey player style. It parted in the middle and flowed down the sides of his head like shiny brown silk. It covered his ears and almost reached his shoulders in the back. "Sure! Your hair is just as long as mine on top and since your sides and back are already long you have all the goods. You just need me to be the example for your barber to follow."

The two guy’s walked down the street into town from their Frat house. As they got near the barbershop Cory saw Chad checking out his hair in the storefront windows reflection. It started to hit him more that he would be walking back to the house with the same hair as Chad in a hour or so. Cory ran his fingers into the flowing hair that covered his ears on the sides until they escaped out of the long flow he had in the back and looked at Chad with anxiety building. "I think I’m going to miss my Man Mane dude," Cory said. "Don’t worry. You can always grow it back. You’re going to look great with a sweet pomp just like this when we are done," Chad said as he patted the top of his hair. "It’s kind of addicting to seeing how high you can get it."

They reached the barbershop and it was just opening. "This must be the retro barbershop Jake told me about," said Chad. They wanted to be the first ones there so there was no waiting. Also, this was the day the Movember fundraiser required participants to shave by so the other Frat brothers would eventually be waiting in line.

They entered the shop and saw the two barbers just putting on white barber tunics. Chad notice they were both stocky masculine looking men in their early 50’s and had dark moustaches. "They have moustaches so they should be skilled with the Movember idea," said Cory. While both men had full male pattern baldness but dark hair on the sides that had just started to turn a distinguished gray. He would have to thank his friend Jake for the good recommendation because he could see that the barbers had their hair on the sides and back styled in a 50’s style just how he was looking to get his. Swept back into classic full fenders with the back forming a cool ducktail. They even had the bottom of the ducktail curled upward at the bottom like he had seen in pictures. Just what he was hoping for.

"First in the door young men. I’m Bob. I’m Ned. Have a seat." "Chad." "Cory," they each said and went and sat down in the two chrome and red vinyl barbers chairs. There was short dividing wall between the chairs with hooks holding a white pinstriped cloth cape, and a rack with a shelf holding clippers, brushes, a spray bottle, pomade and a hairdryer. The wall separated each work station so the barbers could see each other but Cory and Chad could not see each other directly when they sat down. This was a little strange to Cory but he remembered it was like that at Great Clips so he figured it was to give some sense of personal attention to each customer.

Bob spun the chair around so Cory was facing the station mirror. "What are we going to do today," asked Bob as he picked up a 6" brown lock of hair on the top of Cory’s head and then dropped it back down. Cory realized he could see around the divider wall by looking in the mirror that stretched across the two barber stations. He could see the top of Chad’s black pompadour because his head was tipped forward while the barber was fastening a cape around his neck. Cory ran his hands through his hair on top and said, "Well, I would like to have my hair cut like my friend Chad’s so I better let him explain how to cut it. "Ok, I can do that," said Bob. Cory felt that this was a good decision since Chad had experience with having a pompadour so he would know just what to say. Now he could relax and put his hair in the barber’s hands so he put his earbuds in and closed his eyes to listen to his music.

Bob leaned over the wall as Chad was answering the same question to Ned. Because Chad’s chair was turned toward the large shared mirror Bob could see him well. Ned was standing behind him to get instructions. "So what are we up to today," said Ned as he inspected the shiny black pompadour in front of him? Chad started, "Well first we are here to get our beards shaved off for a Movember fundraiser challenge. The fraternities on campus are all doing it so we need a shave but leave our moustaches. Our fraternity decided to modify the rules so we can now have moustaches that are already grown in by the start of November instead of just having a month to do it.

Ned looked at Bob and said, "Sounds good so far. You both have good beard growth so we can trimmed them into really nice moustaches. Are you getting a haircut too? "Yes, I’m really glad my friend Jake recommended you because I’m letting the sides grow out so I can have it cut in 50’s style with fenders just like you and Bob have," he said looking at Ned and Bob. "So just like ours," said Ned with his eyebrows raise.

"And the back?" asked Ned touching Chad’s head in the back with his hand. "I also want to leave it longer in the back too so it can form a good ducktail like yours, but don’t trim much off the bottom." Chad reached back and pointed to the bottom of the back of his hair and said, "I’d like to leave it long enough to keep these curls at the bottom of the ducktail so that it forms a flipped up curl at the bottom like you guys also. "Ok, we can give you a tow hook in the back like ours." Laughed Ned.

