Rapunzel and the two bald guys by Snagg

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A dimly lit bar. Alex and Karim, two broad-shouldered guys with shaved heads, posed with their beers.
Alex put down his glass, his tattooed arm clearly visible due to the rolled-up lumberjack shirt. "Do you remember the first time you shaved your head? I immediately thought, Damn, why didn't I do that sooner?"
Karim laughed and ran his hand over his skull, which had recently been covered with an abstract tattoo of irregular lines. "I felt like a reptile after it shed its skin."
"I actually just wanted to give myself a buzz cut, but I was a little stoned and forgot to put a guard on the clippers. I didn't realize it until I'd already shaved a strip right across my head."
"You then continued shaving without a guard?"
"Exactly. I gave myself an induction cut. But later that evening, my then-boyfriend convinced me not to do things by halves. He rubbed foam on my head and shaved it smooth. Since then, I've shaved my head every day."

"I actually hadn't planned on going bald either," said Karim. "But at that time I sometimes worked as an extra, and they were looking for men to play tough guys, and the tough guys had to have shaved heads. At first, I was a little stunned, but then I realized how much the idea of ​​having my head shaved turned me on."
"Did you shave it yourself?"
Karim shook his head. "No. The cool thing was that we extras were shaved by a badass military barber. I had a hard-on the whole time."

Alex wiped beer foam from his mustache. Then he said, "I soon realized that being bald wasn't enough of a transformation for me. It wasn't until I started getting tattoos that I felt like I was becoming the man I wanted to be."
Karim nodded. "When I first saw you here, with your shaved head and ink all over you, I thought, Okay, bro, you've chosen your side too."
Alex took off his shirt, leaving his almost completely tattooed upper body in just a tank top. "Yeah, dude," he said, "we recognize each other, without having to talk."
Karim raised his glass. "To our shaved skulls and our tattoos!"
They clinked their glasses together and took a big sip.

Then the door opened, a tall guy with long brown hair walked in.
Alex spotted the newcomer. "Oh s**t, there's the hippie!"
Karim waved his hand. "Come here, Jesus! Sit your ass down. We were starting to think you'd gone on a spiritual retreat."
The long-haired guy, Samir, approached. "Bunch of idiots! You're making fun of me, but at least I still have a mop of hair to show off. You, Alex, it's not a style, it's baldness that f***ed you up."
Alex gave Samir a friendly slap on the back. "Shut up, Pocahontas! I chose the clippers, not the wig."
Samir banged the table with his fist. "Why are you talking so much about wigs lately?"
"Because you have one on your head, babe!" Alex said. "Or at least something like it. Hairpiece. Prosthetic hair. Toupee."
Samir's features were frozen. "How do you know that?"
Karim stared in disbelief. "Your tufts are fake?"
"Well, Samir," Alex said, "one of my ex-boyfriends recently started dating one of your ex-roommates..."
"You stupid gossips!"
Alex patted Samir's hand. "Just because a guy has a shaved head doesn't mean he doesn't like to gossip."
Karim giggled. "Have you ever considered getting a hair transplant instead of putting on a wig?"
"Really, Karim!" Alex said. "Stop making fun of her! Our Mona Lisa is facing a difficult decision."
"What kind of decision?" Samir asked.
"Rip off your fake hair and shave off the rest of your natural hair. What else!"
"Alex, I don't want to look like you two!"
Karim puffed himself up. "Are you saying we're not pretty?"

Alex signaled to the bartender to pour three new beers. Then he turned back to Samir. "Honey, even your mother thinks you should embrace your thinning hair and shave your head."
"My mother?"
"I met her at the bakery the other day."
"My mom likes my hair."
"Not since I told her the truth."
"But don't tell me my mother wants me to get a tattoo too..."
"Don't worry, Samir! She made it clear to me that I should only persuade you to shave your head. Under no circumstances should you get a tattoo."
Karim took their three beers from the bar and placed them on their table. "Now we'll just get our Rapunzel a little drunk, then we'll go to my place and free Rapunzel from her hair."
"I did not agree to be shaved bald."
Alex reached for a beer. "I drink to your hairless future, Samir! As your friends, we only want the best for you."

Three hours and several beers later, they entered Karim's apartment.
"Are you finally drunk enough to get your head shaved?" Alex asked.
Samir took off his leather jacket and T-shirt. "I want you to just shave my head, but don't talk about it so much anymore."
"A man who knows what he wants," said Karim, opening the bathroom door. "Sit on the edge of the bathtub."
"I have to remove my hairpiece first," Samir said, standing in front of the mirror.
Alex and Karim burst out laughing. "It looks so silly pulling that glued-on half-wig off your head," Alex said.
"You're such assholes!" Samir replied, throwing the hairpiece into the sink.
"Does this have to be disposed of as hazardous waste?" Karim asked.

Alex and Karim couldn't stop laughing. "You look so embarrassing," Alex said. "Hardly any hair on top, but long hair at the back and sides."
"Like one of those circus clowns," Karim said.
Samir took Karim's clippers from the charging station. "If you're not able to shave me, I'll just do it myself."
Before Alex and Karim could react, Samir had brought the clippers to life and started shaving the hair on the back of his head.
"Wait, wait!" Alex said. "We can help you."
"Go into the living room and jerk off! That might calm you down a bit. Afterward, you can teach me how to shave my head nice and smooth."

Alex and Karim left and Samir continued shaving. He felt his hair falling down his back toward the floor. Soon, the back of his head was covered in brutally short stubble, and he turned to the sides. The hair around his ears disappeared in just a few strokes. Then he put the clippers aside. He rested his hands on the sink and looked at himself in the mirror. "I can't believe I did it..." he murmured.
The man he saw in the mirror looked like a stranger. Samir was shocked to see himself without hair. But then he felt another feeling spreading within him: relief. Relief that he no longer had to constantly think about his hair, that he no longer had to constantly fear that someone would notice that his hair wasn't real.

Time to take the final step. Samir turned away from the mirror and went into the living room to get Alex and Karim, but â€" the two had fallen asleep on the sofa.
Samir sighed and went back to the bathroom. He found foam and a razor on the shelf next to the sink. Before he smeared his head with foam, he watched a headshave tutorial on YouTube, then he felt somewhat prepared to shave the stubble from his head and achieve a soft, smooth shave.
He ran the razor slowly over his head, careful not to cut himself. The more foam he scraped away, the more a completely hairless skull became apparent.
"That's him," he thought when he was finished, "the new Samir. Uncompromisingly shaved bald."
Samir stroked his scalp contentedly. Why on earth had he been so fixated on this Bon Jovi look? He grinned at his reflection and left the bathroom.

The next morning, all three woke up hungover on the couch.
"Didn't you usually have long hair?" Alex asked Samir, yawning.
"The shaved head suits you," said Karim and went into the kitchen to make coffee.
"I would have thought you'd be more excited about finally turning me bald," Samir said when Karim returned with three steaming cups of coffee.
"It was so hard work convincing you," Alex replied. "I don't have any energy left to celebrate."
"Having a shaved head is quite normal for me," Karim said. "You were the only one of my friends who wasn't shaved until now."
"Yes, you're just one of our many bald friends now."
Samir stroked his head â€" again. "I think, now that I'm bald, I also want to get a tattoo."
Alex rolled his eyes. "Well, I don't know how to explain this to your mother..."

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