Tad's Big Change by Deke Cutter

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Tad walked into the house he shared with two other twenty-something young professionals. As was his wont, he stopped at the mirror in the hallway that led to the main living spaces. Admiring himself in the mirror he said "$60.00 plus tip and worth every penny." His brown hair fell in soft waves that covered his ears and collar. The middle part gave him a certain 90’s soap opera star look that he knew the ladies loved. His housemates, Jason and Kaz, sat in the living room. Jason looked at Kaz and simply shook his head. Jason and Kaz had known Tad since their university days and understood that he was overbearing and full of himself. They had thought long and hard about moving into the house with him, but eventually decided that it would be worth the petty annoyances in order to share the financial burden. All three young men had good jobs and promising futures. Tad stepped into the living room and looked at his two housemates. Jason kept his hair in a pretty basic cut. He would get a number 4 on top and tapered on the sides. Kaz had what some would call a short back and sides or a regular haircut. The sides were tapered fairly close, and he had the top long enough to comb the front into a quiff with some volume to it. Neither of them spent more than $20.00 on any trip to the local barbers. "You get scalped down to the skin, Kaz, and Jason, you’ve had the crewcut thing forever. It’s like living with two ROTC boys at college. You two would be getting some better tail if you spent some more cash and care on your hair. I swear I don’t know why you don’t go to a qualified stylist instead of those hair butchers."

Kaz, the more outspoken of the two reminded Tad that both he and Jason were never short of female company and, unlike Tad, the women they dated were intelligent young professional, not airheaded bimbos. Jason couldn’t help but add, "Come on Tad, your last ‘conquest’ was barely out of high school, of course she found you ‘dreamy’."

Both knew that this characterization would set Tad off. He had only dated one very young girl, just 19, but had made the mistake of bringing her home on a night that both of his roommates came back from a baseball game that ended unexpectedly early. "Bite me, both of you," Tad said, with a smile that just barely hid his annoyance.

Tad then went into a diatribe about "that fat cow," who worked at the local dry cleaners, and the raggedy looking guy who cleaned the windows in all the shops on Main Street. Tad had a bad habit of verbally running down people who did not meet his standards. "Well, Tad, we all can’t be as perfect as you," Kaz said.

"But so many people don’t even try," snarked Tad, with arrogance. His housemates dropped the subject at that point. The next morning Kaz and Jason went out for a morning run. It was a warm humid start to the day and Jason said to Kaz, "I don’t care how good Tad’s silken locks look, I am glad to have a short manageable haircut in this kind of weather."

"You and me both, bro," Kaz replied.

When they returned to the house and showered and dressed for work, Jason, walked into the bathroom the two of them shared (Tad having the room with the ensuite). Kaz had just applied some Vitalis to his hair and quickly combed it into place. Jason’s had applied a bit of wax to his own hair moments before. "You know," Jason began, "I think we can both make the case that our barbershop makes us look every bit as good, and, I would argue, more professional than Tad. I’d love to get him into one of those big old chairs at ‘Tom’s Sanitary Barber Shop’ and get him squared away."

"The only way that would happen would be with a great deal of subterfuge. But let’s think on it," Kaz replied, the kernel of an idea beginning to form.

Several weeks went by and Kaz knew that Tad would be heading to his salon for a style and trim, soon. Kaz had run into another college friend, Ella. Ella had been in ROTC and was currently serving at a nearby military base. When Kaz told her that he and Jason were sharing a house with Tad, she asked, "has he grown out of his ‘poor girl’s Harry Styles’ period yet? I always thought his long hair was pretty pathetic." Kaz told her how he and Jason were really fed up with Tad and his hair. "You know, he asked me out several times at school. I always turned him down but never told him it was about the hair. Maybe I can get him to a barber. Next time you get your haircut, tell him you are meeting me for coffee. I’ll make a big fuss over how good you look fresh from the chair."

Kaz told Jason about the plan. Then they brought told Tad. "Hey Tad," said Jason, Kaz ran into Ella. You really had a thing for her in school, didn’t you?"

"Oh, she was hot." She and I never got to connect, though, said Tad.

"You mean beside all the times she turned you down for dates," added Kaz. "But I am going to meet her for coffee on Saturday around 10:00 at ‘the Coffee Place.’ Why don’t you stop by and see if there is any chemistry going now."

