Nothing on Top?! part 4 by Barbershop Thrill

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Nothing on Top?!- Part four
(Terry becomes a new clone, I mean.. new man)
Ned picked up his clippers and clicked them on. He lifted Terry’s bangs with his comb and asked,"Ready?" Terry winced and said, "Ready." With that the clippers were slid under his bangs and slowly drawn straight back over the top of his head. The new customers eyes followed the clippers and watched the bald path appear behind them right down the middle.

When the clippers went over the top of his crown Ned collected into his hand the soft red strands that had piled up on the top of the clippers. He set it on the counter behind him. After a few more careful passes over the top Ned announced. "I’m giving you your basic MPB cut" "What’s that?" asked Terry. "Oh that’s short for Male Pattern Bald. Now don’t move a muscle so I don’t take too much off." Terry sat still and realized he was holding his breath. He was kind of in shock about his decision.

Ned then began carefully buzzing off his thinning hair around his bald spot and below his crown to remove all the thinning hair just up to where it became thick again. Ned collected that hair off the top of the clipper as it was severed and added it to the small pile on his counter. When he was done the fully buzzed bald area Terry had on top now dipped a 1/3 of the way down the back of his head. The thicker remaining red hair formed a natural U shape as it ringed the bald crown of Terry’s head.
Ned picked up the pile of red fluffy hair from his counter and gave it to Terry and said, "Here’ you go. That’s your top hair." "Gee. I thought there would be more." Said Terry with a little sadness as he stared at the red strands in his hands. "I guess there wasn’t much to lose." "Not much to lose but a nice bald dome to gain." Said Ned patting the top of Terry’s head.

The young man in the chair dropped his magazine and nervously scrambled to pick it back up. "Now to make this clean," Ned began rubbing the Clear Cutt cream onto the buzzed top of Terry’s head and set a timer. " T-20 minutes to chrome dome city." He said. He glanced at the customer in the waiting area who seemed to have pulled his hat down lower.
Ned then added a headrest to his chair and tipped back Terry to a reclining position. Warm shaving cream enveloped his face and a hot towel wrapped around his head so just his nose was peaking out for air. Terry tried to relax but his mind kept coming back to the fact that as the minutes passed his hair was being permanently removed from the top of his head. Ned, turned to the man waiting. "If you’d like to wait in our other chair I’m sure Bob will be back from lunch in a moment." "Thanks. It’s ok. I’ll wait. I think you may be the barber I need." Said the young man. "I’m Ned. Have you been here before." "No, but I was told by a some guys I met at the gym about this place. I’m Jared." Well Jared I’ll be happy to give you a good cut.

After a few minutes Ned removed the towel and after adding some more hot shaving cream he began to shave the patchy stubble beard off Terry’s face. He then wiped away the unscraped shaving cream off Terry’s face with a warm wet washcloth. Left behind was the definite start of new red moustache to be true to the full cloning process.
When he was done he sat Terry back up and applied some hot shaving cream on Terry’s neck and shaved the fuzz below the neckline.

Ned then he pulled his scissors out of the blue solution on the counter and dried them. He began trimming Terry’s hair on the sides and then moved around to the back. It didn’t take much because Terry’s hair already had layering that would comb nicely back. He just needed to shorten it some by his ears and trim the Shag cut bottom edge of the back into a more blunt square shape.

The timer dinged and Ned announced, "There’s the bell. Times up for your hair young man. Time to wash this off and shampoo you up." He tipped Terry back in the chair and got him ready. Soon Ned’s strong fingers were rubbing in small scrubbing circles on the top of his head. The water and cream began to mix and run off the top of Terry’s head taking with it the last of Terry’s red fuzz the clippers had left on his scalp. Only pink clean skin remained where Terry’s shaggy red strands had been just 30 minutes earlier.

Ned then added some of the melon shampoo and began to wash Terry’s head. "I love this shampoo. I’m glad I still have some hair to use it on." "It smells really nice." Agreed Ned. "All my customers like it and this large bottle last me quite a while." "Melon for your Melon!" they both said in unison.
After rinsing the shampoo out he applied some of the Melon conditioner and turned off the water. Terry felt the cool air in the room blowing down now on his bare scalp and he shivered. He was glad when Ned returned with a towel and his strong fingers began rinsing out his hair with warm water. "This conditioner makes your hair feel like wet red silk. Keep using it at home to keep it looking good." Said Ned. Off went the water and Terry felt Ned’s large palm wipe the water off the top of his head from his forehead to the back . "Like a zamboni!" joked Ned.

Ned quickly covered up Terry’s head with a soft white towel and wrapped it into a turban. He tipped the chair back up and spun it around to face the mirror. As the blood roushed from his Head Need struggled to focus on the man he was seeing in the mirror.

"Ned, I’ve got a mustache!?" said Terry in surprise. "You said I had full control. What do you think?" said Ned. "Well I never thought I’d have one. As a red head I always thought it might not look right but I think I like it." Said Terry touching the red fur under his nose. "Well it will stand out, but it will be really sharp when it’s fully grown. Trust me you have the right face for one. It looks like it should be there.

