Caped and clipped by Caped Crusader

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I had asked my mum if I could spend the weekend at a friend of mine at the other side of town. A big adventure for a ten year old in the 70's, usually after school or the weekends you stayed with family and played out with all your friends who lived close, no tweeting or facebooking then! We knew each other from being in the Cubs, his mum was going to take us back with her from school, and then the adventure would begin, a whole different part of town to explore for a weekend.
We had a great Friday night, and went to bed tired and excited, we were going out in a car the next day into the country. We didn't have a car, and my friends dad had borrowed one for the weekend. The next morning after breakfast, my friends mum said that was haircut time and that we had time before we went out,she said I didn' tneed to come along, but she did think my hair could do with a trim, and my mum would thank her for it. Now my friends hair was cut quite short, a grown out short back and sides, but my parents had let me grow mine, and for a boy of the 70's it was quite long,any how I said that I would come along.
We walked for five minutes, turned a corner and walked into a barbers shop, full of boys, some with older brothers some with mums. This was the Saturday morning club, boys only, all getting the same haircut. I watched as the next boy went to the chair. he was caped up, the cape fully covering him. Then the barber worked fast, he took a big pair of clippers in one hand, and placed the other on the top of the boys head. he pushed the boys head down so his chin touched his chest and then began to strip all the hair off the back of the boys head, high up into the crown. he did this all around the bck and then began on the sides, bending the boys ear down and shaving high up leaving nothing. This was done on the other side, and pretty shortly the boy looked like a monk, freshly shorn neck and sides. But the barber hadn't finished, off went the clippers and out came the thinning shears. Clump after clump of hair fell from the boys head, when he had finished, his fringe was cut high on his forehead. The remaining hair was blended into the shaved sides and he was done. He then applies some Brylcreem, and finished everything off by giving the boy a sharp parting to one side. The boy jumped down and then it was the turn of another,
The barber worked fast, and pretty soon it was my friends turn, but his mum turned to me and said you should go, just ask for a trim. I walked to the chair with the barber waiting. he was how small I was and placed a well worn plank of wood over the two arms of the chair and asked me to climb up. I did this and sat down, and then the same routine began. Now I had been fascinated by this shearing shop, noisy, short haircuts the smell of hair lotion, and the way the barber reduced all the boys to shorn, neat and tidy little men, and I wanted to look like that too.
He first had to comb my hair out as it was slightly longer than alot of the other boys hair. However once the clippers had been turned on, my hairs fate had been decided, and I was quickly clipped, no hair left anywhere near the hairline at all. Then the thinning shears and the butchery of my fringe, He asked if I wanted cream and I said yes please, he put plenty on and gave me a sharp side parting. I then jumped down and went back to my friends mum, he had already made his way to the shearing chair.

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