MPB and My Dad’s Toupees by Steve Miller

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Growing up, I always saw my dad in and out of toupees. He has the most amazing male pattern bald fringe around the side of his head. He loves to go to the barbershop to get a short, taper, high arch over the ears and get his fringe fixed, so he could pop on a toupee and go about his day.

It was always common language in our house for my dad to say things to me like, "hey, don’t worry son if you ever start thinning, you know I have a collection of toupees. We don’t have to have thinning in our family." I never really knew what he meant by this, but I knew that I hope that I never end or started losing my hair like my dad.

My dad would always make comments to me on the side when driving in the car or just around the house. He would make comments like, "Hey, don’t forget I have clippers back at the house. If you ever need a haircut I can take care of that hair for you. "

I never did succumb to dad‘s home hair haircuts, but it was a secret fetish of mine, that he never knew about. I would, however, always egg him on, and say things to him like, "oh, dad it’s so hot. I need a haircut. "

When my dad was out of the house, there were many times, I would go into his bathroom and find some of his toupees. I would slick my hair back on top of my head and put the toupee on top of my head. Turn my head sideways and wonder what I would look with a toupeé. Secretly I was always hoping my dad with catch me and talk me into shaving my head. It never really happened though.

I ended up leaving for college at 18 and had a very stressful first year. When I came home on summer vacation, I had to admit to myself that the stress might’ve been a little bit too much on me as it seemed like my hair was receding just a bit. It was still very full and I thought my hair was thinning a little bit, but most people wouldn’t notice. I just attributed it all to stress from college.

I did, however, make a mistake and mention it to my dad. At which point he came and started examining the top of my head, coming to the conclusion, "Yep, you’re starting to thin. You know there’s really one option to take care of this son. We need to take it down to George’s barbershop and get you fixed up. George will take care of all of this. "

I was in need of a haircut. I really wasn’t planning on going to a barbershop, and was really planning on just going to a Supercuts and getting a trim. I was starting to get nervous because my dad at this point was making comments like, "You’d be a good candidate for a flat top son. " Every time my dad made these comments, I always got secretly excited.

When Saturday came, my dad woke me up and said that we were going to go to the barbershop and run some errands. I figured how bad could it be? It’s just a haircut and it was getting hot anyway.

We drove over to George’s Barbershop, which was probably the most old fashion barbershop you can imagine. No signs of technology, no signs of modernism… Just your standard black vinyl chairs, book racks of magazines, and lots of pictures of old fashioned haircuts lining the walls.

I think George must’ve been in his 60s. Definitely not a fit and trim man, having a beer belly hiding behind his white tunic. George always looked the same. He had black trousers, and a white tunic that was covering a wifebeater undershirt underneath. George and his uniform never changed. He did also seem to favor old fashioned glasses, sported a neatly trimmed military type mustache and had his haircut either into a very short, military, tight, flat top, or a high and tight. This just seemed to be who George was and the type of man that he portrayed.

I can see lots of sons coming into the barbershop with their fathers being scared that their dad would say something like, "Hey George, why don’t you just give my boy a haircut like yours."

Can you imagine, sitting in a chair and having your father, tell the barber to go ahead and give you a haircut like George? Basically, your dad is saying just shave it all off and guvt my son a high and tight.

My dad and I waited in the chairs until George was ready. My dad suggested that I go first, and he leaned over and told me, "Don’t worry son I’ll tell George what to do. I know you’re nervous. "

I walked over to the chair and sat down as George casually rubbed my shoulders, put a strip around my neck, clipped the cape on, pumped the chair up and looked my dad square in the eyes. George casually asked my dad, "Tim what are we doing for your son today? " I thought it was odd considering that I’m 19 years old and George didn’t ask me directly, but I am thankful he asked my dad because I am so nervous and I wouldn’t know what to say.

My dad casually replied as he took off his baseball hat and rubbed the top of his male pattern baldness haircut. He mentioned to George that it looked like my hair was starting to thin, and it would probably be a good idea to give me a haircut like his. He told George since I’m thinning, or starting to thin, he wanted to help me to avoid the awkward, embarrassing stage of publicly losing my hair. He suggested to George that it probably would be a good idea to go ahead and shave the top of my head into a neatly trimmed male pattern bald haircut. That way I can skip the agonizing years of thinning hair and having people look and probably laugh. He also mentioned to George that it was a good idea to get a male pattern bald haircut since he had so many toupees at home, and in the event that I wanted to have hair, I could borrow one of his toupees.
Goerge laughed and replied, "Tim, you always have the best ideas and you’re always the sharpest looking man in town. Whether you’re sporting a neatly trimmed male pattern, bald fringe, or one of your toupees, I always enjoy seeing you walking around town. "

I really wasn’t expecting this, and I really was expecting only to get a trim at the barbershop to get a taper and get it short off my ears but that’s about it. To hear my dad tell George that I was going to jump ahead to male pattern baldness, I started to get really nervous in the chair. It was evident to George as I was perspiring, so he gently bent down and said, "Don’t worry kid. It’s the best haircut for you. "

Everything was a blur as George begin the haircut, but I knew I was in good hands. He started by giving me a decent short sides and back haircut. Paying attention to give me a short taper along the neckline, high arch above the ears and remove my sideburns. I actually liked the haircut that he was giving me. At some point I thought he was finished when he turned the clippers off and started dusting off my neck. I looked over at my dad and just shrug my shoulders as if to say, "I guess this is good enough for now. "

At that point my dad mentioned to George, "Hey, don’t forget the male pattern bald. He’s gonna have a hard time taping a toupee on with all that hair.

