First Time Customer by Shant

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It was an unusually slow day and I just wanted it to end. About thirty minutes before closing time, my door opened, and in walked a young guy, probably around 24, that I had never seen before.

I said hello and asked him if he was here for a haircut? I doubted he was because his hair was about to his shoulders and obviously had not been cut in at least two years, but then, why else would he come into my shop?

I could feel my pulse quicken at the thought of giving him a haircut, because he really did have great hair. It was a dark chestnut color and had beautiful fiery highlights. It was very thick and had great texture and body. He really had an immense mane. I hadn’t had a guy in my chair with hair as great as this guy’s in a very long time and I really wanted to cut it.

"My name is Paul," he said. "I’ve been thinking about getting my hair cut and thought I’d check out a few shops and see where I want to get it cut. I’ve walked by your shop several times and I really like the haircut you have. I hoped you wouldn’t mind if I stopped in and talked to you about having you cut my hair and seeing what type of haircut you would suggest I get."

"I’m tired of having to always be dealing with all this hair. I’ve had it this long for over a couple years and I’m ready for a change, but I don’t know what kind of haircut I want to get."

"I haven’t been to a barber shop in so long that I didn’t know where to go anymore. If I’m actually going to go through with this and cut my hair, I really need to find the right guy to do it. It’s going to be really a dramatic change, but I’m ready for it."

"I totally understand," I said. "You have a really great head of hair. After having it long for a long time, it’s definitely a big decision to cut it. You certainly don’t want someone butchering it. A lot of barbers would just love the opportunity to sit you down and cut almost all your hair off. I promise I would not do that to you. Your hair is so awesome looking that I would consider it a privilege to cut it."

Paul sat down in my chair and I started brushing his hair, just to get the feel of it. It really was beautiful hair. "You know," I said, "you really have the perfect opportunity, that instead of going ahead and getting your hair cut just once, you could take it down over a period of time and try several different looking haircuts."

"Usually, a guy has short hair and decides to grow it into a longer hairstyle. If the guy has a great head of hair, like you do, he can comb it many different ways while it gets to the length he wants it to be. It might take a year or more for a guy to grow his hair long enough to look the way he has in mind."

"You have totally the opposite situation. You already have the long hair, so you wouldn’t have to wait months to see how you would look if you wanted to try some different style haircuts."

"If I were you and had the great hair that you have, I would cut it down little by little, and cut it different ways until I decided I liked the way it looked and wanted to keep it."

I continued brushing his hair back. "Your hair is really great. It is so thick and has perfect texture. It’s not so fine that it justs lays flat on your head and it’s not coarse, either, which can make it look unruly. You have the perfect hair for just about any haircut you want to try."

"You said you’ve had your hair long for over two years? That’s a long time to have all this hair and deal with it every day. Don’t get me wrong, though, your hair really is beautiful. I used to have really long hair, too, but when I decided to cut it, I took it down slowly and enjoyed all the different ways I could have it look. It took me about six months before I had it cut the way that I wanted to keep it. I still keep changing it up every now and then just for a different look."

"What do you think about my idea to cut it shorter in stages, instead of cutting it really short all at once? It’s also a hell of a lot less drastic than cutting such great hair off all at one time."

"That actually sounds like a great idea. I would never have thought about cutting it down over a period of time. I had just planned on getting it cut all at once. I think that would be a lot of fun." Paul said.

"I know I’m lucky to have the hair that I have. My dad was almost totally bald by the time he was thirty. He’s always ragged on me about my hair, especially when I decided to let it grow long. He has always been so jealous of my hair because he hardly has any. Several times he’s threatened to sit me down and cut my hair, but fortunately for me, he never has."

"Why don’t you look at the hairstyle books I have and pick out some haircuts that interest you, and we’ll take it from there?" I suggested.

"Each time you come in for a haircut, you can tell me if you want to keep it the way it is and just have me trim it, or if you want me to cut it like another one of the photos you liked. Your hair is way too nice to risk cutting off all at once."

"I’m actually envious that you have such great hair and I would really enjoy cutting it. It would be great to take pictures after each haircut and get to see your transformation over time. Would you like to see some of my haircut style books?"

I pulled out my haircut style books and Paul began looking through them. I think the thought of getting several different haircuts, as opposed to just one, really made him excited and less nervous about cutting his hair.

Each picture was in its own plastic sleave and I told him to just pull out as many as he liked. He ended up selecting six different hairstyles. I got more and more excited each time I saw him pull out a shorter looking haircut. The last picture he pulled out was of a guy wearing a flattop. It was a tremendous rush when he pulled that picture out.