"And on top?" "Nothing ( just then a car honked it’s horn right outside the shop) the top." Ned’s eyebrows raised up again in surprise and he said, "Excuse me a moment." He walked over to Bob at the wall and with his back to Chad his face showed his shock as he mouthed the words slowly, "Nothing on the TOP?!" He turned back to Chad so he was now standing in front of him. He could see the kid had putting in his earbuds in like Cory and could hear some kind of music.

Ned wanted to make sure he understood right so he gently put his hand on top of Chad’s soft pompadour and looking at him directly he asked, "Nothing on top? Like ours?" Chad couldn’t hear much over the sound of the heavy metal music that was piping into his ears. "Yes, Nothing! And please scissors only. No clippers. Shaving my beard with them is okay." He said loudly over the music.

"Ned looked back at Bob and then back to Chad. "You want it to look just like mine and Bob’s but no clippers. Is that what you want?" and he said as he ran his hand over the top of his head. Chad was now fully listening his music and getting a little annoyed by the barber who seeming to want to keep questioning him over what he thought were pretty clear directions so he replied, "Yeah…Scissors only.... Go for it." he said over the sound of the music in his ears.

Ned looked at Bob and they both shrugged. Ned spun Chad’s chair around to face the picture window to the street. Then Ned had an idea. He went back to his counter by the dividing wall where Bob was still standing with a shocked look on his face. Ned said to Bob, "These fundraiser haircuts like ST.Baldricks bring us business but this is a new one. " "Never thought we’d get college guy’s wanting our haircuts," said Bob.

Ned paused a moment then said, "We can use our bald faders on their beards but since he said scissors only on his hair I have an idea. We can use that new stuff that barber supply rep dropped off" "What stuff?" asked Bob. Ned reached into his cabinet drawer and pulled out a white tube. "This Clear Cutt stuff. Remember that barber supply rep used it on us. What did he say? To get rid of any remaining scraggly saplings we had left on top?" "Oh yeah," said Bob scratching his bald dome. I didn’t have much to clear away so I had forgotten. But these kids have full forests. Will it work?" "The rep said it works in 20 minutes. We can section off the long hair on top and just cut it away really short with scissors. We can take our time getting a natural shape like ours. This stuff should make a thinned out hairline that’s more natural than if we used clippers anyway. While the Clear Cutt is doing its thing we can clipper off their beards and give them a good face shave and then cut their sides and back. I’ll set this timer so we leave it on long enough. Then we just have to shampoo the Clear Cutt away, do a little trimming and style them up." "Sounds like a plan," said Bob and he returned to his Chair.

Bob spun Cory’s chair around to face away from the station mirror so he could use it to assess his cutting. It also positioned it so he could tip the chair back to wash Cory’s hair in the sink mounted under the mirror. Picking up the white pinstriped cape from its hook he whipped it forward like a matador and it floated down over Cory. Cory helped by lifting his long hair aside in the back so Bob could put a paper strip around his next and fastened it. Once it was snug Cory let his hair go and it spilled down over the cape. Bob shook his head at the sight and let out low whistle as he combed through Cory’s flowing mane. He leaned over the wall and said to Ned. "I hope these two raised a lot of money doing this. Such nice hair," he said as he combed through it.

"Pushht." Bob sprayed Cory’s hair with his spray bottle and began sectioning off the top area with his comb and with some large hair clips. Then the barbers then picked up their scissors and began snipping off the hair that was sectioned off on top. Chad’s pompadour made separating the top from the sides a lot easier.

Once a horseshoe shaped hairline separated the top hair from their sides they pulled out their scissors. Starting at the back Ned slid his comb against Chad’s scalp and gently snipped away the pompadour’s strands. "Snip, snip, snip," went the shear blades and 5 inch dark locks were severed off and combed backward off Chad’s head. The barbers at first were tentative as they started cutting off what was clearly really nice hair.

"This could have been a really nice flattop," lamented Ned. However, they soon got into the shear fun of making such a change and long severed strands of hair began to rain down to the floor as they combed up the hair, held it in their fingers, snipped it off, and dropped it to the floor. The barbers looked at each other and in competition started seeing how fast they could comb, snip, and drop the locks of hair. I didn’t take long and the two young men were left with what looked like haphazard scissor cut brush cuts on top. Chad’s pompadour and Cory’s mop top were now just piles of hair laying on the floor behind the chairs and Ned and Bob slowed down.

