My Husband’s Sacrifice by Heyyyy13

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When I met the man who’d become my husband he had wonderful hair. Blond, full, turning white with the sun in summer and a nice dirty blond in winter. He’d grow it in the summers out to his collar in a shape that resembled a mullet before cutting it back into a short side part before returning to college or internships in the fall. It was a nice routine.

We eventually moved in together after dating for a while and to save money he trusted me to delivery a short side part about once every 2-3 months. Once we married this continued for several years. After I had our son however we both started to miss having a professional hand touch our hair. So once every 2 months we dropped our son off at grandmas and he sat with me through a salon visit and I would go with him to a traditional barber. It was a few hours out of the house to just relax, feel good about ourselves and cherish each other’s hard work.

Our son is a very active boy, even from a young age. Inheriting his fathers blond locks, we kept it short while he was growing to avoid it getting caught in whatever adventures he dreamed up. He never once complained and in fact looked forward to getting a monthly buzz cut. I would sit him in his bathroom and buzz him down with a number 2 all over.

As he grew he started to want to be just like his dad in ever capacity possible. He dressed like my husband, began to pick up his mannerisms and mimicked everything he did. One day he mentioned to me while I was cutting his hair that he wished his father and him had the same haircut. I explained if he wanted to grow his out a bit he could, as we only kept it short for convenience sake. Him being 6 years old now, I figured he soon would want to keep a bit more on top simply to experiment with. He surprised me when he explained he liked it short because it felt nice. I thought this was the end of that conversation and I’d likely never hear much from it for a while. So I cleaned up his neck, with the razor and sent him on his way forgetting the conversation.

After work one evening my husband came home a bit late. I noted the bulk of his hair growth since our last trip together was gone. His hair had always grown so fast. We ended up missing going Saturday due to our daughter being sick. I had told him he could go ahead if he wanted, so it seems he went after work. He made the rounds in he living room by first giving the dog some scratches, then our daughter a bright smile and lastly rubbing our sons freshly cut hair. I almost didn’t notice the way JJ looked down a bit when his dad did that, but brushed it off as being tired. Sometimes he gets moody when he’s sleepy.

My husband worked his way to me and wrapped around me the way he always does when he comes home. A kiss on the cheek and the same "hey there sweet cheeks, how are you this fine evening" as he always says.

"I’m great, and YOU are looking great" I said leaning up to brush a stray hair off his forehead.

"Oh I know you’ll enjoy getting your hands on it later" he whispered with a wink before he began helping take care of the dishes and making time for our son and daughter.

Later I tucked them both in their respective room while my husband took the dogs out and then went to work grading papers - a teachers job is never quite done. Before completely turning in I ran downstairs to grab some water and passed my husband heading into our sons room to say goodnight.

After a while I released it had been a decent amount of time since my husband went to say goodnight to our son. He usually would come straight to it bedroom once the kids were asleep and enjoy some alone time before getting some rest. I brushed it off wondering if he had to take another lap with the dogs.

After about half an hour from the time I realized he was taking longer than normal he came into our room. Deeply invested in my students work I didn’t look up when he did, just noting his presence with the opening and shutting of our door. I braced myself for one of his typical tickle attacks or stealthy approaches as he is usually a very lighthearted man. Instead he went into the bathroom without so much as a word. Worrying I had offended him I quickly got to a stopping point and rose from my desk to go into our connecting bathroom.

When I got there he was leaning over the counter, hands over his eyes silently crying. I found it odd why he had the electric clippers out on the counter near him, but didn’t have much time to dwell on that thought. Instead of asking what was wrong, I just sighed and came up behind him to hug him. He let me hold him for a while before turning around.

"I let him down" was all he said to me.

"What?" I asked a bit confused and taken back.

"JJ. He kept telling me that he wanted to have the same haircut, you know how he gets fixated on weird things. He kept saying he wanted to look like me. I figured we would start letting his hair grow. I didn’t realize he was asking me to get it cut like him. He got really upset when I came home tonight with a new cut that didn’t look like his" he said look down at the clippers.

I then realized what his plans had been when he marched in this bathroom. He intended to cut his short like our son. Something I never thought my young and handsome husband would do. He loved that hair of his. It was always well maintained from the time I met him. He took better care of his than I do with mine. But I knew in my heart there wasn’t a thing he wouldn’t do for either one of our kids. Even if it meant giving up the part of his identity he loved.

"Do you want me to -" I began but he cut me off with a simple "yes".

"Are you sure" I asked him.

"Yes." He replied with a stern expression.

I didn’t move a muscle. I wanted this to happen on his terms. Eventually he sighed and stripped himself of his shirt before handing the clippers to me.

