Finding a Helper - Part 2 by Shant

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If you are reading this story and have not read FINDING A HELPER, I would suggest reading that one first because it sets up all that happens in part 2. Hope you enjoy. Shant
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A week sure went by fast. Jackson was coming to work with me tomorrow and I still had not made up my mind if I wanted to get a flattop or not.

It actually surprised me that I was making such a big deal out of this. I had worn flattops for years and I always looked forward to getting the first one each summer. I also thought I looked pretty good with a flattop because I had such thick hair, but that was a long time ago, and I was afraid that now I might not look so good with a flattop.

I knew that getting a long, square boxy flattop would only take about eight weeks to grow my hair out to be almost half the length it was now. The time would go by so fast, so why was I having such a hard time making up my mind?

A part of me thought it would be a real rush to drastically change the way I looked. I used to think it was fun how I wore my hair so many different ways all the time, so why was I so afraid of doing it now? I was older now, that’s why.

I also knew that Jackson really wanted me to get a flattop, and to be fair, I had given him a flattop without even asking if he would want his hair cut like that.

He did say that he wanted a really short haircut, but it was a little sneaky of me to describe the haircut without mentioning it was a flattop. A part of me felt like maybe I owed him a little. Fortunately, he loved the haircut.

Jackson showed up for work and we started working in the gardens. After awhile I asked him how he was liking his flattop?

"I love it. I really think it looks fantastic. I’ve had so many people tell me how great it looks. The first moment I see myself in a mirror, I can’t believe how different I look, and I find it hard to believe that it’s me looking back at myself. I guess the newness still hasn’t worn off yet."

"I’m definitely going to keep it for the remainder of the summer. It’s so much easier dealing with all the heat with such shorter hair. No more soaking mop of hair all the time. I can certainly understand why you had a flattop for so many years."

"Have you made up your mind if you are going to get a flattop? I really hope that you have decided to do it. I think you’d look awesome with a flattop, and I’d really like to watch seeing you get one."

"I’m sorry, but I still can’t make up my mind," I said. "One minute I’m all for it, and the next minute, I’m asking myself why would I do anything so crazy? I don’t think I’m ready yet to make a final decision. Maybe I’ll change my mind and get one sometime during the summer."

We finished working for the day. I asked Jackson, "How’d you like to come with me while I run a few errands and then I’ll take you to dinner? Consider it my treat for you not getting to see me get a flattop. I know how much you were hoping that I would get one."

"Sure, I don’t have anything I have to do. That would be great," Jackson said.

We headed into town and I made a few stops and did some errands. When I finished, I pulled up in front of the barbershop where I get my hair cut. When I pulled in, I could see that Tom, the barber, was just sitting in his chair reading the paper. Not a soul was in the shop but him.

When I was growing up, I remember my uncle, who is a barber, tell me that whenever I was looking for a new barber to cut my hair, that I should look for a barber with a good head of hair.

He said, "Guys become barbers because they really enjoy cutting hair, especially cutting it short. If a barber had thinning hair, or was going bald, or if he buzzed his hair all off, you risked that he might be a little heavy handed with the clippers because he was envious of your hair."

"I know some barbers, that if they were jealous of how great a guy’s hair looked, and thought the guy would probably be a one time only customer, might take some liberty and give the guy a lot shorter haircut than he asked for. They loved chopping off a great mane, especially if that’s not what the customer wanted and they knew they would never see him again."

When my barber retired, I checked out a lot of barbershops before deciding on who I thought was the right guy to cut my hair. You know how it is, once you find a barber you like, you keep going back to him, and he becomes the only person that cuts your hair.

When I drove past Tom’s shop for the first time, I knew that he was going to be the one to cut my hair. He was about thirty then, and had a great head of thick, sandy blonde hair.

We hit it off right from the very moment we met. After he gave me my first haircut, I knew that I would always come back to have him cut my hair, and he had been cutting it for over fifteen years now.

"Why are we stopping here?" Jackson asked.

"I have a standing appointment with Tom for the first Saturday of every month. I also have him give me his last appointment and then we usually get together after, and hang out for the night."

"I forgot to call and cancel my appointment, so I thought I’d go in and let him cut my hair now. I thought maybe you would like to watch him give me a haircut."

"I know it’s not a flattop, but maybe I’ll have him take it down a little shorter than he usually does. Come on in with me and meet Tom. He’s a terrific guy."

We walked into the shop, and Tom said, "I see you’ve brought a friend with you. This must be Jackson, the young guy you’ve told me has been such a great help to you in the gardens. Nice to meet you."

"By the looks of that fantastic flattop you have, I doubt you are here for a haircut. You’ve got one of the best looking flattops I’ve ever seen," Tom said.