"At least we have some experience with this cut." said Ned smiling. "Turn around. I want to see how your hairline is in the back. I’m using you as a model." said Bob laughing. They spent a few minutes carefully snipping the natural bald man’s hairline around the tops of their customer’s heads getting it even on each side.

Chad and Cory were blissfully listening to their music when the barbers began massaging the Clear Cutt cream into the short brush cuts they now had on top. They pulled out an earbud and asked, "What’s this stuff?" "Don’t worry," said Bob and Ned. "It’s a new cream type treatment that will make this nice and smooth and leave the skin conditioned. It may get a little warm but that just means it’s working. Once it’s been on for a while we wash it out." Thinking it was like the deep conditioner for their hair the two young men nodded and put their earbuds back in.

Ned and Bob then reached for their balding clippers to take off Cory’s beard and he could hear Ned doing the same. "Clack… hummmm" they were switched on slid under their beards to travel up their cheeks. In less than a minute the two young men’s dark beards were tumbling down the white capes and onto their laps.

Ned and Bob added head rests to their chairs and tipped them back so they could put warm shaving cream on their customer’s faces followed by a hot towel. It was so relaxing that Chad wondered if he’d fall asleep. After a few minutes the towels were removed and some more warm shaving cream was applied. Strong fingers held their heads still and stretched the skin on their cheeks. They could feel the scrape of stubble being shaved away with a 5 blade disposable. Soon they had moustaches standing out proudly against baby smooth skin as a warm washcloth wiped their faces clean.

Assessing Chad and Cory’s faces the barbers nodded in approval because they had uncovered strong chins. Both young men also had a large enough area under their noses and their mustaches complimented their faces.

Next their chairs were tipped up and Ned and Bob stood in front of them to make sure they got their new sideburns even. Again their hands clamped down on their heads to hold them steady. Big thumbs pressed against their faces by their ears. Cory and Chad felt the sharp blade press gently into the sides of their face and the "skritch" sound it made as it scraped and squared off the sideburns left after shaving their beards away.

Because Chad said they wanted their hair cut like the 50’s style Ned an Bob had, the barbers left them with longer sideburns that extended down almost to their earlobes, just to where the shape naturally started to flare wider at the bottom. This was a personal choice the barbers suggested for bald men like themselves because a solid definite sideburn seemed to anchor the hair that was left around the ears. It balanced the fact that most of the hair that’s left on a bald guy is toward the back of their heads. It also gave a tough masculine shape that they figured Chad and Cory would like.

After rinsing their hands they removed the head rests. Then Ned and Bob splashed some blue aftershave from a bottle on their counters into their hands. Standing behind their customers the barbers reached their arms around Chad and Cory’s heads and put big warm palms against Cory and Chad’s neck. They began wiping the cooling aftershave across their necks and then up onto their cheeks. As their noses filled with a masculine ocean sent they both felt like their man card had just been punched.

Looking at the timer the barbers saw they had another 10 minutes before the Clear Off would be done dissolving the roots of their hair. The barbers began combing and trimming the sides and back of Chad and Cory’s hair. As he began snipping around Cory’s ears, Bob was glad to see that there wasn’t large ears hiding under the curtains of hair that covered them. Once the hair was trimmed off in an arc around them he could see they didn’t stick out either. Bob felt that if Cory was going to look like him when the haircut was done he wanted Cory to be happy with the end result.

Because the sides needed to be long to be swept back into full fenders they didn’t need to do a lot of cutting. The barbers expertly blended the hair from the sideburns in front of above their ears to join into the longer hair they wanted on the sides. They also left the hair behind their ears long so it could be combed into a full ducktail. They added some layers on the sides leaving them around three inches in length at the top to two inches by their ears so there was enough to form thick fenders that would flowing back and be held with pomade.

"Pusshhtt, Pusshhtt, Pusshhtt," water was now sprayed on the backs of Chad and Cory’s heads and the barbers combed and snipped the longer hair that remained. For a good ducktail they cut out some of the bulk and length in the middle section of the back. Cory felt the combs teeth contact his scalp and then Bob’s expert fingers tug gently and hold his hair away from his head before snipping the ends even. Bob and Ned’s combs continued to travel across the back of their heads gathering hair in their fingers and snipping the ends. This put some layering into the longer hair that was closer to the sides so it began to feather nicely from the sides to the middle of the back when they combed it into a ducktail shape.

