Thank you, Charlie! by Shant

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It was Thursday. It had been a busy morning, but after lunch, things slowed down. I was just sitting in my barber chair, watching the world pass by outside my shop.

A guy caught my eye as he was coming out of a shop across the street. He was a very good looking man. Even from a distance, you could see that he was impeccably dressed. He obviously did not buy his suits off the rack, and were custom made.

I would guess that he was probably in his early thirties. He was about six feet tall, with a good body.

He had great hair. It was what I would call a modern pompadour. His hair was dark brown with fiery highlights. The sides and back were tapered short, almost all the way up to where a side part would be. He had at least six inches of thick, straight hair on the top.

He brushed the top from his right temple, up and back to the left, with no part at all. His hair stood up about four inches tall in front. You could tell that he used a comb, because you could see how the teeth of the comb caused each strand of hair to have a slight space between them, which really made it look great.

I watched him cross the street, all the while admiring how awesome his hair was. He proceeded to walk in the direction of my shop. I watched him stop in front of my shop, just standing there and looking all around, as if he were trying to figure out which direction to go.

I couldn’t believe it when he turned, and walked up the steps, opened the door, and came into my shop. His hair was so perfect looking. It looked like he just had it cut, so I was curious why he was coming in, but I was sure glad that he was. I was really anxious to find out what his reason for entering would be.

"Can I help you?" I said.

"Hi. My name is Logan. I was wondering if I needed to make an appointment to get my hair cut, or if you also took walk-ins?" he said.

"I do both. Whatever the customer prefers, is fine with me. Are you thinking of getting a haircut? It looks like you just had one. You have a great head of hair there. It looks awesome. It’s really striking."

"Thanks," he said with a big smile on his face. "I work for Marks, Adams and Cole, one of the largest advertising firms in the city. There are around forty guys that work there."

"Image is everything when you work in advertising. All the guys dress really sharp, and most have really great looking haircuts, all cut in a variety of styles. The goal is for everyone to always look sharp and professional."

"Each year we do some type of charity fundraiser. It makes us look good in the community, and we get a lot of free advertising out of it. We knew we wanted to do something that wouldn’t take up too much time, but would still bring in a lot of donations."

"When we got together to come up with an idea for this year, one of the guys told us how his fraternity did the same fundraiser every year, and it was now a tradition that they repeated every year. It took almost no effort and ran for only two weeks."

"That sounded perfect, so we had him tell us about it. Each guy in the frat had an 8 x 10 picture taken and it was then taped to a container, along with the guy’s name. The containers were set up in the college union. People donated money for the guy they wanted to see get his hair cut short."

"We knew we could expand on that, and have the containers in our lobby, but also in businesses all over the city. Letters would be sent to all our clients asking them to donate to help us raise as much money as we could. The five guys that raised the most money would then agree to get their hair cut short."

"At first, most guys immediately thought no way would they be willing to do that. Management took its time, however, promoting the idea. When the president of the firm spoke up and said he thought it was a great idea, and that he would be willing to participate in the fundraiser, a lot of guys then changed their minds and came on board.

"When you thought about it, only one guy out of eight would be chosen, so the odds weren’t all that bad. Most guys figured that the odds would be in their favor and they probably would not be chosen. There were about ten guys that had really geat looking hair, and most people assumed five of them would be selected."

"We really didn’t know if this would be successful or not, but we ended up making double what we had set as our goal. Just my luck to come in at number five in donations, so now I have to cut my hair short. I’m not crazy about it, but it’s for a good cause."

"I went to my barber, Charlie, over on Charlotte Street. He’s cut my hair for a few years now. I surprised him and told him that I was thinking about getting a flattop and wondered if he thought one would look good on me?"

"Are you serious?" he said. "You have such gorgeous hair! It would be terrible seeing you get it all cut off! I really hope you change your mind and don’t decide to cut it."

"I explained how I had ended up in this situation, and then told him to go ahead and give me a flattop."

"As much as I would enjoy cutting your hair down short," he said, "I have to be honest, and tell you that I really don’t cut the best flattops. They look alright, but with your great hair, I would be afraid of not doing a good job, and you not being happy with how it looked."

"If you want to get a really sharp looking flattop, you should go to Mike’s Barbershop on Broadway," he said. "He specializes in flattops, and I honestly don’t think you will find anyone that could cut you a better one."

"So, thanks to Charlie, here I am. Do you think my hair would cut into a good looking flattop?" Logan asked.

"Are you kidding? Your hair will cut into an unbelievable flattop! What’s it, about six inches long on top right now? It already stands up really well, despite it being so long."

"Charlie and I have been friends for a long time and he’s sent me many guys looking to get a first time flattop. I’d love to give you a flattop. It’s my favorite haircut to do, especially if the guy has thick hair with a lot of body. Your hair certainly has all of that. I’ll have to call Charlie later and thank him for sending you to me."