Like a lot of barbers, I enjoy cutting a flattop more than anything, especially if the guy has the right hair to wear one, and Paul definitely did. I would have loved to have given him a flattop right then and there, but knew there could be a lot of great haircuts in the future each time I got him in my chair.

We put the pictures in the order in which I would cut his hair. It was now closing time, so I locked the door and closed the blinds. "How about if we wash your hair and then we’ll do the first haircut? We won’t use clippers at all for this first look you selected."

The guy in the picture he had chosen, had his hair on the sides about four inches long and brushed it back above his ears and met in the back. The top was about six inches long and you could do all kinds of things with it being that length.

"I can’t wait for you to do this!" Paul said. "I’m so glad that I came into your shop because getting my haircut like this is going to be really fun, instead of getting just one big chop. I was really nervous about getting my haircut and now I’m really excited!"

I washed his hair. It was so thick and long that I was super stoked at the thought of starting the haircut. I brushed his hair all straight back and then picked up my comb and scissors. I started at the sides and combed out a section and cut off about six inches. Talk about a rush! Seeing all that thick, beautiful hair coming off was unreal. I finished cutting the sides and blended them to meet in the back. He definitely had one of the best head’s of hair that I had cut in a long time.

Cutting the top was what I was looking forward to doing the most. I combed his forelock straight up and it must have been almost a foot long. "Here we go!" I said. "You’ll now really start to see your new haircut!" I lifted up his forelock again and took off over six inches of really beautiful hair.

A barber enjoys nothing more than getting to work on a really great head of hair. I give a lot of haircuts every day, but only a couple stand out from all the others. Paul’s hair was so wonderful to run my hands through. The texture, length, and color were all fantastic.

Paul’s hair reminded me of a friend of mine who had hair almost identical to Paul’s. His hair was a gleaming chestnut color, with fiery highlights, that made his hair look really striking. He had one of the fullest head’s of hair that I had ever seen. It was so thick. I wished he could have been here to see this guy get his hair cut. I knew it would be a tremendous rush for him to see a guy with hair so much like his, get taken down. Maybe I could get him to come and visit the next time I cut Paul’s hair.

"Oh, man!" Paul said. "This is wild to watch! I think it’s really looking great!" I continued working my way towards the back, taking about the same length off the entire top. When I finished cutting it, I used a little product to help his hair stand up as much as possible and then used my blowdryer and brushed all of his hair up and back. His hair had a natural part in the middle, which really made it look great. Getting to run my hands over and over again through such thick, beautiful hair was intense. Paul's hair had such great body that if I ran my hands through it, it would stand up to it's fullest heighth and stay like that. Paul's fiery highlights stood out even more with his hair brushed back than when it was long. They really were beautiful. There is nothing more fantastic looking than a guy with a really thick head of hair!

"Well, what do you think of your first haircut?" I asked him. "Are you glad that we decided to cut it like this?" I was pretty confident that he really liked it and I was already thinking about the next time I would get him in my chair. Taking his hair down over several haircuts would be a tremendous rush for me and would be something that I would always be looking forward to doing.

"I love the way it looks," Paul said. "I can’t believe how different I look and I think this cut shows off my hair even better than when it was long. You are definitely going to be my barber from now on. I can’t believe how lucky I was to come into your shop."

"I don’t know how long I’ll leave it like this, but I know that I’m going to like seeing it look a lot of different ways. Even though I really loved my long hair, it’s going to be fun seeing all the ways it can look. Do you really think I could end up wearing a flattop? I’ve always wanted one, but have never had the nerve to do it."

"I think you have the perfect hair for a flattop. That will be the final haircut from the pictures you selected and it will be a great time for the both of us. I’m really hoping you’ll come back again. You have such a great head of hair that I would love to cut it for you all the time. The next time, if you decide to come in and have me cut it, I want you to call ahead and we’ll schedule you for the last haircut of the day, and take all the time we want."

"Oh, one last thing before you go. Let me take a picture of this new you. You have really made my day and I hope that I will be seeing you again."

"Don’t you worry! I’ll definitely be back!" Paul said as he walked out the door. "I’ll see you in about a month."

This had really ended up being a great day. Not only did I give a guy that had awesome hair a totally different looking haircut from what he had, but I was pretty sure that I would be cutting his hair from now on. It really will be something to think about before I go to sleep at night!

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