"Hey, can I see my… hair," Terry asked? He reaching for the towel on top of his head. Ned swatted Terry’s hand down and said, "Not yet. I want to trim and style your hair with the pomade you sell. I also want you to have a good shine on top for the first time you see your new look!"
He swiveled Terry’s chair away from the mirror and he was now facing Jared in the waiting chairs. He was sneaking glances of Terry’s haircut from behind a magazine. Ned lifted off the towel and Jared’s eyes grew large as he stole glances behind the magazine.
"Now to get you shined up. Your going to like this part." Said Ned. First Ned’s smoothed on some Aloe and rubbed it in on top of Terry’s head. Then using a cool setting on his blow dryer he helped it dry to a shiny plastic film. "Wow, I guess I’ll feel every cool breeze now," said Terry. "
Ned then said, "Now for the Chrome Dome Polish." As his strong finger tips rubbed in small circles on the top of Terry’s head he couldn’T help break in to a smile. "If I had known it would feel this good I might have not tried to stop going bald!"

After a minute Ned finished and then put on some of the shiny pomade Terry sold into his fingers. "Now to get these fenders and ducktail combed up and then your done." "Cool, If it looks even half as good as it feels I think I’ll like it."

He looked at Jared who had now put down his magazine and now seemed to be staring at him.
"Is it that bad?" asked Terry" "Um.. no sir… It looks pretty cool…" "Really?" I would have thought a young guy like you would think it’s terrible to go bald."

Jared blushed and looked embarrassed as he lifted his baseball hat off his his head. "Well…, too be honest I came here to uh…get my hair cut like you are.. See my hairs been falling out on top ever since I started working out at the gym. It runs in my family so I knew eventually it would go. I just didn’t realize it would happen so fast and I’m only 21.

I was talking to some of the college guys that come to the gym I go to that started showing up with their hair cut like you and the barbers. They said they were doing this Movember and haircut challenge thing and that maybe my hair would look better did it too rather than watch it get worse.

Jared lifted up some of the thinning hair he had on top with his fingers. It was about 5 inches long but thinning enough to resemble cotton candy." "I think your right about the top said Ned. You know many men also go with a full shaved head these days too. You know like Bruce Willis or the Rock. Jared grimaced and said, "I buzzed it really short once and it did not look good. Some guys look really good like that but my head is kind of small and pointed and my nose is big and my ears kind of stick out. I just look ugly without hair. I like my wings on the sides and they make my ears look better. I also like how my hair curls in back too. As long as I have a hat on I look like it’s still ok.

When this barbers haircut challenge thing started a few weeks ago I thought maybe I can fit right in naturally. I even started growing out a beard so I can have it cleaned up to a moustache like you now have."

Ned looked Jared’s face over and said, "Yes that’s going to clean up really nice. You’ve got a strong chin and larger upper lip. Don’t worry, we can fix you up like those college guys."

Terry spoke up, "I actually have something that you might also be interested in trying. After Ned is done with you I am going to be teaching him how to install my company’s new hair systems. If you like what you see we could replace your hair on top and then you can have your hair back.

"Really?" said Jared. "I never thought I could do that. Do you think it would look ok?" "Definitely," said Terry. Some guys look great totally bald, some look good naturally bald on top and some just don’t look good without hair. I’m just hoping I look ok without hair. Ned, can I see?"

Ned turned the chair around for Terry to see. "Oh my gosh! " said Terry. His eye’s and mouth hung open as he took in his new image. He reached up and touched the top of his head. "It’s so shiny… and ….. smooth. I look completely different. Really! I didn’t know this morning I would end up bald! If I hadn’t been here to see those two students or I might not have done this."

"Do you like it?" asked Ned no sure what Terry's excitement was conveying.

"Yes! I like it." said Terry as his face breaking into a wide smile. Then using both hands he reached up and felt the freshly combed fenders on this sides. "I like these Red Wings too! Can you show me the back?" Ned held up his mirror and Terry turned his head side to side to see his new ducktail." Ned then recombed the bottom edge with his comb and showed him how to form the upward flip on his tow hook.

Just then the door entry chimed and Chad and Cory and Bob returned from an early lunch. Looking at the back of the head of the man in the chair they stopped in their tracks. "Terry! Is that you? Dude I can’t believe you did it!" said Chad. "What do you think," said Terry turning a little red? "It looks great man. Welcome to the club." Said Cory walking closer to check out Terry’s haircut.

"Terry, I never imagined you would do this. What about that red mop you had," asked Bob. "Well. The truth is my hair was leaving me and these guys kind of inspired me to make a change." "We’ll I’ll be a bald monkey’s uncle. Ned, we’ve got another clone!" he laughed.

Ned removed the sheet from Terry and he stood up and walked to the register to pay. "Jared. You can take a seat son. I’ll be with you in a moment."
Jared stood up and walked slowly to the chair. As he sat down into the chair he looked up at that the 5 other men in the room were watching him. They all had moustaches and the same haircut he had been considering. Would he soon look like them too?

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