Christmas Haircut by Thomas

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This haircut took place a couple of weeks ago.

My hair was getting a bit too long. It was a good few inches in length and would go halfway down shirt collars. Plus, my mum was on my case, she kept telling me to get a haircut.

I had got home from university on Friday 14th December but hadn't had time to go and get a haircut as I was either at work or buying Christmas presents. I had the 4 days before Christmas Day off work so at least I knew I had the Friday and Saturday before Christmas to get my hair cut.

I get my hair cut at a place that from the outside, looks like a salon, but is actually more of a barbershop. It is owned by two women and all the barbers who work in there are women, which I quite like as ever since I was a kid I've always had my hair cut by women. the barbershop doesn't feel much like a traditional barbers, but more of a salon that only caters for men.

I woke up on the Friday before Christmas (21st Dec) at around 8.30 because the bin men were making an almighty racket. I decided to get my hair cut as I was up early. I went out at about 10 and began the short walk to the barbershop. Only two women were working, but only one was with a customer.

As I walked into the barbershop I was greeted by the woman who wasn't busy and told to take a seat. I had had my hair cut by her a few times before, her name was Michelle and had brown shoulder length hair.

She put a cape over me and asked "What are we doing then, just a trim or something different?"

I had been thinking about getting my hair cut short for a while now, so I said "Maybe something shorter, I just want to get rid of this mess".

"Ok, did you have any particular style in mind?" she asked.

"Not particularly, maybe a short back and sides, like with clippers".

"Ok, that'll be quite a change, are you sure?" she asked.

"Yes, I'm sick of this long hair, it’s so messy".

"Ok so what number for the clippers and what about the top, with scissors or with clippers?".

"Might as well go pretty short with the clippers on the back and sides, like a number 3 and with scissors on the top".

Michelle just said “OK” and picked up her scissors from a small shelf in front of me. She began cutting off lumps of my long hair, I suppose to make using the clippers easier. When she had finished with the scissors, Michelle put the scissors down and took the clippers off their hook and got a number 3 guard out from a small drawer, put the guard on the clippers and turned them on. They made a sound that took me back to my childhood and memories of getting short buzz cuts every month or so, it was a sound I liked a lot.

She pushed the clippers up the back of my neck and I could feel the clippers ripping through my hair and could see the chunks coming off as she pulled the clippers out when she got to the top of my head. She kept cutting the hair at the back of my head until it was all the same length. She moved onto the left side of my head and pushed the clippers up to the top of my head and like before she pulled the clippers out when she got to the top of my head. Hair was cascading down onto my lap. Michelle finished on the left side and moved to the right, she cut all the hair in that section, simply repeating what she had done on the left side and the back of my head.

She turned off the clippers, put them down and picked up a water spray bottle and wet my hair. She put it down and picked up scissors and a comb. She combed the hair on top of my head down and took a section of my hair, gripped it between two fingers and asked "Is that too much off for you?".

If she had cut the amount off she wanted to she might as well be using clippers, so I said "Maybe a bit less”.

Michelle nodded and took a bit less hair between her fingers and cut the hair, she took another section of hair and cut that the same length as before. She kept doing this until all the hair on the top of my head was cut the same length, she then took a section of hair from just above the clipper cut hair and cut it pretty short, I assume she was blending the shorter and longer hair together. She put down the scissors and picked up thinning shears, she went over the top of my head with thinning shears to and put down the shears and comb.

She then picked up the clippers and said "I'm just going to go over the back and sides again, OK".

She worked quickly with the clippers, going over the already cut sections. She turned off the clippers and picked up a smaller clipper. She placed the blade of the small clipper on the back of my neck, lightly pushing the clipper upwards on the back of my neck. She then did the same on the sides. She then asked "Are you keeping the sideburns?"

"Yeah, keep them a bit longer" I said.

She finished up with the small clipper and rubbed her hand all over of head and it felt really good! I could feel her nails gently touching my scalp as she passed her hand through my hair!

She then picked up a handheld mirror and showed me the back of my head, it looked great! I said "That’s good thanks".

"Do you want me to style it or do you want to leave it?".

"It’s fine like that, I'll decide what to do with it later".

She nodded and took the cape off me.

Michelle walked over to the cash till and said "Thats £10 please".
I gave her £15, she really deserved it!"

I walked out of the barbershop and could feel the wind on my freshly clipper cut hair, something I hadn't felt for several years.

Although I loved my new haircut, I was already thinking about going shorter...

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