I reached under our bathroom counter for a towel to wrap around his shoulder as I had done many times before when I used to cut his hair. Reaching for the guards I picked up one a bit longer than what I used on our son. He seemed to notice my apprehension because he said "maybe not as short as JJ’s but don’t leave it long"

Sighing I asked him "what are the sides at now?"

"Number 6" He said looking ahead at his freshly and immaculately cut side part. The top at its longest was still about 2 inches in length.

"What if I cut it all as a number 4?" I asked him hoping that would be enough. When he began to protest I continued saying "If it’s not enough I can cut more but let’s take it slow okay?" He simply nodded and I reached for the number 4 guard and snapped it on.

I looked at him in our bathroom mirror looking for a sign to continue and all he did was stare. Eventually I slid the clippers on and noticed how he jumped a bit. Not wanting to startle him as he looked a little scared I made the executive decision to start at the back of his neck in the event he changed his mind.

Placing the clippers at the edge of his newly shaved neckline I slowly ran the clippers up the back of his head before flicking away around the top of his head. Short fuzz accumulated on the bathroom floor near my feet and a line of distinction appeared between his recent haircut and the part I had just shaved. It wasn’t THAT different so I hoped this would satisfy his need to please our son without him loosing too much hair.

I continue to run the clippers up and dump the hair off as I went. Short clippings accumulated all over the bathroom. Eventually I had shaved the sides and back of his head. I could begin to see bits of his scalp coming through and his hair looked whiter than normal. I paused and looked at him in the eyes, nervous to cut the top. He just looked at me and gestured to the top of his head.

He seemed a bit more relaxed and less afraid. His eyes softened when he saw my fear. He simply put a hand on my leg to reassure me. So I placed the clippers at the edge of his widows peak and pushed it backwards. 2 inch strands of hair rained down as I shaved a line in the top of his head. It looked odd seeing long hair on either side of where I had just shaved. No turning back now.

I slowly started to peel off the longer strands of hair. The razor letting it come down in blond tuffs. My husband started to lean back with each pass, eyes closed, seeming relaxed and actively enjoying the experience finally. Eventually he was left with a head of blond fuzz. It wasn’t too bad I thought. He looked it in the mirror for the first time and grimaced.

"It looks a bit childish don’t you think?" He asked me. I guess I could see where he was coming from. It was the same length all over and as far as buzz cuts go, it was almost the length our sons got before we shaved him back down again.

Thinking quickly I picked up a number 2 guard and placed it on the razor. Beginning at the top this time, without even consulting my husband I pushed it back away from his forehead. His eyes almost bulged out of his head as I began to shave the already short buzz cut even shorter. "That’s a bit short babe" he said a little nervous.

"This is the same guard I use on JJ." I told him and he simpler nodded. Once I shaved the tops I started above the ears and began to blend half the sides into the same length as the top, leaving the bottom at the 4 buzz cut from before.

"What about the bottom?" He asked noticing I was leaving it be.

"I’m taking it down more so it doesn’t look as child like. You gotta stay professional for work right? I don’t want you looking the exact same as our 6 year old."

"But how much more are you going to take it down? The top is already very short" he asked with his voice cracking.

"I don’t know exactly. I was thinking just a 1 but if I’ve come this far I could just fade it to this skin" teasingly popping the guard off the razor. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a grown man so fearful in his life, but in that moment my husband was worried about being shorn too short.

Worried I’d give him a heart attack at 36 I snapped on the number 1 guard before running it up his head to the occipital bone making the sides much shorter. Looking down I realized just how much hair had come off his head and how little remained. Then taking the guard off I cleaned up his neck and sideburns as I usually would do and used the towel to wipe his neck off.

Finally opening his eyes, He inspected it a bit in the mirror before letting out a sigh. "It’s not as bad as a thought"

"I think you can still pass for a good businessman" I told him with a smile. Running my hand across the short blond bristles at the back of his neck he closed his eyes enjoying the stimulation. I smiled seeing he liked it more than I imagined he would have.

"I’m going to clean up and rinse off, go climb into bed" he said with a wink. It was nice to see his playful banter return some.

I did as he suggested and got very familiar with his newly shorn hair that night...

The next morning I went down to make breakfast for the kids while their father slept in. I noticed JJ was still a bit upset but thought it best to let his father handle it. Eventually I heard footsteps on the stairs and I saw JJ pick his head up some anticipating his hero walking into the kitchen. When he finally turned the corner JJ’s face fell in disbelief. He got up and ran over to my husband and wrapped his arms around his legs. My husband peeled JJ off long enough to hug him properly. He simply said "son I think it’s time you grew your hair out some" and JJ nodded his head agreeing.

When things returned to normal and JJ was continuing to eat his food I just looked at my husband and smiled. He looked damn good with any hairstyle. I could get used to it....

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