Never Again by Kingfordian22

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I love my hair. I cherish my auburn locks as the most important thing to me in the world.

As a teenager I embraced the long haired look. Growing my hair to about 20 inches. The girls loved the long locks, the guys envied them.

One night at a party I had a few too many drinks and stupidly agreed to a bet. I lost. Along with losing the bet, I would have to lose my long locks. Reluctantly I had my long hair shaved off in a matter of minutes. I told myself never again would I buzz it all off. I hated the look.

I began to grow my hair back, but I never grew it back to the 20 inches it was before. Instead I embraced all kinds of medium length styles, I began to colour it and I changed my hair on a regular basis.

When I turned 21 I graduated from university and began looking for a job. I figured I'd need a haircut for the interview. But I'd just moved to a new area and hadn't found a hairstylist yet. I wanted to make sure that my dyed dark brown medium length locks were entrusted to the right hands. I drove around town looking for a stylist and hadn't had much luck as yet. The first salon I went past didn't seem to have much experience with male clients so I ruled that one out and continued looking. I had just about given up when I stumbled upon a barbershop that had just opened.

I hesitated for a minute. Was I making a mistake choosing a barbershop? Whilst I was planning on losing some of the length, I wondered if a barbershop might be pushing my luck. But it looked fairly modern, there were a few young guys there about my age waiting to get their haircut so I figured it must be safe.

I went inside and sat down. Soon it was my turn. A barber called me over. He was middle-aged and looked european. I figured he might be a bit more familiar with the trends and felt comfortable sitting in his chair. He draped the cape around me and began to comb my hair.

"So what are we doing?" he asked.

"Well I was thinking of something somewhat shorter. But not too short" I said vaguely.

"Well how much of this are you willing to lose?" he asked me.

I told him I wasn't sure but I was looking for a job and wanted to look professional for the interview. By that I meant professional but still trendy , I assumed he knew that by looking at how I wore my hair currently. He said he had just the style for me. For some reason, without asking what that was I agreed to it and let him get to work.

Unlike at the salons I'm used to going to where I could watch the haircut in the mirror, I was surprised to see the barber turning me away from the mirror. But I went along with it and let him begin the haircut.

First he picked up the shears and combed out my hair. He then combed out some of the hair from the left side of my head and I heard the sound of the shears cutting my hair. To my surprise I saw a clump of dark brown hair fall onto the cape. How short was he cutting my hair? the hair on the cape had to be at least 4 inches long. I was starting to doubt whether I should have gone to the barbershop. I could've driven to my old salon even if it was at least an hour away. But I was here now and maybe the haircut wouldn't be so bad after all.

More and more hair fell onto the cape and I felt my head getting lighter. Finally the barber put the shears down. I assumed he was going to either thin my hair out or turn me back to the mirror and take off the cape to finish the haircut. But instead he reached into a draw and pulled out a pair of electric clippers. I froze. He had only been taking off the bulk of my hair. I was in for a rather short haircut. But I didn't say anything. I saw him put on a guard and switch them on. He began to push them up the back of my neck.

Hair began to drop onto the floor and onto the cape. I wasn't too worried for some reason, I don't know why but I probably should've been a lot less calm than I was. I assumed once he clippered the sides and back of my head he'd use scissors on the top of my head. But to my horror he continued to use the clippers. I watched him place the clippers against my forehead and saw him push back. I then saw a clump of my hair fall into my lap.

Suddenly I had a flashback to the night of the party when my long hair was shaved off. Whilst my hair wasn't as long I still didn't expect to go into this barbershop and come out with a haircut this short! Another clump fell into my lap, followed by another and several others followed. After a few minutes the barber turned the clippers off and turned me towards the mirror.

I had a #1 all over buzz cut. The dark brown locks were gone. I remembered what I had said the night of the party upon seeing my new look for the first time "Never again" I had said. I vowed to never have hair that short again. But here I was 6 years later and I was sporting the very look I had vowed to never wear again. 6 years ago I had cried at the sight of my reflection... but this time the feeling was totally different!

I loved it! I rubbed my head and felt the short hairs on my head. The feeling felt so good! I had practically no hair and I loved it! The barber looked at me studying my facial expressions obviously looking for a reaction to the new look. Finally he spoke

"What do you think. I'm sorry if you don't like it. You had lovely hair, but I think the short look looks wonderful on you. Which is why I did it. I hope you don't mind" he said.

"I love it!" I told him. I never would have said to a barber or stylist 'take it all off' myself. But now that I looked in the mirror I loved what I saw. I actually looked great with short hair. It was one of the best haircuts I'd had in a while.

The barber had a look of relief on his face, pleased that I wasn't mad that he had shaved off my dyed brown locks. Infact I thought it was the best thing I had done all week. I got out of the chair, rubbed my head again and paid for the haircut. I walked out of the barbershop feeling the best I had in a while. Still finding it hard to believe that I had a buzz cut. My beautiful locks were gone and yet I loved it!

Unlike 6 years ago... I decided not to grow my hair back.

I decided the buzz cut was the look for me. I loved the feeling of the short hairs, I was getting attention from girls all over who found the haircut sexy. I returned to the barbershop every 2 weeks and would have my hair buzzed off again.

The guy who used to spend ages styling his hair every morning was gone. Instead of spending hours in a salon having my hair cut into the latest styles, adding highlights or changing the colour, I would spend 10 minutes at a barbershop every fortnight while the barber would run the clippers over my head and keep my buzz cut nice and short. I felt great and I knew that I would keep my hair this way for the rest of my life.

Would I ever grow it? Never Again.

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