Jackson had a big smile on his face. He loved getting a compliment from Tom.

"Glad you think his flattop looks so great because I gave it to him last week," I said. "He had never had a flattop in his life and I knew he’d look great if he got one."

"Jackson has been trying to convince me to get a haircut just like his. I haven’t worn a flattop in probably nearly twenty years, and at my age, I’m not sure if I really want to get such a drastically different looking haircut. I’m afraid that I might look really foolish, and it might make me look even older."

"What to you think? Would I be making a big mistake? You’ve been cutting my hair for over fifteen years. You’re my friend. I’m trusting that you will tell me the truth, and not just say yes, because you probably would like to give me a flattop."

Tom had this huge smile on his face. "Are you kidding around with me? You’re seriously considering getting a flattop just like Jackson’s? You’re right. I would really enjoy giving you a flattop, and I think you would look fantastic."

"Mike, you have the most awesome looking hair of probably more than 90% of any men, no matter what their age. Any man would be thrilled to have hair that is as great looking as your hair is."

"It’s one thing to have great hair when you are young, but I think it’s even more outstanding looking as you get older. Not many men still have the same hair they had when they were younger, but your hair hasn’t changed a bit during all the years we have known each other."

"I vote with Jackson and I think you should go for it and get a flattop. If you liked wearing one almost every summer for twenty years, I think once you get over the initial shock of getting it cut, you’ll begin remembering how much you really liked getting a flattop every year."

"Why not try something different? And really, what’s the big deal? You know it will grow out in two months and it will be gone. I’m betting that once you cut it that you’ll end up wearing it throughout the summer and then you can have fun growing it out."

"I tell you what. I don’t think I’m ready for a flattop, but how about if you give me a shorter haircut than I usually get? I think I still need some more time to think it over about getting a flattop."

"No problem, sit yourself down and I’ll give you a shorter, more modern looking haircut. It really is time for you to change the way you wear your hair."

Tom proceeded to give me a shorter version of the haircut I had now. I always enjoyed having him run his fingers through my hair and combing it. He enjoyed a great head of hair as much as I did.

When Tom was cutting my hair differently than he usually did, he liked to have my back to the mirror so I could not see the haircut he was giving me. He looked forward to turning me around to face the mirror and seeing my reaction to the new haircut. I knew I could trust him and it was actually a lot of fun. He never cut it too short.

A little ways into the haircut, Tom said, "Are you sure I can’t convince you to go ahead and get a flattop? You know you have the perfect hair to have a really great looking flattop. It would look almost exactly like Jackson’s."

"I think it would be a blast seeing you look entirely different. I have never seen you with short hair. I bet it would look fantastic. Come on, Mike, let me do it! You have no idea what a rush it would be for me to give you a flattop. Your hair is so awesome. It would be the most incredible time giving you a great looking flattop."

"You know,Tom, if you are so eager to give me a flattop and are telling me that I would really look awesome if I got one, why don’t you get a flattop yourself?"

"I’ve never seen you with that short a haircut either. If you think it’s okay for me to get one, why shouldn’t you get one too? You know you have great hair and that it will cut into a really sharp looking flattop."

"How about if I let you give me a flattop just like Jackson’s, and when you’re finished, you sit down in the chair and let me give you one? It would definitely really be a blast seeing us both looking entirely different."

"Oh, I don’t know," Tom said. "You know, I have never had a flattop. You know how fond I am of my hair, and I think I would miss it too much to get it all cut off. I think my hair helps me get a lot of young guys come in for a haircut, because they like the way my hair looks."

"Oh, I see. It’s perfectly okay for me to get a flattop, but your hair is just too wonderful to cut short. Just what I thought. You’re all talk and no action."

"Here you are trying to convince me to part with almost all my hair, and telling me how great I would look, but you don’t have the nerve to get a flattop yourself. I never knew you were such a priss about that pretty hair of yours."

"You’ve helped me make up my mind. When the day comes that you are willing to get a flattop, then I’ll get one too. If it’s okay for me to lose most of my hair, then you have to be willing to do it too."

That pretty much ended the conversation about me getting a flattop. Tom continued cutting my hair. I could tell that he was cutting about an inch off the sides, which was a little shorter than I usually had him cut it.

He then lifted up the top and took off I assumed about one and a half inches. I could tell that I was going to basically end up with a slightly shorter version of how I normally wore my hair.

Jackson was enjoying seeing me get my hair cut. Jackson suddenly noticed that Tom had a big smile on his face and he winked at him. He didn’t know quite what to make of that.

Tom put the guard on the clippers to taper around my ears and the back. As he started running them up the sides of my head, I felt that the taper was shorter than I was expecting it to be. Tom was making certain that none of the hair he was cutting off was falling where I could see it.