When Bob combed down the bottom back of Cory’s hair it was about six inches long. He had to snip off three inches of silky brown hair so the remaining three inches wouldn’t be too long to flip up. As the damp strands of hair fell to the floor the remaining length of hair began to naturally curl up without the weight of it’s previous length holding it down. "This is going to ducktail and flip up nicely," said Bob.

Ding went the timer! "The Clear Cutt should have had enough time to work," said Ned. "I guess the bell has tolled for their hair," joked Bob. Bob and Ned tapped Chad and Cory on the shoulder and said, "Time to get this shampooed. You may want to take those earbuds out." They tipped the two back so their necks rested on the rolled edge of the shampoo sink. The barbers put some additional towels under their necks and adjusted the water until it ran warm.

Chad felt the soothing water from the hand held sprayer first and said, "This feels good, that stuff you put in my hair was kind of making my head feel a little itchy." "We can use some tea tree shampoo. It will help soothe your scalp," said Ned as he began to use his fingertips to rub the hair and cream on the top of Chad’s head.

At first the top of their heads were just a goopy mess of white cream and short dark hair but after a few seconds of rubbing their fingertips in small circles their fingers became covered in hair. The barbers rinsed their fingers into the running water and made sure the sink hair catcher was in.

Using one hand Ned held the hand sprayer close to Chad’s forehead as his other hands fingers continued to massage the top of Chad’s scalp. Bob was doing the same and as the water carried away the cream and loose hair the boy’s foreheads began to grow larger. The barber’s fingers and spraying water migrated across the top of their heads toward their crowns and then past that. Chad and Cory were completely unaware that there hair was slipping off their scalps with the running water and down into the sink strainer. Soon Cory felt the pressure from the full palm of Bob’s hand wiping across the bare top of his head to squeegee off the last of the cream and hair. Bob, "This feels awesome! I didn’t know I’d get this kind of special treatment today."

With the Clear Cutt removed the barbers applied shampoos and massaged the young men’s heads all over. Chad added, "This is the best head massage I’ve ever had. It’s like I can feel everything on my scalp." Chad and Cory couldn’t hear much with the water running but felt like they were melting into the comfortable barber chairs. "It’s one of the perks of this haircut you’re getting. You’ll both feel everything up there now," said Ned. "Guys’ like us are the first to know when it’s raining," joked Bob.

"Now for some conditioner." Said Ned. The two young men’s senses were on overdrive and they breathed in the scent. "Is that melon," asked Cory? "Yep, melon for your melon! It smells really nice and also soothes the skin."

As the conditioner soaked into their remaining hair Cory called over to Chad, "Hey Chad? Thanks for setting this up. I’m really glad you got me to do this. I’ve never had my hair washed where it felt so good." "No problem dude. I’m enjoying this too. Between the two of us we raised $600 and get to have fresh cuts for the party tonight."

Soon the water was turned back on and Bob and Ned were rinsing out the conditioner with the hand sprayer. Their fingers slid easily through the wet slippery hair that was left on the sides and back of the young men’s heads. Chad could feel Ned’s warm palm easily sliding across the top of his head from his forehead to the back and said over the sound of the running water. "Boy, that sure made my hair smooth." "Yeah it’s very smooth and shiny." Said Ned.

After the water was turned off the barber grabbed fluffy white towels and wrapped them around Chad and Cory’s heads like turbans before sitting the barber chair back up away from the sink. Then they said it was time to trim those moustaches and they spun their chairs toward the mirror.

Cory laughed at what he saw. Because his body was completely covered by the white cape his head looked like it was without a body just sitting on a white mound. The white towel turban and his new moustache only face added to the affect that he now looked like just a Genii’s head floating in the room.

He looked at an angle into the large mirror to see around the wall at the other barber station. Chad also appeared to be just a floating turbaned head above a white mound also. Looking back at himself he wiggled his upper lip and checked out his new moustache. He was glad that it looked nice and full. It seemed even thicker without a beard.

"Just need to trim that up a bit," said Bob. Ned started trimming Chad’s moustache also. Combing the hairs down, they carefully trimmed them across the bottom but not near the corner of their mouths. The barbers then dipped a tiny amount of pomade out of some cans on the wall shelf and after they distributed to their fingers they smoothed it onto the boy’s moustaches. "This pomade keeps the hairs all going downward. It softens them and adds a little shine too." Then he pinched the ends and pulled them up so they formed just a slight hook on the ends. This made Chad feel like he was being initiated into the barber’s moustache club. He looked at the soft black brush that now rested solo under his nose and smiled. "This looks awesome! I think I’m keeping this.

