Bye bye mullet, hello buzz cut - Part 1 by Joe.Caleb02

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It was time, it had been over 2 months since my last haircut, and I was fed up of the mop that was now on my head. I’d always had medium length to long hair and my current venture had been growing out a ‘modern mullet’ shall we call it, the back of my hair had about 6 months growth and I was just getting the occasional trim on the sides to keep the mullet shaped. I’d had enough of this style, my hair was annoying long and would get in the way, it took ages to dry after a shower and it wasn’t the style for summer. Prior to my mullet era, I had my hair styled as curtains, just a 3 on the sides and flowing curtains up top. Today was time for a real change. I booked myself an appointment for 12:30, and waited anxiously all morning for the time to arrive. At 12:15 I left home and strolled to the barbershop, heart racing, ready for my new trim.

When I arrived, the barber was just finishing up the previous trim, so I sat down and waited patiently. The previous client stood up and paid, now it was my time.

I popped up and sat in the barber’s chair.

"Morning pal, what can I do for you" asked the barber
"Big change today, buzz please mate" I replied hesitantly
"Summer buzz then, fair enough mate, had enough of that mullet?" Asked the barber
"Yeah man, it’s getting too long now, hair’s going crazy" I replied
"Right, how short we going then" he asked me

I wasn’t too sure, never had a buzz cut before.

"We’ll start with a 3 up top and a 1 faded up on the sides?" I suggested
"Perfect, sound good" he replied

The barber then put a paper collar around my neck and wrapped my up in the barber’s cape. He then fiddled around with the clippers spraying them down with something and attached the guards. I was pretty nervous.

The clippers were then simply placed at the front of my head, just above my right ear, and switched on. The loud whirring sound, got me excited, I couldn’t wait to get rid of this messy mop. The barber then slowly pulled the clippers from my forehead back towards the middle of my head, one slow, sweeping motion removing obscene amounts of hair. The clippers were moved along slightly and the same motion was repeated over and over, until the whole top was neatly shaven down to a grade #3. I looked in the mirror, the former fringe that reached to my eyebrows was all gone, in its place was a neatly clipped head of hair.

The barber repeated this for the sides of my hair, starting at the back, placing the clipper at the bottom of my neck, and pulling up, slowly, towards the crown. In 3 or 4 simple sweeps, the months and months of mullet growth were shaven off, just like that! Long to grow, quick to snip :( The process continued round the sides of my head and around my sideburns and ears, until I was a grade 3 all over.

"Taking the sides down to a 1?" The barber asked
"Erm yes please mate" I said

At this point I rubbed my hands over my freshly clipped head loving the sand paper rough feeling.

The barber once again fiddled with the clippers and changed the guard. He requested me to pop my head forwards, and then began cutting the back shorter, down to a 1 as I had requested. The severe buzzing continued clipping the sides all down and then swapping the guard several times to fade the shorter sides into the top. The cut felt like it took a while, but I glanced at the clock before my cut it was 12:39, it was now 12:50, in just 11 minutes I had gone from having a full head of thick, long hair to being neatly buzzed all over.

"That all good for you mate" the barber asked
He showed me the rear with a mirror.
"Yeah sorted mate, all good" I replied
"Sweet, I’ll just get you lined up, then we’re good to go" he said

I didn’t know what he meant by "lined up" and I was somewhat worried he’d square my hair line off or something radical. The barber reached for the little clippers and once again fiddled with them and brushed the blades off. Then, starting at my left temple he proceeded to tidy up my sideburns, squaring them off and shaving off all the excess hairs. He worked his way around my head, shaping off behind the ears and the nape area was tidied and squared off. Round the right side the same was repeated. Finally the barber loosened the cape from around my neck, properly squared off the bottom of my hairline and shaved all the sprouting hairs on my neck down to the skin. And that was it! A quick brush down and blow off the hairdryer to remove the cut hairs, and the buzz cut was completely. Time was 12:52, 12 minutes from long, thick mullet to close cut buzz.

I loved it, was over the moon! I paid, and left the shop, sporting the new trim. In fact, I went back just 10 days later to go even shorter! Look out for a part 2!

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