The Haircut Story Site

ALWAYS A BUTCH by butchme

ALWAYS A BUTCH

I always had a Butch . . . Since my first haircut. It was cut short and tight. It didn't bother me much during elementary school. Before middle school I felt a little nervous about my short haircut. I asked my parents if I could grow my hair out. Dad said, "No, we like it short, it looks nice." I gave that idea up. Dad always thought I should start school with a fresh haircut. He always took me to the barbershop to get one. He'd tell the barber, "This is a back to school Butch, cut it extra short", which he did.

I dreaded the first day of school because I felt so sheared. A lot of white showed where my head and neck were not tan. There were a few boys that still had Butches. None of them had one as short as mine.

It was short Butch cuts all through Jr.High. When High School started I asked again if I could grow my hair out. I was told, "No we are in charge of your hair, you'll keep it short". So, again I got the dreaded "Back to school Butch". My dad would always take me. It would be the day before school started so it would be, "short and fresh". The barber was in on the joke. We'll show him who's in charge.

I think, when I started high school, I had the only "classic", short Butch. Some boys had Crew Cuts, very few. There were no Flattops. I'm surprised my dad didn't think of that. I kind of thought they were cool, more hair there. But it would be humiliating, worse than a Butch.

All through High School, every two weeks, a short Butch cut. I think I had the only Butch in school. It was not fair. I thought about asking if I could grow my hair out my last year of school. I didn't want to be turned down, I didn't ask. The day before senior year started my dad said, "Let's go get a back to school haircut," which we did. I thought this would be the last time. People were starting to make comments like, "Why do you get your haircut like that?" I just shrugged them off. I was 18 years old and had never had hair long enough to comb. It was 1970, starting a new decade, with a Butch haircut.

I got through most of the school year ignoring that I still had a Butch. I so much wanted to have hair to comb. Then the worst thing happened. It was time for senior pictures. On that day I dressed for the picture. My dad said, "I'll give you a ride to school". This was unusual. On the way to school my dad took a different turn. We ended up parking in front of Clyde's Barber Shop. Dad said, "Let's go. I want you to have a fresh, short Butch for your picture." I almost cried. Clyde heard me as he really cut me a short one. He lather shaved around the edges. Clyde said, "You've been coming hear for years. I want to give you a straight edge shave, on the house." I'd already shaved and didn't have much of a beard anyway, I thought, what the hell?

So one skin headed and freshly shaved senior got out of the car at the school. Then I thought of something . . . THE YEARBOOK. This senior picture would be put in the yearbook. My haircut would be there for anyone to see for years to come. Evidence of my humiliation.

The yearbook came out, and yes, there I was with a fresh short Butch. For eternity.

It was time to start college. The father/son tradition of the "Back to school Butch" was alive and well. One more time, back to Clyde's with dad, for a skinning. "Make it a fresh one, cut it short, he'll be a college boy now."

So, here I am, at college, with a short, Butch haircut. My roommate looked at me like I was a freak. I never saw another guy on campus with a Butch. Well, I got myself settled in. Soon my Butch was growing out. I needed some type of haircut. I walked downtown and found a barbershop. There were not that many as clipper cuts were not for college kids.'

I went in, the barber ushered me to the chair and caped me up. He said, "How would you like it cut?" I thought about it. I'd never had a choice before. I looked at the yellowed, short haircut picture on the wall. Then I said, "A Butch please, make it short." So, that's what he gave me. I was not sure what happened, at least it was my choice.

I continued to get short Butches all through college, a couple of flattops. But I always got them cut back down into a short Butch. Finally, a Butch is all I wanted. I've always had a Butch. I still have a Butch. I'll always have a Butch. I'll never have long hair.

I've got three boys. I keep them in a Butch. They don't like it but they are used to it.

I take them with me when I get a Butch. We leave the shop, four men with fresh,short Butches.

ALWAYS A BUTCH

Comments
My dad would take me and my brother to a barbershop located in the basement of a hotel. There was natural light coming in from the window next to the outdoor stairs leading to the lower level. This hotel was connected to other buildings in the downtown core by pedestrian subways. The shop had a LOT of taxidermy. All kinds of animals were present -- birds, rodents, mammals -- mostly fauna from around the midwest There were three barber chairs with big mirrors behind them and two entrances to the shop...one on the south wall and one on the west wall. The East wall had the window onto the outdoor stairs and the north wall had the mirrors. The barbers were all in their 50s or 60s and I was regularly seeing them from age 3 to 10. The cuts they gave were usually very, VERY short tapers. The very bottom of the neck would be shaved with lather and razor once you reached about 9 or 10 years of age. The top was always super short. I actually cried on several occasions when I got home and I remember my mom berating my dad for having our hair cut so short. The boys in 2nd and then 3rd grade would laugh at me. They would say....you almost look like Leslie! Leslie wore a short crewcut and was in Special Education. He was tough, but my friend Gregg and I would chase him on the playground and call him "Baldie!" In any case, it was very humiliating and embarrassing to show up anywhere after a cut from the barbers my dad took me to. -EddieBuzz
by EddieBuzz on 08 Jul 2024
Have a butch now, short and tapered. I cut it myself. It's not easy. It turns me on when the hair falls off. I leave it a little longer in front so it's not so severe.

EddieBuzz, what did you mean? Describe the short haircuts you were forced to get.
by Buchme on 18 Jun 2024
I love this story. Thanks for writing it. I’d love you to write a story about me and my haircuts when I was a kid! Would you be willing to do that? -EddieBuzz
by Anon on 12 Jun 2024
I always had short buzzes every two weeks also. No choice. And shirts buttoned up tight to the neck.
by #teamtopbutton on 31 Dec 2023
It's interesting how, for some of us, having short hair imposed upon us trains us and indoctrinates the compulsion to have short hair into our psyches for life, while for others it does the complete opposite and results in rebellion. I'm definitely in the former category. My dad made me get a short Ivy or crewcuts throughout school. I was indifferent to them until high school, at which point I wanted to grow it out. Something about having been forced to have short hair when I wanted to grow it out made short hair just seem irresistible to me from then on. I've always had short hair since.
by Buzz on 28 Dec 2023
Hey Pauldy,

If you had been forced to have a Butch? I don't think you would have wanted one. You might have hated it. Getting an unwanted cut, especially over several years, makes it a turn on now. This story is fiction. I had the forced Butch haircuts right up till 1970.

If you like unwanted Butch haircut stories. See "A Hundred Butches" 1 and 2 ... Two true stories about my unwanted Butch Haircuts. butchme
by Anon on 26 Dec 2023
I never got a butch but now wish my father had made me get that instead of just the skinned back and sides (I loved the feel of the sandpaper that was left after these cuts). Had I gotten a full on butch, I know I would have loved it even more. Unfortunately the 70’s hair and my big pointed ears forced me into growing my hair. Looking back now, had I been given a butch cut even once, I would have requested that as my haircut from then on. Only in later years did I try the full on butch. By then my hair was rapidly headed for the hills. At that point I was feeling bold enough that only a shaved head would do! A butch really is a great haircut. Glad it has endured over time for the men in your family. Now it’s almost as trendy as my bald shaved head..
by Pauldy on 26 Dec 2023