Cut from a Family Friend by noguard

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Stepping off of the bus, cool breeze from the outside world blew on my face and, evidently, messed up my thick hair once again. All my life, I’d had the same haircut and to be honest, the older I got the more my hair irritated me; constantly being pushed out of my face, itching my nose, practically unbearable during the hotter months… I could go on. I had considered cutting it before, but I had stopped myself due to fear of reaction.

Currently, my hair is pretty basic. Straight and dark brown, about 3 inches on the side and back, while my bangs drop down slightly below my mouth, although pushed to the side where they usually hover above my eyebrows.

As I walked home, I saw somebody waving over my music. I peered to my left and it was a family friend, Nate, a guy who had babysat me a couple times over the years, and I had known him since I was about 5, and I was now 15.

"Hey, Mark!" I heard as I pulled off my headphones and said hey back.

"Is that hair bothering you?" I was a little shocked, but I guess he saw me frantically pushing my bangs to the side after getting out of place again.

"Yeah, how’d you know," I replied with.

"You were messing with it a lot. If you come inside I could totally clean you up," I was once again shocked, and would’ve probably said no in another world, but I considered. When was I gonna get a chance like this again? It had been too long since the idea of getting it cut had entered my head. So I took the offer.

"..sure, Nate," and I went inside.

His house was familiar, as I had stayed there a couple of times over the years, and Nate led me to the bathroom.

"Wait in there as I get my stuff ready, would you?" I gave him a thumbs up.

I inspected the bathroom; pretty average layout but decorated nicely with little antiques that Nate had collected over the years. It almost felt nostalgic.

As he was inspecting, Nate came in with a stool and sat it down in front of the sink mirror, along with a towel.

"Alright Mark, sit down for me," he said in a positive tone. Once I sat down he put a towel over my shoulders.

"So what are we thinking? My mom was a cosmetologist and she taught me a lot of things," Nate said to initiate a conversation.

"I’m not too sure.. just anything to get it all out of the way. Something less hot." I replied. Nate thought for a moment.

"I’ve thought of something, but it is pretty drastic. You sure you wanna do this?"

"Go for it. Anything to just make me stop worrying about it." I responded. This is the moment I was waiting for.

"Alright, kid." Nate said back, as he opened the bathroom closet and took out a basket with a sturdy pair of clippers.

He sectioned the top of my hair so that the sides and back were completely exposed. He took the naked pair of clippers and turned them on, the sound filling the room.

"Alright, just put your head down for me," Nate said as he traced the clippers up my nape and up to the point which he sectioned my hair, which was to make it as tight as can be. The feeling of the bare clippers made me jolt as the hair he had sheared to the scalp fell to the floor.

"Never had it cut this short, huh?" Nate said.

"I don’t think so." I laughed.

He traced the machine over the rest of the back, replacing it with an extremely short layer of stubble. It wasn’t until he started tracing it over the sides that I could start to see it in the mirror, my scalp fully exposed. The noise of the clippers filled my ears even more as he made one final swoop getting rid of my remaining sideburn.

Alright, how’s it so far?" I looked up again and I liked what I saw. I could just barely see stubble on my scalp.

"It looks pretty alright." I responded.

"Just let me put a guard on these clippers and we can continue."
He took out a #1 blade and put it over the bare shears.

"Ok, just close your eyes." He unsectioned my hair, pushed my head forward, and ran his fingers through the top so it was all facing one direction.

He took the now guarded clippers and ran in straight through the top, the tug being less hard than the no guarded clippers. I couldn’t see myself, but I did see the mass amount of hair fall into my lap with each pass.

He tilted my head up and I kept my eyes closed. From the sound of it, he took the guard off again and started to blend the bottom with the top so it wouldn’t have such a hard edge.

He then snapped out a razor blade and minimally scraped the stubble off of my napes and sideburns. Once he was done; there was a substantial amount of hair now on my lap and on the floor.

"You can open your eyes now," Nate said playfully. And so I did.

I was shocked; my skull shape and forehead now revealed after all those years hidden. The top of my scalp was now a light brown, which made my brown eyes and freckles stand out much more. I took my hand and stroked the top of my head, the transition of minuscule stubble to complete smoothness satisfied me.

"So what do you think?" Nate said.

"I actually really like it. Thanks, man," I smiled.

"No problem, kid," he smiled back at me.

As I left his house, we said our goodbyes and told him that I’d be back. The walk home was much better now that my hair wasn’t constantly getting in my way. My pair of headphones felt odd against my bare scalp.

Once I got home, I took a shower and fully rinsed all the loose hair still stuck off of me. My scalp dried incredibly fast and the sensation of feeling it was phenomenal.

The following week I got genuinely positive reactions from friends and family, though they were shocked with the change. Next week, I’ll be going back to his house for a touch-up and I can’t wait to feel the clippers against my scalp again.

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