"Seeing that this is for charity, the haircut is free. Do you know what type of flattop you would like to get?"

"I’ve never had a flattop, so I don’t have much experience about what types there even are. Seeing as how you’re the expert, what type of flattop would you suggest would look good on me?"

"You don’t have to worry at all. I think you will look really fantastic with a flattop. Your hair is absolutely perfect for one. I’d like to square up the back and sides short, and then leave your hair in front about one and a half inches long. That would enable you to brush the very front back just a little."

"I would then cut the top shorter as I worked my way back to the crown, leaving it probably about an inch long."

"Your hair obviously stands up really well and I know that I could get the top to stand up flat as a board. It would look awesome with the sides, back, and top, all being perfectly squared up, with the very front just long enough to slightly brush back. I think it would really look sharp. How does that sound?"

"I think it sounds great. Would you mind cutting it now?" Logan said. "It has to be done, and I figure why not be the first one to do it, and get it over with?"

"Sure, the rest of my afternoon is totally open, so the chair is all yours."

Logan sat in the chair and I immediately wasted no time in caping him up. This was really going to be an awesome time. Rarely did I get a guy with such great hair and get to give him a first time flattop.

I started the haircut by just taking my comb and combing all his hair back, perfectly into place. It really was beautiful. It was amazing how tall it stood up without any effort.

I knew that he would be losing over four inches off the top. I couldn’t wait to see it fall into his lap. Knowing that he had never had a flattop before made it even more exciting.

The sides were already the length I wanted them to be and all I would have to do is taper up the back and around his ears just a little. Charlie had used a #2 guard and ran them up to about an inch above the top of his ears. I figured I could use a #1 guard and just clean it up a bit at the base.

I switched to my wide tooth comb and starting where the #2 guard ended, placed the comb against the side of his head and buzzed off any hair that was standing out beyond the comb, all the way up to the very top. He was not losing very much hair, but the sides looked a lot different standing straight out instead of being brushed back.

When I finished the sides and back, all that was left was the top. I again combed it all straight back. His hair was awesome. It was so thick and stayed exactly where I combed it.

Having about half an inch of hair on the sides with over six inches on top was incredible to see. I combed his forelock straight up and with the clippers, buzzed off over four inches of his beautiful hair. Watching all his hair fall into his lap was a rush, and then there was still so much hair to still cut off the top.

I continued to lift up a section at a time and buzzed off four inches. As I worked my way to the back, I took it down just a little more so that I could square up the back and sides into the top.

When I finished the haircut, I wet his hair slightly, took a little styling gel, ran it through his hair, and took my blowdryer and vigorously brushed it all up and back, getting it to stand as tall as possible. The top, like I had expected, was as flat as a board.

I thought that his flattop looked awesome, and like his previous haircut, every hair was perfectly in place. I could tell by the smile on his face that he really liked it.

"I can’t thank you enough for giving me such a fantastic looking haircut. I really like how it looks, and I was so afraid that it might not look good. I wouldn’t be surprised if I wore it like this throughout the summer," Logan said.

The next morning, my phone rang almost as soon as I walked in the door. "Hey, Mike, this is Logan, you gave me a flattop yesterday afternoon. I think it looks great. I look like a totally different person and I really like it. I got a lot of compliments when I went back to work and now wish that I had tried doing something like this a long time ago."

"Would you have two openings this afternoon, back to back? When I went back to work, two of the guys that have to get short haircuts saw my flattop, and said they wanted to go to the same barber I did, because my flattop looked so great."

"I figured you would enjoy cutting their hair, seeing how you said a flattop was your favorite haircut to cut. They both have great hair. Can you find room for them today?"

"No problem. Why don’t I leave my last two appointments open and they can come in at 4:00. They’ll be my last customers of the day, so I can take all the time in the world cutting their hair."

Giving Logan a flattop yesterday was awesome, and this afternoon was going to be even more of a turn on. I hoped they were as good looking as Logan, and they surely must have really great manes, if Logan placed #5, and they were ahead of him on the list. I couldn’t wait!

At precisely 4:00, Logan came in with the two fellows. "Mike, these are Jared and Peter, two of the guys that ended up in the top five with me. They thought my flattop looked so great that they wanted me to bring them in for you to cut their hair."

"Glad to be of service," I said. "It’s easy to see why you both made the top five. You guys have really great looking hair, and it will be fantastic giving each of you a flattop. Do you want to have the same looking flattop as Logan, or do you each want a different looking flattop?"

"What do you think, Peter?" Jared asked. "I vote that we all have different looking flattops. That way, even with our hair being short, we won’t all look the same."

"After seeing Logan’s flattop, I think we can trust Mike, here, to come up with some ideas for what kind of flattop he thinks would look best for both of us. This is going to be really wild!"

