DC Duo: Part 2 – My Turn by James Mann

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Josh walked out of the bathroom, and I walked up to the mirror. Pushing my hair back from my forehead, I tried to imagine what I would look like bald. I’d never shaved my head before; I’d never even had so much as a buzzcut. And here was Josh, offering to shave my head completely bald. Totally smooth. Not a single hair left on my head. The thought sent butterflies through my stomach.
‘Bald.’ I thought to myself. ‘In just a few moments, you could walk out of here completely bald.’ My heart raced at the idea. Josh stepped back in, beginning to sweep up the hair that had just been shaved from his head mere moments ago.
"Made up your mind yet?"
"Still thinking." I could see Josh’s head in the reflection. The lights overhead damn near reflected off of his smooth scalp.
"It’s fine if you won’t want to shave it yet, dude." Josh’s voice through my thoughts. "I’m keeping the clippers, it’s not like this is some ‘now or never’ situation."
"Yeah, I know, but imagine how badass it would be if we both came home from DC with shaved heads." Josh did look awesome with his new hairstyle.
"If that’s your decision, I am more than happy to help." I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Josh standing in front of the pile of his hair. "Who would’ve thought I had that much hair, huh? I know I had a lot, but damn." I cracked a smile before turning back to the mirror. Why was I so nervous all of a sudden. I remembered what that cashier had said back at the CVS; it was just hair. And, I could always just let it grow back if I didn’t like it. Josh walked over to my side, staring at the mirror and rubbing his head.
"So? What are we doing?" Taking a deep breath, I stepped my nerves.
"Let’s do it."

