Brother Miscommunication by Jonah

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Thought to share this true story which happened to me a while back. My parents were moving house and I was helping them move along with my brother, sister and other family members over the weekend. On the Saturday we were packing and my brother looked as he always did â€" with a full set of thick black hair in his usual undercut. He always had it super short like stubble on the side. I was late on the Sunday morning and arrived and noticed my brother was wearing a beanie covering his hair which at the time I didn’t even flinch about. It was unusual as I cant remember him wearing one but it was winter so I assumed it was because of the weather. We all continued to pack through the day and in the afternoon my brother and I were having a coffee in the backyard of my parents’ new house and I commented how I didn’t get time to do my errands including getting a haircut over the weekend because of the move. My brother â€" Roger commented he could cut my hair later that afternoon as my parents had equipment. I looked at him and remember he had learnt haircutting quite well during COVID lockdowns and without hesitation said "let’s do it". We both went inside after our coffee and continued the afternoon packing away.

Around 4pm, Roger asked if I still wanted the haircut as he will get the equipment and I said "yep". He said he would meet me in the backyard and I went out there and joined him a few minutes later. My brother Roger was younger than me but to give you some context into our relationship â€" he was the cool one, well cool to me. He was 5 years younger, was always doing what he wanted in life and kinda always did what I just longed to do. He was also a bad influence. Roger handed me a cigarette and beer as soon as I got into the backyard. I had quit smoking years back and rarely drunk these days but Roger knew my vices and how I couldn’t say no to him.

Roger asked me what to do with my hair. I was smoking, drinking and doing stuff on my phone so I was way distracted and I just responded "do it like yours" but a number three. This was my miscommunication. What I had missed was that Roger underneath that beanie had buzzed off all of his hair the night before and that he didn’t have the same basic haircut as me anymore. He buzzed his head at a #0.5 but normally he always had that super short on the sides so I just assumed that he was #0.5 on the sides still but had a full undercut on top. So me saying do a #3 for me meant buzz the sides #3 but the whole thing. Roger though didn’t go straight in â€" he asked me are you sure you didn’t want to start with a #5 or #4 instead and work down. Me again oblivious was quick to dismiss â€" "nah #3 is good".

Roger then said "ah right you’re the boss" and then said "you’re gonna look good bro". Again didn’t even flinch. Roger started with the sides then before I even realised went to the top but was clipping from the back going into the front. I said to him "dude what are you doing" and he said "buzzing your head". I immediately jolted and yelled at him to stop. He stopped despite a big chunk of my back head now clippered down. I asked him was he playing a joke and he reminded me I told him to do it like his. Roger goes "dude I am bald" and showed me his stubble left on his head taking off his beanie. I said to him I hadn’t seen it and he said everyone’s been talking about it all day and somehow we realised that I was missing at the morning when everyone made a big deal but also I wasn’t paying attention to all the comments about "chrome dome", "egghead" and all the jabs everyone had been making that day. He apologised and genuinely was feeling bad. I was in a state of panic because I hadn’t done anything like this to my head since my teenage years. But again secretly, I was looking at Roger and he looked good with it and my mind was toggling between looking having a drastic change like him or trying to salvage whatever I could. Roger said he would try and blend it as it was just a bit at the back and the top crown hadn’t been touched.

I studied myself in the mirror for a good 10 minutes and trying to figure out a way to fix it. I deep down actually wanted to buzz it all off then and there. I was wanting to make a change and a buzzcut would be fresh and clean. But I was nervous and also didn’t think my girlfriend would approve as she liked my hair longer. I asked Roger to try and salvage it and he was using scissors to try and even it all out. I thought if I wore a beanie for a few weeks it’ll grow back. Roger though being the brother he was â€" after all giving me a cig, a beer looked at me and said "bro, just trust me". Before I could even respond or understand what he meant â€" he used the clippers and teared down the front middle part of my head and before I knew it I was at a point of no return. Roger had made the choice and I was getting buzzed. I sat there and let Roger buzz it all off. He gave me another cigarette and told me to relax.

After a few minutes, my locks were shorn down to a nice #3. I actually deep down liked the look but felt a little different after all. Roger told me it looked good. My old man came outside to see us and actually told me I looked better and more tough so I was getting a few compliments. Roger started packing up the clippers and I kept looking at myself in my phone. I really enjoyed touching it. I then went over to Roger and touched his head as it was at a #5 which was like stubble. It felt like sand paper, had a great feel to it. Roger then asked if wanted to go shorter like him. I just stared at him and before I could make a decision Roger said "sit down, let’s clean you up". I just sat there submissive and said you "do what you want". Roger with a cigarette in his mouth said "trust me I am". Again, I freaked saying "don’t go too short". Roger ignored me and just went in with a #1 cleaning me up right away. He looked at me when he was done and said "you like this don’t ya". I looked at him and said "I think we need to keep going". He smiled and said "I thought you might". He said to me he will do a #.05 but I said to him without even flinching "go broke we came this far". He had no blade and went straight in reducing me down to skin. Within minutes I had gone from a long lush lot of hair and nothing left. Roger felt inspired and cleaned himself up down to a zero too so he was now totally bald too.

What was funny was what happened next. My old man comes out telling us both we looked good and was all excited his sons were bald. He got involved and told us to sit down as we weren’t done yet. He comes back out with shaving cream and a razor saying he was going to make us smooth. Roger and I were a bit apprehensive about going skin bald but my Dad was super excited to be bonding with his sons over making them bald. He even took a cigarette from us and was smoking and he got Roger first sitting him down as he put shaving cream all over his head and used the razor to take off every bit of hair left. He was masterful taking it all down and didn’t miss a hair. Then he got me in the chair and lathered me up with shaving cream and before I knew it my head was silky smooth. He felt so proud to be doing this to his sons which was cute.

Afterwards my dad looked at us both â€" two grown men and said â€" "you will keep it like this". We were both submissive and both felt instinctively to tell him "yes sir". The haircut made us feel more submissive like we were kids.

I was scared to show my girlfriend but she actually loved the look and told me that it made me more edgy. My friends also liked it too â€" one of them actually shaved his head a few months later because I gave him the confidence.

Weirdly through all of this we made a tradition and our dad kept shaving our heads every few weeks at family lunch. I have kept it bald for the last year or so at razor left â€"I even bought a Wahl foamer clipper so we didn’t need to use razors. I enjoy the easiness of it. My brother Roger has grown it back a bit but always eventually succumbs and gets my dad to buzz it off. Weirdly, we started a tradition of it.

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