Chad look into the mirror across from Cory and caught his attention. "Looking good man. With that towel and just a stache you look like a swami!" "You too dude." said Cory! He felt the shiny pomade the barber had combed into his new tidy dark brown moustache. "I think I like this too! Check out these cool sideburns! Wait until the guys see us." "They are going to be racing down here to get their hair cut like us and their Movember staches cleaned up." said Chad. Ned and Bob looked at each other in surprised smiles at the prospect of more business. "Well you send them our way and we’ll fix them right up."

Cory’s barber tapped him on the shoulder and said, "I need to use the john before we finish trimming and styling you up. I’ll be right back." Cory watched as Ned spun Chad’s chair around again so he was again facing the picture window to the street. Ned then stepped behind his chair which blocked Cory’s view. Cory could see the towel that had been on Chad’s head draped on the top of the divider wall and he heard Ned make a low whistle.

Ned reached into his tunic pocket to pulled out his comb and began running it through Chad’s hair on the sides.. "Can I see" asked Chad? Let me finished getting your hair combed like mine and a little more trimming now that it’s clean. Then I’ll show you. I use the mirror to check if my work is balanced," said Ned. After a little trimming, Ned picked up the pomade can again from the shelf and dipped his fingers into it. Chad felt his strong fingers running it through the thick hair on the sides and back of his head.

As Ned began combing his sides and the back he wondered what the barber would use on the top. He usually used a volumeizing mousse before blow drying it with a round brush to get it standing up really nice and then he would put a small amount of shiny but stiff pomade to style it.

Soon Ned announced, "There.. now you’re ready to see the New You!" Let me just get my hand mirror I left it by my register over there then I’ll turn you around. Now don’t cheat and look. Chad noticed his skin seemed to be tingling on the top of his head in excitement.

When Ned stepped aside to go and get his hand mirror Cory couldn’t believe what he saw. His eye’s bugged out and he croaked out weakly, "Chad. What the hell has happened to your hair?" "What are you talking about Cory?" said Chad. "You’re bald" shouted Cory! "What? Shut up dude. Don’t even joke about a thing like that. I’m not going bald yet!" "No, really dude! Your pomp… it’s gone. You’re bald on top. Like….your barber!" Cory said pointing to Ned’s reflection in the mirror.

Chad had known Cory long enough to know his friend didn’t joke like that and could hear the panic in his voice. "Oh s**t" he said! His hands flew out from under the cape and his fingers began searching the top of his head for hair." As they touched down on the soft pink skin he cried, "What the… my hair! Please… turn the chair around," he begged!

Ned looked at him with a confused look on his face he spun the chair around for him to see. Chad’s hands dropped to his sides and his mouth hung open in shock." Cory could now see Ned holding a big hand mirror up behind Chad so he could see the back of his head. His mouth also fell open as he saw that the bald area on top also dipped down to a new hairline on the back of Chads head. His remaining black hair hung down from it forming a U shape of baldness. "I’m….bald…" Chad said weakly as he slowly raised his hands up again to touch the smooth bald dome. He slid his fingertips backward from his forehead to where his hairline now resided at the back of his head. His hands then moved to feel the black shiny ring of hair that flowed down from the hairline along the sides of his head..

What happened to my hair?...he said with his voice 2 octives higher. Still surprised Ned tried to answer him. "You said you wanted to keep the sides long so you could have full fenders to sweep back like Bob’s and mine. Then you said to just trim the back to form a good ducktail and leave the curls at the bottom so they forms a flipped up tow hook at the bottom like Bob and I have too. Last you said you wanted Nothing on the top. I was surprised and when you were putting in those earbuds I asked you, "Nothing on top? Like ours? " I even put my hand on the top of your head. You said. "Yes…. Nothing….and to just use scissors," really loudly. Just to be sure I asked, "You want it to look just like mine and Bob’s. Is that what you want?" and I ran my hand over the top of my head in front of you. You were listening to your music but you looked up from your phone again and said, "Yeah like your’s….Scissors only…. and to go for it."

Chad just sat there looking at his new image. He thought back to what he had said. "Nothing Off the top." The barber must have thought he said Nothing ON the top! His face fell in resignation that this mistake was really happening.