George replied, "Oh! I almost forgot. I didn’t think you actually wanted me to give him a haircut like that. No worries though, let me just grab the clippers and I can remove the hair on the top and blended in with the fringe. "

At that point, I had a mixture of fear, anger, excitement, and yes, I was slightly turned on. I didn’t plan very well for today’s visit to the barbershop. I wore a pair of gray gym shorts, and I decided to free ball today. Not the best decision as I sat there wondering what I was going to do.

At that moment George reached around, grabbed some clippers set them back down on the counter, looked at my head and began combing it to separate the hair that he was going to remove from the fridge that was going to stay. Once he figured out what he was going to do, he reached around for the clippers, click them on, set them at my forehead, and began to mow a path backwards across my top of my head. Hair rained down on my lap. I was uncertain what was going to happen, and was also embarrassed. There was another dad sitting in the barbershop with two teenage sons, watching my whole haircut. It wouldn’t have been bad if it was just my dad and myself, but I wasn’t planning on an audience. At one point I remember hearing the father lean over and tell his sons, "Now that’s a haircut. You boys f*** up again, that’s the cut you’re getting. " I felt embarrassed because I think the dad thought this was a punishment haircut. Did he not know I was 19 and in college and not a high school teenager?

George continued to run the clippers over my head and carve out a shiny dome. At one point my dad remark to George, "Hey, George… may wanna dip it low on the sides and in the back. Kind of like when he throws on a baseball hat you should be able to see the shaved part in the back where it meets the fringe. "

George replied, "That’s a good idea. Probably would look much better if we just fix it so it looks like advanced male pattern bald. Great idea. Let me go ahead and shave it down lower on the sides and dip it lower in the back. "

George and my dad seemed to be having a side conversation, pretending that I wasn’t even sitting in the chair. As I glanced over into the mirror and turned my head sideways, I do have to admit that George was producing the most natural looking male pattern baldness fringe on my head. I actually was liking the look of this haircut. Looking back at me was a young man, whose head was completely shaved on top, and had a fringe around the sides. I almost look like I was a 60-year-old man in a 19 year olds body. I thought to myself this is no big deal. I could just wear this fringe for a little bit and come August before I leave for the university, just go ahead and have everything shaved off. Shaved heads seem to be fairly popular at the university, so if I returned with no hair, I could just blame it on a hot summer and I wanted something different.

After George was done with the clippers, he proceeded to put hot lather on the top of my head, and with a straight razor, he managed to shave all the hair perfectly and blend it into the fringe.

At this point, my dad made a comment and said, "Don’t worry son, it’s easy to maintain. I’ll show you how to shave the top of your head for maintenance. You won’t ever need to worry about having hair on your head again. It’s either the fringe or toupeé from now on, you can join the club. You never have to worry about having hair again. "

George seemed to join in the conversation and also replied, "Don’t worry, son, maintenance haircuts on this type of haircut is not as expensive. It’s just five dollars for a touchup shave. Come in anytime and I’ll shave the top, blend it into the fringe and taper your neck and it’s just five bucks. "

Of course, my dad had to reply, " see… I told you. Now that haircuts are going to be so much cheaper. You can go ahead and keep this style. Lots of bald men around and I don’t think people in college will care. Besides, You’ll have a choice of either having a fringe or wearing a toupee. You’ll never have to worry about losing your hair or thinning or going through those embarrassing stages again. "

It was time for George to remove the cape and I was quite embarrassed because at this point I had erection and a wet spot on the front part of my shorts. I tried to hide it, but my dad saw it, and as we were leaving the barbershop, he leaned in and made a comment to me and said, "Don’t worry, son I get the same way. "

When we got home, my dad asked me to come into his bathroom with him, and he laid out different toupees that I could wear. He found a couple that he thought he might like, and showed me how to put the tape on the back of the toupee and tape it to the top of my head. What I have to mention here is, my dad doesn’t spend much money on toupees. They’re not the expensive hair systems that you see a lot of people wear. These are the toupees. They’re obviously toupees. The color doesn’t blend into the fringe, or the hair doesn’t blend into the fringe. It basically says I’m wearing a toupee.

My dad said, "You have the best of both worlds now, son. You don’t have to worry about your hair, you don’t have to worry about the embarrassing stages of losing your hair, if you want hair you just tape on a toupee.

I had a whole bunch of questions for my dad at this point concerning regrowth, maintenance, shaving, fitting the toupeé, and everything else. I started to ask my dad questions, and to get some answers, but the question that was bearing down on me the most was, "Is this going to be a lifelong decision for me or should I just re-grow my hair and deal with the thinning that is starting to happen? "

I think my dad understood my trepidation and my hesitation. My dad said, "Son, you’ve taken the first step on a lifelong journey. This is not something that you go back-and-forth between. You’ve made the decision and it’s a good one. This is going to be your lifelong look,"

I wanted to lean in and tell my dad that this is really sort of a fetish, and that I enjoyed it, was probably going to regrow my hair before I left for college. But I knew deep down that this was really what I wanted to do. Besides, I would be meeting new people in college anyway, so if they saw me with just a male pattern, bald fringe, I could just mention that my hair was thinning on top, so I just decided to shave the top and jump ahead a few years. What could be so bad about that? Knowing, however, that I was never going to have hair again on the top of my head, and that I willingly chose or that my dad chose for me to have this type of haircut …that was pretty cool to me.

My dad suggested at this point when we were in the bathroom trying on toupees that I should probably change my look up a little bit to match having a bald head. He got out his clippers and suggested that I shave off my beard, but leave a tight mustache.

I closed my eyes and gave my dad free reign, and told him to go ahead and shave my beard for me in the shape of my mustache as he saw fit. When he was finished, looking back at me at the mirror was an identical twin to himself. Both of us are now, bald, mustached, and deep down. I think my dad also shares the same enjoyment that I do.

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