The school starts in 1974 - 2nd part by Jajko

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The new haircut was terrible. The next day, my friend, who lives a short distance from us, saw me with a haircut. When he saw me, he opened his mouth in surprise, but then he started to laugh and pulled my protruding ears. It was much worse at school. Even though my hair grew about 1/8 inch in a few days and my neck was no longer completely bare, all my classmates wanted to reach over my head to rub it from the back of my neck to the top of my head. We have one classmate in the class whose father is a soldier and regularly wears a short haircut. Now I realized how he felt when I also mocked him in the past. But at the beginning of the school year, others were not interested in his short haircut, but mine. They had never seen me with such short hair and protruding ears before. I believed I would never go to an old-fashioned barber shop again.
Our hair has grown 2 inches since an unexpected haircut at the end of the holidays. Christmas was approaching. It was Saturday and there were still 10 days left until Christmas. At breakfast, our parents told us that we would all go to the city center. I thought we were going to buy Christmas presents together.
But our parents brought us to the barber shop. It was an old-fashioned barbershop that the boys preferred to bypass. Dad went to the barber and I saw him showing him the photos he took after our last haircut. We started to protest that we didn't want to get our hair cut here, but mom yelled at us to be quiet and said that at home we would be punished with dad for this drama. Then mom sent us to sit on the waiting chairs. I only saw my father agreeing with the barber. Then he came to us and told us to wait for them, that they would come in about an hour. There were 6 older men and a lady in the barbershop with two 11 year old boys who had slightly longer hair than me and Michael. They were also dressed the same, they looked like they were twins.
I closed my eyes and imagined how my hair looked after the last haircut. I got over the fact that the boys couldn't agree on who could get their hair cut first. Finally, their mother spoke to one of them and pointed to the barber's chair. He sat down in his chair angrily. His mother followed him. I didn't understand what she was talking about with the barber. Then she nodded and went to sit back on the waiting chair.
The boy was given a short haircut in no time. He was replaced by his brother, who got the same haircut. I felt sorry for them because their hair was much shorter than mine when I had my last haircut. I could not imagine what kind of hell I would have to experience at school with such a hairstyle. The barber cut the hair of two more elderly men and already invited me to his chair.
He wrapped me in a sheet, pushed my head forward and ran electric scissors over the back of my head. As he pushed my head to the right side, he cut my hair on the left side. I was left with 1/8 inch of stubble. He did the same on the right side. The barber changed the blades on the scissors. I noticed mark #2 on them. He put the scissors to my forehead and went through the top of my head. He repeated this several more times and I was left with 1/4 inch long hair on the top of my head. He lathered much of my sides and the back of my head. When he scraped off the foam I was 1 and 1/2 inches above my ear with no hair. My hairstyle was very similar to what the twins before us got.
The barber put several cushions on the sofa and put Michael in the sofa. In a moment he too was cropped short above the ears had 1 and 1/2 inches of skin shaved off and 5 inches of white skin shining above the collar of his shirt that went into a small stubble. Now I was sure that our hairstyles were identical to those of the twins.
I was already imagining what I would experience at school on Monday. I had the shortest haircut in the class.
When our parents arrived, the barber advised them not to let our hair grow so long. Dad asked how often we should get a new haircut. The barber replied that every 2 to 3 weeks is ideal. But it certainly shouldn't be more than once a month.
On the way home, I asked my father why the barber cut our hair much shorter than he had shown in the photos. He smiled and said that it was his standard hairstyle for boys.
After arriving home, the father wrote in the calendar on Saturday at the date 4.1. 1975. CUT THE BOYS' HAIRCUT. Then it was Saturday January 25 again...
Since then, after every haircut, dad wrote a new haircut date in the calendar. The barber no longer asked father how to cut our hair. When we met another boy with a father or mother at the barbershop, he usually talked them into giving the boy a standard boy's haircut and pointed to a picture hanging on the wall.
I was the center of ridicule at school on Monday. Not only did everyone try the shaved part of the head, but one classmate managed to hit my bare neck with his palm, which made a big splash and everyone who saw and heard it started laughing. Slapping my bare neck was the new hit in class and everyone wanted to try it more than once until the back of my head grew tiny hairs.
But 3 weeks passed quickly and I was briefly scalped again: I didn't mind the taunts anymore, but the slapping on the bare neck for several days.
I started to notice more boys of different ages with short hair. Well, the one who went to the barber like me could be seen from a distance. I occasionally greeted some of them as if we were old friends.

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