This is the color of the army, Sir by Storyteller

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This story happened when I was about to turn 15. It was the early 80's and long hair for the guys was still totally in fashion around here. Since the age of 8, my parents have given me the freedom to have my hair as I wanted as long as it was clean, well combed and if I visited the barbershop on a regular basis. I was an obedient and well-educated son, and I followed these rules, but I was happy when, in the period just before I had to go to the barbershop, my hair reached its maximum length. And this was one of those periods.
During the holidays my hair grew a lot and was below the shoulder blades. My big ears were, for a long time, completely covered, and the fringe, if I left it, would go to the mouth. At that time I got a bicycle as a gift and started to explore the surrounding regions a little more, which I normally didn't visit.
One day, riding the bicycle, I saw a barber shop that I had never seen - in fact, I practically only knew the barbershop on my street, whose barber was very friendly and always did the cut I wanted.
I realized that it was time for me to get a haircut and I thought that maybe it would be cool to change and get to know this barbershop. So, I hooked my bike up and went inside the barbershop. Although it had only one barber chair, the barbershop was wide, very light, very different from the one I was used to. The aromas were very good and made a mixture of different products.
The barber was a gentleman who must have been in his 60s, bald, with a gray mustache, he wore simple but traditional clothes and a white smock. He saw me come in, smiled and I said "Good afternoon, Sir". The barber invited me to have a seat in the barber chair, I went over there and sat down. He put an olive cape around me. The color, which is typical army color here, caught my attention and I said to the barber "The cape is the color of the army" smiling. The barber smiled and said "Yes, you liked it, didn't you?" and I said "Yes, Sir" just to be nice as it didn't matter to me. He smiled, patted my head gently and said, "I know how you want the cut."
He swiveled the chair around, I kept my back to the mirror, he grabbed clippers with # 0, held my head tight, turned on clippers and started going under my hair in the nape area and moved it towards the crown. I got scared, I felt a chill, I started to hear that loud noise and feel that metal touching my head.
The barber noticed my reaction and said, "It's different for you to feel clippers, isn't it? But as you like the army, you will get used to it. After all, this is what you want now "
I kept quiet and he continued using the clippers on the back of my head, with wide movements, from nape to crown. A lot of hair was falling out. And he was doing his job, very focused. He tilted my head slightly and started to clipper the right side, from sideburns to crown. I saw and felt the clippers very close. My ear started popping up and he said smiling "Big ear huh, son?" I smiled awkwardly.
When he finished the right side he went to the left side and changed the tilt of my head, moving the clippers there as he did on the right side. After finishing the left side he turned off the clippers and hung it on a hook on the wall.
He then took scissors and a comb from his smock pocket and started cutting my top hair. Huge strands were falling. After having cut my hair all over the top he picked up the clippers again and a very large, straight comb, which I had never seen before, so he turned on the clippers and started going over this comb, looking with careful what he was doing, I realized that the comb was in some parts touching my head.
He finished and dropped that special comb and used the scissors to touch up the sides to match the top. And then he swiveled his chair front to the mirror, held a hand mirror behind me and said "Ready, son, just the way you wanted it". I was surprised by what I saw, I looked like an army boy, on the sides and behind there was only stubble and on top the cut was straight as a board, and very short too. I smiled and nodded.
The barber then prepared some shaving foam and spread it around my ears, on the sideburns and on the neck. The smell was very good. He took a razor, sharpened it on leather strop by the side of the chair, and began to scrape the stubble, making the outline shave. After this scraping was done, he put on an aftershave. And then he took a duster brush and dusted my head, doing it around my big ears too. He put talcum powder on the tips of the brush and applied it to the area he scraped.
He then removed the cape and said, "Okay, son, you can go down." I thanked him and went down. I put my hand in my pocket to get my wallet to pay and the barber said "No, no payment, your first cut with me is on the house" smiling, and added "You will want to come back here every week to keep the cut, then we got it right" And I said "Ah, yes, thank you, Sir" He rubbed the back of my head and said: "now everyone will know that you are an army boy "
I said goodbye, took my bike and went riding on the street wondering if that was what people thought when they saw me ...

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