"I like the idea of that," Peter said. "We all have different color hair, so why not have different looking flattops too?"

"Okay," I said. "Who wants to go first?" I knew that I was going to have a fantastic time cutting both these guys hair.

Jared spoke right up and said, "I do. I’m so pumped up seeing how I will look, especially after seeing how different, and how great, Logan’s hair looks."

I caped Jared up. He was about the same age as Logan. I couldn’t wait to give him a haircut. Jared was Italian, and he had the coal black, thick, wavey hair that so many Italian men have. His hair was about three inches long on the sides which he brushed straight back. You could see the slight waves he had on the sides which made his hair look even fuller.

His hair on top was about six inches long, just like Logan’s had been. He did not part his hair on the side, instead choosing to brush it all straight back.The big difference between their hair was that Logan’s hair was perfectly straight, while Jared’s hair fell in beautiful waves from the front to the back.

Just looking at him, it was obvious that he spent a great deal of time in the gym. He had an awesome body. His muscles were huge. In every sense of the word, he was a hunk.

I began by just brushing his hair and getting the feel of it. He really did have great hair. "Black hair shows up better than any other color when it is cut short," I said. "With the great shape you’re in, I’d like to give you a short, military flattop. You would look like a Marine officer. I know you could really pull off the look. You would look incredibly macho."

"It would actually be a shorter version of Logan’s haircut. I’d take the sides down a little shorter, no skin would be showing. I’d square up the back and sides a little higher and tighter."

"I’d like to square off the front, not leaving it as long as Logan’s. It would stand straight up with the entire front and top perfectly flat, and the sides and back would be squared up and blended into the top. I think it would look really awesome with the sides, back, and top all cut perfectly square, especially with the color it is."

"If that’s a little too short for you, I’d still like to keep the sides cut like I described, but I could leave the top longer. I’d still like to see the front standing up straight, not leaving it as long as Logan’s. You would have an incredibly thick pelt of hair slightly over an inch long on top."

"Would you mind giving me the longer version first? I haven’t had short hair in probably twenty years, and I have to admit, I’m worried if it is going to look good or not. After you cut it, if I decided I wanted to go shorter, would that be okay?" Jared said.

"No problem at all. I enjoy cutting a great head of hair and all three of you definitely have that. I’m in no rush, and this is a real treat for me, getting to cut three great manes into flattops for the first time."

Thick, coal black hair was my favorite hair to cut. Cutting such long hair down into a flattop was going to be awesome. I put the #2 guard on my clippers and placed them at the bottom of Jared’s sideburn. I ran the clippers to about three fingers above the top of his ear. This is what my first barber called the "sweat line."

I ever so slowly ran the clippers up the sides, enjoying seeing so much long, thick, fantastic hair falling down onto his shoulders, and then onto his lap. I think he had one of the thickest head’s of hair that I had ever cut, and cutting it almost all off was mindblowing!

I then placed my hand on the top of his head, tilted it forward, and ran the clippers almost all the way up to the crown. I did my best to make certain that most of the hair was falling onto his lap. There was already such a huge pile, and I still had not touched the top.

His hair was so beautiful that I did not want to just quickly buzz it all off. I combed his hair back, and starting at the front, lifted up a section, and with my scissors cut off over four inches.

I continued to work my way from the front to the back, all the while watching the huge pile of hair that was growing in his lap.

I put the #1 guard on the clippers and ran them up to the top of his ears and blended it into the remaining hair on the sides.

I slightly wet his hair and used my blowdryer and brushed the top up and back, getting it to stand as high as I could. His hair was just under two inches long.

I then took my clippers, and section by section, I cut all his hair on top to just about an inch. I took a great deal of time making certain that all the hair on top was standing up perfectly straight and was flat as a board.

Jared didn’t need to use any type of product to hold his hair in place. I slightly wet his hair again, and used a pomade that made his hair shine. To me, nothing looks better than black shiney hair. I didn’t use my blowdryer and just vigorously brushed his hair into place. With the sides taken down so short, and with an inch of shiney black hair standing straight up on top, it really looked awesome.

"Well, what do you think?" I asked Jared.

"I can’t believe how different I look! I love it! I wouldn’t be surprised, if like Logan, I wore a flattop for awhile."

"I’m glad to hear that," I said. "I think you should keep it this length for now because it looks so good. If you do keep the flattop for awhile, maybe you’ll decide to cut it down a little shorter another time."

"How about taking off your shirt and tie and let’s see how you look with just the t-shirt you have on? You are going to look so different!"

"Sure, I’m anxious to see how I will look when I’m not dressed for work." Jared took off his shirt and tie, revealing a tight white t-shirt which hugged every muscle of his body. His pecs really stood out and his biceps were huge.

"Jared, I have to tell you that you look awesome! You definitely look hot!" I said.

"Okay, Peter, it’s your turn," I said. "Are you ready for this?"

