The Movie Extra by Skinned21

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Last march a movie came to my small town. They advertised In the papers for extras for the film, and specified that all of the men and boys would be required to get 1950's haircuts. I thought this meant that I would get just what was a normal haircut for most guys. Even this was a little extreme because my hair was around shoulder length but I decided to go through with it, thinking that if it were just shorter and slicked back it would grow out very quickly. That was asuming it was still left one length just to the bottom of my neck.

So although it was going to be a trim it was not going to be layered or anything drastic. When I went to the audition they told me that I had a period face and with a visit to their barber I would be fine. What worried me about this was the fact that they paid local barbers to do the haircuts and you got a voucher and a time to go and get your haircut. The barbershop they assigned me to was the oldest and biggest In our small town and I had never been Inside. The day I went I was a little afraid but reasured myself that things would be fine. I opened the door and saw a sign that all the barbers were cutting hair for the movie today and I nodded and said yes here's my voucher and yes I'm with the movie . Unfortunately it was early in the day and there were only a couple of other guys there and I didn't see them before to know if they had had a drastic change or not.

The barber said "Hop up here In the chair and let's do it . His next attempt at humour was to loosen me up with "How bout a flat-top" I laughed , cringed and said no I don't think so . I told him just to shorten the back and I would slick it back real neat like a greaser. This Is where it became a life changing moment. He tightened the neckcloth and said "Don't worry!. Those movie people told me exactly how to cut it and thats the way I got to cut it. I had barely looked up in the mirror when I heard the sound of the clippers come on. Even in small amounts, clipping around my ears and underneath the back at my regular hair appointment that sound made me uncomfortabl .The very next thing I knew he took the clippers directly up the back of my head to what felt like the very top. I felt like I was going to puke and was so sick Inside I could not say another word. After the back went the sides and eventually the top. He just grinned and said "This is what they want, son."

I sat there so humiliated. He unfastened the neckband and shook to the floor all the hair that I had been trying to grow out for two years. I said nothing else and left, When I got to the car I looked In the mirror to see how bad it was and it was total. I drove to my friend's house and went inside. I looked like a drill seargent; my head was really white because it had not seen the sun under my previous mane and now I was shaved.The sides had nothing left and the top stuck up alittle but had had a shaved strip down the middle something like a flat-top .To make a long story short, my role as an extra in the movie was small , but I did eventually come around to liking my new short look. Today I'm cutting it in a less severe flat-top, with a short clipper on the side, with a slight landing strip down the middle. Why? Because I could not suffer through trying to grow it out again, and anyhow, now it's in style.

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