"Sure," replied Tad, "I will definitely show her what she is missing. I will leave that place with a latte and a date." Saturday morning came and Tad was surprised to find his housemates gone. He did see a message from Kaz on his phone reminding him of the meet-up for coffee. Tad spent plenty of time getting ready, washing, conditioning, drying his hair to perfection. Meanwhile, his housemates were at ‘Tom’s’ getting extra tight, almost military regulation cuts. Kaz’s sides and back were mere shadows of hair. The top thinned out and shortened by an inch. Jason went full old style short crewcut, with just a short, waxed bumper in the front.

Per previous plans, Ella arrived first and texted Kaz as soon as she saw Tad arrive. Ella rose from the table and extended a hand for Tad to shake, much to his displeasure. He was expecting a big gushy hug and kiss. "Tad, you haven’t changed a bit, I see," she said with a hint of—was it mocking or was it opprobrium—in her voice. Her gaze seemed to linger on his hair, with a downturn to the corners of her mouth. Tad went up to the counter to order his latte, as he returned to the table, his housemates entered the shop. Ella rose, came out from behind the table and greeted both men with a warm hug and kisses on each cheek. "Well now, you two look fabulous. I love those clean, tight haircuts. It looks like you’ve come right from the barber’s. Oh, forgive me, you know what a tactile person I am, I just have to touch those tight sides and back." Tad nearly dropped the coffees, as Jason passed him on his way to order two black coffees for himself and Kaz. Tad was incredulous. He had so bought into his own fantasies of his appeal to the ladies that to see this reaction from a beauty like Ella to his two freshly skinned friends was hard to process. What he really wasn’t prepared for was Ella’s extra little surprise. She had ,entioned what she was doing that morning to four of her colleagues at work and, they all agreed to drop into the café that morning. The four very attractive young women came in and sat at a table facing Ella and the guys. They all kept looking over and giving some pretty obvious signals which, of course, Tad thought were directed at him.

Tad figured he would show Ella how desirable he was by going over and captivating the four women with his charm and the beauty of his flowing locks. He walked over to the table and said, "hello ladies, I noticed you looking my way….."

Before Tad could get any further, the best looking of the four good looking women said, "sorry shaggy, we were interested in those two hot clean-cut guys sitting with you and your friend. Are those two dating anybody?"

Tad felt his face getting hot and said, "those two?" They’d be lucky and walked back to his housemates and Ella.

"So," Ella said, "that didn’t seem to go well."

"Those four from the school for the partially-sighted are interested in the ‘buzz-brothers,’" Tad replied sourly.

"Go ahead over boys," Ella said, smiling, "Todd and I can have a chat while you are gone." Tad looked on in disgust and Ella’s friends made a fuss over Kaz and Jason, rubbing their hands over the bristles and complimenting them on the "clean good looks."

Tad, turned to Ella and said, "I am so glad to get you alone for a minute or two. How about a night on the town with me?"

"Tad, I would never go out with a man who looks so feminine and soft. For heaven’s sake, get a grown-up haircut like your friends and dress like you’re from this decade and I might consider it. In fact, if you are serious about wanting to go out with me, let’s go right now and I will get you a makeover before we go out to dinner tonight. Unless you’re chicken or afraid to change your prissy looks. Your friends over there seem to have what modern women want."

Tad, after looking over to see the incredible attention and near-adoration Kaz and Jason were getting, couldn’t believe he was saying the words, but he said, "I’m game, let’s go."

Ella, being a trained motivator of people, used all her command skills to take control. "Alright, mister, let’s move out." As she took him by the arm and directed him down the road toward ‘Tom’s." When they arrived, Ella entered first. She went directly to the barber sitting in the first chair, and said, "do you know how to give a regulation Army haircut? My friend here needs white walls and no more than two inches, laying flat on top."

Tad, not having been in a real barbershop since early childhood, stood just inside the door looking lost and did not hear all of what Ella and the barber were discussing. He nearly jumped when the barber said, "come sit down young man, I can’t cut your hair with you standing so forlornly over there." He introduced himself as Tom, owner of the shop and told Tad to sit up ‘nice and straight’ in the chair. Tad had expected Ella to sit down on one of the row of waiting chairs he saw that he was facing, but she stood nearby, like the parent of a recalcitrant child. As Tom placed the cape over Tad, Tad started to describe how he wanted his hair to be cut. Before he got even a sentence out, Tom stopped him saying, "the lady has given my instructions, I assume you want me to follow them." Tad, looking chagrined, meekly agreed. Tom combed Tad’s hair to make sure there were no obstructions and then combed the hair on top forward.

