Bill at the barbershop. by Domko

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I went to a boys' school which had strict rules about wearing a school uniform as well as boys'. The regulations required hair to be combed from the forehead, from the ears and from the back of the collar. I was 14 years old, it was in 1975. After classes, I left school with my classmates. I heard my name called. Bill, I turned around and saw my father. Bill come here and get in the car. I did as he said. In the car, I asked him where we were going. Father replied that I was going to get a haircut. I asked him to go home and I would change out of my school uniform and go to my unisex salon. Father said that I will go get a haircut right now and in my school uniform. Not long after, we stopped by Jacobs barber shop. It was an old barber shop and the barber was very feared by the boys. I started begging my father not to go to Jacobs barber shop. My father told me, you had time for a haircut for 2 weeks but you kept putting it off, so you're going to get a haircut now at Jacobs barber shop and he gave me money. I got out of the car and took an uncertain step towards the barber shop. I looked behind my father, who was waiting in the car for me to enter the barber shop. I thought that when I go to the barber shop by myself, I will tell the barber that I just want to trim it.
I opened the door to the barber shop. The barber was sitting in his chair reading the newspaper. When he saw me, he got up, put down the newspaper and said. Boy take off your school jacket, hang it on the hanger and sit here, he pointed to his old red chair.
I did as he said. He wrapped me in a sheet which he fastened with a buckle around my neck. He combed my hair. He said, I see the director sent you to get a haircut, so you have to get a haircut that the director will be happy with. I didn't have time to say anything to him when the barber pushed my head forward so that my chin was touching my chest. He put the scissors to my neck. When they sounded, he started to climb up the back of his neck with them. The first over 2 and 1/2 inch hair appeared on the sheet. He tilted my head to the side and started cutting the hair on the left and then on the right side of my head. Most of my hair was on the sheet and on the ground. Then the barber changed the blades on the scissors and cut the hair on the top of my head, straightening it high above my eyebrows. Almost my entire forehead was visible.
He brushed his hair from the sheet, took the scissors in his hand, on which he put very fine knives, on which oil dripped. He tilted my head to the side, placed them on my temple bone and made an arch around my ear about 1 1/2 inches high. He did the same on the other side of the head. He pushed my head forward again and cut the hair at the nape of my neck. After he turned off the scissors and brushed the tiny hairs from the sheet, he applied the cream around my ears and the back of my neck and began to scrape it off with the razor. After he finished, he did some more conditioning and applied the oil from the bottle to the remaining hair, which he then combed. Before I left the chair. The barber stood behind me with a small mirror to show me the side of my head and the back of my head and said, I believe the director will be satisfied. In the mirror, I saw a shaved nape up to 2/3 of the head. I only have 3/4 inch long hair left on top of my head.
With tears in my eyes, I paid the barber for my haircut and ran home. Dad was happy with my new hairstyle. But my friends thought my hairstyle was very funny.
The barber was right, when the school principal saw me he was very excited about my hairstyle and gave me as a role model for other students. He asked me if I had been to Jacobs barbershop, to which I replied yes.
In a few days, the father received a letter from the school principal, in which he thanked the father for being demanding about his son's appearance and led me to go get a haircut now and at Jacobs barbershop. He recommended that I get other exemplary haircuts in this barbershop and that I get a haircut once every 3-4 weeks.

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