I took a seat in the chair, and Josh grabbed the set of clippers.
"We’ve got a special deal going on today," he started. "Shave a buddy, we shave you for free!" I stifled a laugh and looked at Josh through the mirror.
"Just get it over with, man."
"I know, I know," he chuckled, "I’m just having fun. Alright. Ready?" That feeling came back to my stomach, but this time it was different. I wasn’t nervous; I was excited. At this point, I could wait to get rid of my hair.
"Go for it." Having received the ‘OK’, Josh flicked on the clippers and went to work.
Starting with the back of my head, Josh drive the clippers up until they reached the top of my head. I’d gotten my hair cut with clippers before, but never this high and never this short. It felt strange, but I didn’t hate it. Josh collected the hair and placed it in my lap.
"Wow," I exhaled.
"If you think that’s a lot, just wait." Josh continued buzzing the back of my head, first widening the strip to the right, then to the left. With each pass he dropped more hair in my lap. "You said I had great hair, but look at you." Still working the clippers, Josh was paying more and more attention to the hair he was cutting off. "I know some people who would kill for a head of hair like this." My hair wasn’t too far off from what Josh had; full and thick, and slightly curled around the collar and ears. And now here I was, shaving it all off. I didn’t regret a thing. Josh was working on the left side now. Bringing the clippers up and around my ear, I could finally start to notice a difference. Hair rained down from the side of my head, and I got a good look at my scalp. It was just as white as Josh’s, but there was less of a contrast between it and the rest of my face. Placing the clippers at my sideburn. Josh drove them upwards, concentrating like I’d never seen him do before. If I had to guess, I would say he was shaving the back and sides first, and leaving the top for later. The clippers gave an interesting feeling. This was my first time getting a cut without a guard, and it was almost comical how much of a difference I noticed. I could feel the vibrations much more now than I ever had before, and I could almost feel the hair itself coming off of my head. It felt great. Moving on to the right side, the process was very much the same. The clippers went up and around my ear, clearing out any hair that stood in its path. Through the sideburn, decimating the thick locks. Stepping away, Josh admired his work thus far. In the mirror, I could see that all he’d left me with was a thicket of hair on top. It was still quite a lot of hair, but it paired with the skinned sides, it looked utterly ridiculous.
"Dude." I said. "I look like a paintbrush."
"Damn, guess you’re right." Josh feigned hurt. "And here I was, just trying to give you a good haircut."
"Good haircut my ass, man." I teased. "I look like that Reddit kid everyone was clowning on a few years back." Josh broke into laughter at that, setting the clippers down on the counter. "Shave it." I told him.
"Alright, alright, whatever." Josh collected himself and picked the clippers back up. "Guess I can’t convince you to grow it back out to this, then." This time, I let out a laugh.
"Alright, this here’s the big one." Josh took the clippers and positioned them at the center of my hairline. "After this, there’s no going back."
"Josh, we crossed the point of no return a long time ago." I countered. "Just finish the job." At that, just pulled the clippers back.
Now, I’m not entirely sure what it was, but something about watching those clippers plow through my hair and shave it off at the scalp awakened something in me. The buzzing, watching my hair fall from the top of my head, something about it was purple captivating. Dare I say, beautiful. Shaving one’s head is something I encourage every man to do, at least once in his life. Reaching up a hand, I split the remaining hair down the path of stubble. It was quite the sight to behold.
"Now you get it." Said Josh. "If you think this is great, just wait until we bust out the razor. The rest of the buzzing went fairly smoothly (no pun intended). First the left side, then the right, and soon enough all of my hair had left my head. Well, not all of it. But that’s what the razor is for. Josh started up the faucet again, and I felt around my head. Josh was right. Feeling things on my scalp was weird, but I loved it.
"Right." Josh walked over, shaving cream in hand. "Now for phase 2." He’d collected a dollop of shaving cream in his hand, and he started spreading it around. That feeling alone was enough to justify shaving my head. It was light and airy, but thick at the same time. When Josh felt satisfied with the coverage, he returned to the sink to rinse off his hand and grab a razor.
"Now, for this next part, stay completely still. I don’t want to nick you by accident."
"Don’t need to tell me twice." I’d received my fair share of cuts from shaving my face. Not fun.
The razor was placed at my forehead, and Josh slowly pulled it back. Just as he’d described, there was a sound. It’s hard to describe; somewhere between a rustling and a scraping, but it seemed to reverberate throughout my skull.
"Weird, isn’t it," Josh asked. "Definitely caught me off guard at first."
"Weird, yes, but so awesome." I felt the shaved strip with a finger. Totally smooth. Josh continued with the razor. Over the top, around the sides, across the back, Josh kept shaving until he felt satisfied with the smoothness. There were a few spots he missed, where he reapplied a generous amount of shaving cream and went back and forth with the razor until no traces of hair remained. Wiping off the excess shaving cream, I stood and walked to the mirror. Josh had done such a good job shaving that I couldn’t tell where my forehead ended and my scalp began. I’d walked into this bathroom with a thick head of hair, maybe the longest I’d had it too, and now I was completely bald. Shaved smooth. I felt my newly bald head with both hands, and the sensation sent shivers down my spine. Standing next to me, Josh did the same.
"This is the best decision I’ve ever made," Josh concluded. "I don’t think I’m ever going back to having hair again."
Glancing down at the floor, I saw the pile of hair that had been on my head just moments ago. Staring back at me through the mirror was a new man. ‘Josh is right,’ I told myself. ‘This is the best decision I’ve ever made.’
"Well," started Josh, "Where do we go from here?"
"I’m not sure I follow."
"Our hair." He clarified. "Do we keep shaving it? Stay bald?"
"I mean, I’m not opposed." I said. "However, we could let it grow again." I gestured to the piles of hair on the bathroom floor. "Let it get thick and full again, then just shave it all off." Josh considered this for a moment, before coming to a conclusion.
"Let’s keep shaving for a month." He turned back to the mirror. "After that, we can decide what we do."
"I’m okay with that." I admitted.
"Alright then. Stay bald for one month, then reassess our hair situations."
"Sounds perfect." I’m not quite sure where exactly our hair journeys will take us, but one thing I do know is that one way or another, the two of us will end up bald again. And that is something I can live with.

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