Trying to comfort his customer Ned leaned down so his head was right next to Chad’s in the mirrors reflection. "For what it’s worth I think it looks great! I got it just like mine," he said as he ran his hand over his own bald dome. Makes you look more mature. With your new mustache and sideburns you look like a younger version of Bob an me…." Bob had returned from the bathroom and looked at Chad. "Wow, you do look like us. Welcome to the club young man!"

"Oh no!" cried out Cory, his face looking white as a ghost. "What?" asked Chad looking at him in the mirror. Cory looked at his barber and said. "When I said to cut my hair just like his," indicating Chad. "did you do that to me?" Since he wasn’t there for the recent conversation Bob was confused. "Of course I aim to please," he then lifted the towel turban off Cory’s head revealing a pink bald top just like Chad’s. Bare as a baby’s butt!" laughed Bob as he patted the top of Cory’s head.

Cory’s damp hair on the sides was all messed up and sticking out and the barber grinned and said, "Of course it will look better when it’s combed." Cory looked into the mirror and his mouth opened but just squeaks came out. He pulled his arms out from under the cape and raised his shaking hands to his head. They tentatively touched down on the smooth pink skin and like Chad he slid them backward from his forehead to where his hairline now resided at the back of his head.

Realizing Cory wasn’t expecting what he saw he said, "I thought you would be happy?" said his barber. "The way you said it you sounded like you were so sure of yourself. You even ran your hand through that nice long hair you had when you said it. I was just as surprised as Ned was that you two wanted to look like us. When your friend explained this Movember challenge thing and were having us shave your beards off to just moustaches I figured the haircut was part of it. You said you wanted it to be just like your friend so I listened to the young man’s instructions for Ned.

Now don’t you worry, once we get done styling your hair you’re going to look just as sharp as him. We’ve got some experience with this style," he said with a big grin as he patted his own fenders. Cory’s stomach felt a knot of tension in it. He was so in shock that he could only sit silently as Bob combed his hair and did a little more trimming now that it was clean. He then ran some pomade into the hair that was left with his fingers. It was Chad’s turn to observe Cory’s new image forming as the barber combed it into place.

"Your hair is nice and thick so I’d recommend this strong hold Mr. Slick pomade to hold it in place. Gives it a nice shine too." Cory gulped as the barber began carefully combing his sides into the same swept back fenders Chad and the two barbers had. "I’ll teach you a trick. If you wiggle the comb up and down as you comb the sides back you can put waves into your fenders. Chad watched Bob in the shared mirror to see how he used his comb and hands to form fenders and how he flipped up a duck tail with the hair Cory had left in back. The pomade made Cory’s dark brown hair look almost as black like his and it gleamed under the overhead lights.

"Hey! We forgot to polish these Chrome Domes!" Said Ned. "Oh your right. Can’t forget to show them how to do that. It’s the way a bald man can really command attention!" said Bob winking at Cory. Cory and Chad looked at each other in the mirror and then looked at the top of their heads in surprise as they felt a thick green aloe gel dolloped onto their domes. "First this will soothe your skin," said Bob. The barber’s strong fingers began rubbing it onto their scalps. "Oh wow", said Cory as he closed his eyes to focus on the enjoyable sensation. "Your fingers feel… so nice"…… "and warm," said Chad completing the sentence as his eye’s also closed. They both felt like they were again melting into the barber’s chair from the relaxing sensation on the newly bare skin on top of their heads.

After a few seconds they stopped so the gel could dry and form a smooth shiny layer. Looking down at the top of Cory’s head Bob said to Ned, now to make them really shine. "Chrome Dome Polish!" they both said as they nodded to each other. Cory and Chad watched the barbers reach back to their counters and grab a yellow bottle of something that they squirted on top their heads. "This stuff is called Chrome Dome Polish and you’re both going to look slick when we are done."

They began massaging the polish on the young men’s domes again in a circular motion now with just the very tips of their fingers. Chad and Cory began to enjoy the massage again. "Wow, now that’s what I call shiny!" said Ned. "They could blind someone if they’re not careful!

Now we have to fixed this back up since It got messed up polishing your tops," said Bob. They pulled out their black barber combs from their tunic pockets like gunslingers and began recombing their sides into full shiny fenders. "Can you make my sides wavy like Bob showed Cory," asked Chad sheepishly. "Sure," said Ned as he carefully swept his sides back while lifting the comb up and down vertically to form small waves in the hair..