Ella immediately told him, "His hair will be combed to the right." Tom then made a precise part on the left, leaving Tad with a ridiculously uneven mound of hair on top of his head. As Tom turned to his counter to choose the clippers he would use to clear away the bulk, Ella said to Tad, "as I recall, your first name is Walter and Tad was a shortening of your middle name of Theodore. I think it is time you start owning and using a more adult name. I shall be calling you Walter, henceforth."

Tom turned back around, having heard the one sided conversation, and said, "Head down, Walter." Tom then tuned the clippers on with no guard and pushed them into the long waves that fell onto Tad’s collar. He pushed them above the occipital bone’s bump to the very top. A thick sheaf of wavy hair fell to the floor, as Tom started a second run up the back, continuing until there was nothing but stubble up the back, before turning Tad’s left ear down and making a run behind it, clearing a swath of hair from above and around the ear. As his ear was fully uncovered for the first time in many years, Tad’s stomach was flip-flopping. He was afraid to appear "wimpy" by saying anything, but now he remembered how much he loved his hair. Unfortunately, sideburn and all hair below the new left side part was now just the merest stubble and Tom was busily stripping the other side. "OK, Wally," Tom said jovially, clearly enjoying giving this haircut to a guy completely under a woman’s thumb. In Tom’s mind, the guy deserves what he gets because he is obviously hating this haircut. "Now we’ll get this top well within regs." Combing the long forelock that had adorned the front part of Tad’s, (now smarting over being called ‘Wally") head. Tom quickly cut away all but two inches of hair and then lifting and cutting with his barber shears, continued the massacre all over the top of Tad’s head which was left looking like a chopped up mess. So, Tom wet it down and combed it over. Then, switching his cutting shears for thinning shears, went to work again. Snip, snip, comb, snip, snip comb. Tad watched in despair as he saw the waves disappearing and his hair laying closer and closer to his head, looking lank and thinner than it had ever looked. Tom made sure to give the short bangs that remained a couple of good snips to make sure they would not give a look of fullness to the front of the cut.

Tad wasn’t prepared for the covering of the sides and back of his head with warm shaving cream, but Ella, still standing watchfully by shook her head and said, "excellent, I love to see a professional at work. Walter, you must keep your head very still while this master barber shaves the sides and back. And I might add, the improvement to your appearance is already quite remarkable."

All Tad could eek out was, "I will." It was agonizing to feel the blade against his skin, where mere moments ago, his crowning glory had lain. Skrit, skrit, skrit. The process seemed to go on and on. He watched as pale skill started to shine around the sides of his head. When Tom finished the shaving with a blade, he carefully felt around Tom’s head and used a foil electric razor to make everything clean. Then Tom turned to Ella, pointing at the array of bottles and tins and asked her if she had a preference for a ‘dressing."

"Something that will have long hold and give off a bit of a sheen," Ella replied.

"I suggest a bit of Brylcreem, then," Tom replied. He turned, took a small amount out of the tube, and rubbed it thoroughly into the short hair on top of Tad’s head. He then combed everything over to the right, the hair laying flat against Tad’s scalp and the lines made with the comb showing scalp between each row. He finished with a slap of witch hazel that caused Tad to jump. "Does this meet your expectations, miss?"

Ella replied, "it exceeds my expectations. This haircut would pass inspection on my base any day. Well, Walter what are your thoughts?"

Tad, raising out of the barber chair, looked in the mirror and gingerly touched the sides and back of his head. "Thank you, sir. This is about as different from my normal look as I could imagine. Frankly, it is shocking. The haircut is well executed, and I think I look very different, but not in a negative way, I guess." With that, Tad paid the barber and Ella made sure a very healthy tip was included.

"Thanks Wally, I hope to see you regularly," said Tom.

"Oh, I think you will," said Ella.

Outside the shop, Tad, turned to Ella and asked, "what do you think?"

Ella replied, "If you would have had a haircut half as dashing as this when we met in college, I would have accepted your first invitation. Now come on, we have some clothes to buy you to go with your new look."