Tom was thinking to himself, "Here’s what I have always wanted to do. I know how stoked I will be to cut off three inch locks of Mike’s beautiful hair. This might be the only opportunity I ever get to do this, and I’ll probably end up regretting it, if I don’t go ahead and do it. But is it really worth it to cut my hair just so that I can give him a flattop? But, man, I really want to do it."

Tom knew that he had to decide in the next few minutes what he was going to do. His mind was reeling. He was experiencing a huge rush trying to decide.

Tom put down the clippers and brushed my hair back into place and I thought that he had finished my haircut. I was waiting for him to turn me around so I could see how much shorter he had cut my hair.

During those few moments, Tom made a quick decision about what he was going to do. "Oh, to hell with it! I’m going to do it! It will be worth it to cut my hair in order to give Mike a really short haircut, especially a flattop."

"I haven’t had hair anywhere near that short in probably almost thirty years. It’ll be a rush getting it cut off. I’ve worn my hair the same way for so long. It’ll be fun trying a lot of different looking hairstyles when I start growing it back out."

"I’m ready for something new! I know I’ve got good hair. I’m beginning to like the idea more and more. Yeah, I actually can’t wait for Mike to cut my hair!"

Tom grabbed his comb and I thought he was just combing the front one last time, when he quickly lifted up my forelock and took his clippers and buzzed off almost two more inches of my hair! I watched as it fell into my lap and saw what a large amount of hair he had taken off.

"What are you doing? That certainly seems a lot shorter than how I told you to cut it!"

"Relax, I’m just making certain that I’m cutting it how I know you want it to look." I realized that Tom was continuing to lift up my hair on top and was buzzing it down really short. All of a sudden, I knew what was happening. Tom was giving me a flattop!

Tom knew that I had a pretty good idea of what he was doing. That made him even bolder. I saw him put the #2 guard on the clippers, and he ran them almost all the way up to the crown. It felt like I had no hair at all.

Changing to a #1 guard, he pushed my head down, almost to my chest, and ran the clippers just above the top of my ears. I definitely thought that I was going to look almost bald. What had I gotten myself into?

Tom finished cutting my hair and then turned me around to face the mirror. I was right. He had given me a flattop just like Jackson’s. I looked at Jackson and couldn’t believe how huge his smile was.

"I can’t believe what you just did! I told you I wasn’t ready for a flattop yet!"

"Actually, your exact words were that when I would be willing to get a flattop, you would too. As I was cutting your hair, I decided I just couldn’t pass up the chance to give you such a short haircut, especially a flattop."

"I decided it would be worth it for me to get a flattop, if that’s what it was going to take to get to cut so much of your awesome hair off. Your hair is so thick. It’s really great and I always look forward to cutting it."

"I’ve always wanted to give you a really short haircut, but I never thought I would get to do it. It had never entered my mind to give you a flattop because I didn’t think you would ever go for it."

"I know how much you love that hair of yours. It really was a blast cutting it! I don’t regret for one moment that I’m going to have you give me a flattop, too."

Once I got over being stunned, I actually realized that I liked how it looked. Instead of making me look older, I thought that I looked younger, and I really did look different after so many years with long hair. Once it was cut, the fear was gone, and I was glad Tom had given me one without telling me.

I also knew that I was really going to have a fantastic time sitting Tom down in the chair and giving him a flattop just like mine.

Tom uncaped me and I wasted no time in telling him that it was his turn to sit in the chair. "Come on, Tom, sit yourself down and get ready to see a totally different looking you."

"I can’t believe that you have never had a flattop and you are a barber. With such great hair, haven’t you ever wondered how you would look wearing a flattop?"

"Getting to give you a flattop for the very first time is going to be mindblowing! It’s going to be a huge rush getting to see all that long, pretty hair you have coming off, especially knowing that you have never had such a short haircut."

"I’m going to have you face the mirror because I want to see the look on your face while I’m taking so much of your awesome hair off. I know how much you love that mane you have."

Tom’s hair was so thick and he had always worn it slightly longer than most guys, which was going to make me enjoy this haircut even more.

His hair was about six inches long on top, with the sides about three inches. He brushed the sides all back above his ears, and blended it into the top. It really did look fantastic.

I started out by brushing his hair all perfectly into place. I loved feeling how soft and silky his hair felt. I ran my fingers through his long beautiful tresses and buried my hands in his thick mane. All the years that Tom had cut my hair, I had never even touched his, so this was really a huge turn on.

Seeing that Tom thought Jackson’s flattop was really sharp looking, I hoped if he liked his flattop, maybe this would be the start of me getting to cut his hair more often.