"To be honest, when I found out I was one of the "winners" I thought how much I didn’t want to do this. I immediately dreaded the thought of getting rid of my hair, but I knew I didn’t have a choice."

"Not being the only one doing this, does makes it easier. With the great looking haircuts you gave Logan and Jared, I’m actually excited seeing how I’m going to look."

"Both their haircuts are so awesome looking that I want you to just go ahead and cut my hair how you think will look best. I don’t want you to tell me how you are going to cut it, just go ahead and do it!"

"That will be great!" I said. "I already know how I want to cut your hair."

Peter was the youngest of the three. I would guess he was in his mid to late twenties. His hair was a sandy blonde with beautiful natural blonder highlights running all through it. His hair was very thick, but it was a finer texture than both Logan and Jared.

He already had his hair short on the sides and back. His hair around his ears was about half an inch long and it was about an inch long at the very top of the sides. His hair on top was between four and five inches long and he combed it all straight back with no part at all.

I started with the #2 guard on my clippers and ran them almost all the way to the top. Not all that much hair was really coming off, but I knew I was going to cut the top really different than the other two guys. I then put the #1 guard on the clippers and tapered his hair shorter.

I parted his hair on each side and combed all his hair on top to the middle. I then started at the front and lifted up the first lock and cut off about three inches. I continued to do this all the way to the back with his hair being about one and a half inches long on the entire top.

I then parted his hair down the middle. Taking my comb, I lifted up a section from the side part to the middle part, combed it straight up, and took my scissors and cut his hair at an angle, resulting with it being shorter near the part and being about one and a half inches long in the middle. I kept combing his hair over and over again, making certain that every strand was perfectly even.

I then brushed his hair on both sides to the center and then combed the front up and back. Peter was thrilled with how his hair looked.

"You really have a couple of options as to how you can wear your hair. You can see that brushing it all to the center, really shows off how thick your hair looks. You can brush it all forward and then brush the front back."

"If you want a little more edgy look, after you have finished brushing it, you can take your hands and just run them all through your hair, getting it to stand up. Instead of every hair being perfectly in place, it will be more of a natural look. I think after you play with it for awhile, you’ll know how you want it wear it. Maybe wear it perfectly in place for work and then wear it "spikey" looking when you’re just hanging out."

When all three haircuts were finished, the guys stood side by side and looked at themselves in the mirrors. They couldn’t get over how different they looked, but they all thought their haircuts were really sharp. Like many guys, once they got over the fear of cutting their hair, they realized that it was really not that big a deal. It was a real rush seeing the dramatic change in their appearance.

While they were standing there looking at themselves, Jared said, "When we go into work on Monday, if the guys that finished in first and fourth place haven’t gotten their hair cut yet, maybe when they see how great our haircuts look, we can convince them to come to your shop and have you cut their hair for them, too."

"The guy that came in fourth place has a great head of hair that is an awesome red color. No one else in the firm has red hair, so he really stands out."

"To no one’s surprise, the person who came in first place was the president of the company. He didn’t win simply because he was the president, he has a fantastic head of chestnut color hair."

"He combs his hair into an elaborate pompadour. It’s easily over six inches long on top and four inches on the sides and has a slight wave to it. It’s probably the biggest pompadour of anyone that works there."

"It’s pretty obvious how much he loves his hair. We think he is probably more vain about his hair than anyone at the firm. His hair always looks perfect."

"He doesn’t flaunt his hair, but we all know how much he loves it. When he agreed to be part of the fundraiser, that resulted in a lot more guys signing up. Everyone then wanted to be part of the team. How could you not be willing to get your hair cut, if the president of the company was willing to do it, too?"

"We’d love to get him to come to your shop and watch him get most of his hair cut off! It would be wild seeing you take all his pretty hair down short!"

"If we can get the two of them to come to your shop, we’ll bring a photographer along to take pictures of the boss getting his hair cut. Then the five of us can stand together for a group picture. It will be a great publicity shot for the firm."

"Here’s my card," I said. "If on Monday, you convince them to have me cut their hair, I want you to call me, and we’ll set up the appointments whenever it is most convenient for them. I’d love to get to do two more flattops!"

When the guys left my shop it was past closing time. I immediately called Charlie. "How about letting me take you out to dinner tonight to thank you for sending Logan to me to get his flattop? It was really a lot of fun cutting off so much of his beautiful hair."

"I gave flattops today to two of his co-workers, and they both had hair as awesome as his is. I can’t wait to tell you what a great time it was!"

I was glad that only Logan went to Charlie to get his hair cut. I’d hate to take three of his best customers away from him. I sat in my chair for awhile and thought about all the great haircuts I would hopefully get to give these guys if they became regular customers. Who knows, maybe I might even get the other two guys to join them. I’m so glad that Charlie doesn’t like to cut flattops!"

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