An hour later, Tad returned to the house. Kaz and Jared had just finished vacuuming and generally cleaning the house. They were sitting in the kitchen, with a glass of lemonade in front of each of them, and their phones in their hands. Ella had sent them both a text, warning them to be ready for "a big reveal."

They heard Tad enter the house and rush upstairs and close his door. He went directly into his bathroom and stared in the mirror. "White walls, what the heck was I thinking?" Then he looked down toward the area below his waist and said, "what were you thinking, my friend?" He knew he could not put off the inevitable, so he headed downstairs. "Guys, are you here?"

At their response he headed into the kitchen, where both his housemates had their phone cameras open and ready and each took some shots. Kaz said, "dang broheem, that is one tough haircut!

Jason piped up, "looking good my friend? Did you get a date with Ella?"

"I’m sh*tting myself guys. What will people say. Am I going to get mocked? Yeah, I got a date with Ella, but look at the cost! Now I look like one of those people I make fun of."

"Oh hold your horses there Tad", Jeremy said, with a hint of anger in his voice. "First of all, the haircut looks fine. Yes, it is ‘military short,’ but you got it cut to satisfy a woman who is in the military. If you’d ever been to a real barbershop before, you would know guys in and out of the military, including cops, firefighters, and just ‘regular Joes’ all get haircuts like you now have. Kaz and I don’t like to give you crap about the way you constantly put down people, but if it did come back on you, it would be karma. Man, you have so much going for you, you don’t need to badmouth others. Look at us at yourself in the mirror, what is the difference in our hair length, an eighth or sixteenth on the sides and back?"

"Not to pile on you, Tad, but Jason is speaking the truth, added Kaz."

Tad sat down and his housemates pretended not to see the tears that slid out of the corner of his eye. "So, you guys really think I’m a big ‘Richard’?"

Kaz, gave him a a goofy smile and said, "no, not a big one, more of a small to medium one, and that’s only some of the time. But we both see a lot of good things about you."

"Yeah," added Jason, "you pay your bills on time and you keep your room neat. But seriously, man, this new haircut can be a new beginning for you."

Looking at himself in the reverse camera on his phone, Tad said, a bit sheepishly, "well, it would take me over a year to grow my flow back, so I guess so. And if things worked out with Ella, I probably won’t be allowed to grow it out. I don’t know what it is with her, but ‘she who must be obeyed’ sure fits her. Wait until you see the clothes, she picked out for our dinner date."

The next few weeks flew by. Tad took quite a bit of good natured ribbing in the days after his extreme haircut, but much to her surprise, Ella found herself liking Tad, who she insisted on calling ‘Walter.’ Tad found himself completely enthralled by her. After about two weeks, as some stubble started to appear on the sides and back of Tad’s head, she told him that she had pushed him into such an extreme haircut because she wanted to really shock him into a new way of thinking. "Babe, I want you to keep it short, but you don’t have to keep the white walls if you don’t want to. Why don’t you go to the barber with Kaz and Jason the next time they go and just have him clean up the edges?"

Because his housemates had had their hair cut shorter than usual the last time, they waited a full four weeks before returning to Tom’s. Both were pleasantly surprised when Tad asked them to let him know when they were going so that he could join them. So, the three walked into Tom’s together. Tom gave Kaz and Jason a joking ‘hard time’ for having been away so long and had a big smile for Tad, greeting him, with "hey Wally, welcome back!"

"Wally?" his housemates exclaimed.

Tom smiled and said, "his lady friend said she was going to call him Walter, so, I took a little ‘artistic license,’ and nicknamed him ‘Wally’." The other two laughed and Tad had a feeling he had not heard the last of "Wally’ from his housemates.

The other two housemates got their regular short, neat haircuts. But when Tad’s turn came, he got into Tom’s chair like he was a long-time regular at the shop. When asked what he wanted, he surprised everyone by saying, "just clean up the edges on the sides and back, but let’s take the top down to nearly the same length as the sides, you know, sort of a ‘suede head’ on top." His two friends looked at him with surprise. He said, "look, I’ve come this far, I might as well go all the way because I really like Ella and that means short hair is going to be a part of my life. I’m going to enjoy it."

Time will tell what happens to Tad’s hair in the future.

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