Then they combed the back into DA’s by combing the hair towards the middle and flicking the comb out of their hair. "That flick makes the hairs fall in and overlapping manner like feathers," said Ned. The then combed the very bottom of the back down and with a quick turn of their wrist they pulled the comb out of their hair to form an upward curl on both of them. "There’s your tow hook," said the two barbers!

They both leaned down so their reflections lined up with the two young men. Four bald mens heads reflecting in a row in the mirror. "Now you two look just like us. Didn’t I tell ya it would look great?!" Turning their heads from side to side as Bob and Ned held mirrors they looked at their new haircuts from every angle. Slowly the two young men started to grin. "I know this is weird but… I think….I like it," said Chad now with a full smile forming on his face. He reached up and touched the slick and shiny skin where his pompadour used to be.

"You know. I’m glad you said that because I do too, " laughed Cory. "Imagine when the guys see us now!" "Oh man, are we going to get razzed." "Wait," said Chad. "We can tell them it’s a challenge bet like Ned and Bob thought and if they don’t want to look like wusses they better get down to the barbershop to get "cloned" by the barbers." "Great idea," said Cory.

"Bob, Ned you’re going to get a the rest of our frat brothers down here in the next couple of hours to start Movember so get ready to make more guys look like us." Chad then added, "Once the other fraternity’s sees how unified our Frat is at the party tonight they will probably all want to do the challenge too so you might get them pouring in over the next week or two."

The two guys got up and paid at the cash register. Then Cory realized, "Hey, we should make an appointment to get our hair cleaned up for the Bowl game? It’s in three weeks right before the Thanksgiving Break?" "Good idea!" said Chad. "Do you think that’s soon enough, I’ve never been made bald before…" he laughed. "I mean, I guess it will need to be redone by then right?" Ned looked at Bob and said that sounded about right.

They left the shop and the barbers could see the two of them laughing and pointing out the shiny glare from the sun shine bouncing off their heads as they walked in front of the shop’s picture window.

Ned swept up what was left of Chad’s pompadour onto a dustpan and showed the big pile of black hair to Bob and asked, "I wonder how long do you think it will take to grow this baby back after that Clear Cutt cream is used? "I don’t know. The vendor guy will be back here in a couple of weeks. I’ll guess I’ll ask him what’s typical.

If those guy’s are right I guess I should put in an overnight order on the website now for more. Their whole fraternity will use up the tubes I have and if the other fraternities copy them I’ll need more. "Order a case of that Mr. Slick Shiny Pomade and Chrome Dome Polish too." said Ned. "I think we’ll be selling a lot of it. Those college guy’s like their styling products!"

Three week’s later Chad and Cory came in with ball caps on. Their faces looked a little worried. As they sat in the same barber’s chairs Ned and Bob smiled at them and asked. "How’s it going fella’s? Same as last time? Light trim on the sides and take off the top like us?"

Chad and Cory slowly lifted off their caps and this time Ned and Bob were surprised. "Wow! You two are still bald! I guess you like it. You know just like you said we had your whole fraternity start coming in a few hours after you did for Movember shaves and they did your haircut challenge. Then men from other fraternities came here over the next couple of days for the same thing. Between Bob and I we must have made 200 young men look like our clones on your campus. Are they keeping their mustaches and shaving their tops too?" "No……" said Chad looking even more worried. "They aren’t….we aren’t…..I mean shaving. Our hair hasn’t grown back. Is that treatment stuff you used supposed to keep it from growing? How long will it take to grow back?" "Well, I don’t know," said Ned. The salesman didn’t say. Bob looked at the back of the tube he had on the counter. "The label print is kind of worn off I must of gotten something on it."

The shop door chimed as a man walked in with a salesman’s briefcase. "How’s things Bob…Ned? I heard you put in an order for a case of the Clear Cutt and Mr. Slick and Chrome Dome Polish this month so I stopped into see what drove such a big order. That first supply of tubes I sold you should have lasted you for years." "Hi Terry, your just the man we need to see. We’ve got a questions about that Clear Cutt stuff. How long does it take to wear off Terry?" "What do you mean, wear off." asked Terry? "Did you get regrowth? It’s really effective so you should have only needed to use it once to clear away your few remaining sapplings," he chuckled. "The company told me that one treatment should do it so it should never grow back." "Never," cried Cory and Chad! "Yes. It’s one of our best products for complete and permanent hair removal. Hey do you guys realize how much you guys look alike? I guess you came to the right place

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