I was definitely going to take my time and make this haircut last as long as I could. I took the scissors and started at the back and grasped a beautiful three inch lock of his hair and cut it down to about an inch. Tom could not see what I was doing, but he knew what was coming.

I took the back down, lock by lock, leaving his hair about an inch long. Tom could still not see any change in his hair. I then started at the front and sectioned off a lock at a time and cut off two inches. Now Tom could see what was happening. I took about two inches off both sides, leaving plenty of hair to square up into a flattop.

I then reached for the clippers and put the #2 guard on them. "I bet you’ve never had a #2 guard ever run up the sides and back of your head," I said. "Get ready, because this is going to be awesome to see, and you’re going to love how it feels. Don’t be afraid, enjoy the experience of the clippers running up the sides of your head."

I ran the clippers up the back to the crown, making sure all the hair was falling into his lap. I thought Tom was about ready to pass out when he saw so much of his hair coming off. It was unbelievable reversing roles. I loved being in charge. I loved it that Tom was having to be submissive to me.

I slightly wet his hair and took one of the pomades he had and took a big amount, rubbed it into my hands, and then ran it through his hair. I took his blowdryer and turned it on high and aggressively brushed his hair up and back, getting it to stand up as high as I could.

The pomade made his hair stand up almost perfectly straight. He looked so strange with six inches of hair standing almost straight up with only an inch on the sides. If the sides were longer, he would have the most amazing looking pompadour. His hair had so much body that it didn’t even move. I was having an incredible time playing with his hair.

After I finished brushing the top, I took my hand and grabbed a handful of his beautiful locks and held them straight up. "Look how wild you look with all your hair standing up and the sides being so short!"

"Take one last look at all that pretty hair you have. I bet you must be freaking out never having such a short haircut. Get ready. You’re going to have about six inches of your glorious mane taken down to just an inch."

Usually when a guy gets a flattop, the barber lifts up the forelock and runs the clippers over the top of his comb from one side to the other and continues working his way towards the back.

Tom was really going to be freaked out when I started cutting his hair on top, because that was not how I was going to cut it.

I brushed his hair back one final time because I had mussed it up when I had grabbed a handful of his precious locks.

With it standing almost six inches tall, standing behind him, I placed the clippers at the center of his forehead and without using a comb, I plowed the clippers into his tall pompadour and cleared a path right down the center of his head.

He looked like he was going to faint! The path down the middle was just a little over an inch long, but he still had six inches of hair standing up on each side.

"Oh, my God!" Tom said. "Look at my hair! I’ve certainly never seen it look like this ever before!"

"Relax, it’s going to end up looking just like both Jackson’s and my flattop when I’m finished. I just wanted to have a little fun giving you your first really short haircut." I continued running the clippers from the front to the back, taking off all the long hair on each side of his head.

"Okay, now I’m ready to square up the sides and back and flatten down the top. I think you’re actually going to like this haircut. I think you’ll wish that you had gotten one a long time ago." When I had finished squaring everything up, Tom thought that the haircut was about over.

I was so hyped up, and without really even thinking about it, reached again for the clippers and put the #1 guard on them, and before Tom realized what I was doing, ran them up the sides and back to about the top of his ears.

I had used the #1 guard on Jackson’s flattop and Tom had agreed to get his hair cut like Jackson’s. I couldn’t have been any more excited taking him down even shorter. I was loving it and I knew it was going to freak Tom out even more!

I finished the haircut. I thought it looked great and Tom looked entirely different. I asked him what he thought about his new look?

"It’s going to take some getting used too, but I look a lot better than I thought I would. It really was mindblowing watching you be in charge of cutting my hair, and cutting it the way you did. I know I have never experienced anything like it before. Once I got over the fear, it was really awesome seeing it come off."

"How about if the three of us go out to dinner? My treat," I said. "We’ll make quite an entrance walking in somewhere. Three generations of men all wearing a flattop, and especially all wearing such fantastic looking flattops, is really going to stand out. Get ready to be noticed."

"The three of us are all lucky to have such great hair. We may just have to do this again in a few weeks if we want to keep our flattops looking sharp. Do you think you’d be up to doing that, Tom?"

"The more I look at my hair, the more I’m liking it. I’d be willing to keep it like this for the summer if you two guys do too," Tom said.

"Jackson has already said that he was going to keep his flattop for the summer. I promise I will too, especially if it means getting to cut your hair every few weeks to keep it looking sharp. Do we have a deal?" Tom and Jackson both immediately said yes.

This had really been an unplanned, wild afternoon. It was now time to go out and show off our new look. I was so pleased that things had turned out the way they did.

Like I had told Jackson earlier, if a guy has great hair he should show it off, and that’s exactly what we were going to do!

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