Jason and the Car Wash by RJ

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I have a very busy job with little free time. Since I never have time to
clean my car, I maintain a membership in a local
automated car wash. In addition to keeping my car clean, every time I go
there I also have the opportunity to see a lot of young
guys who vacuum and dry the cars when they are finished. It's a little
entertainment, I guess.

For the past several weeks, the person who registered the car at the
entrance has been a very handsome young guy-maybe 19
or 20 years old. He was tall and thin with a wonderful big smile and a very
pleasant voice. Part of the uniform for the guys at
the car wash is a baseball cap with the logo of the company on the front.
This guy wore his low in front with the bill
appropriately arched. Hanging beneath the cap was about 9-10 inches of
thick, slightly curly blond hair. Although the top of his
hair was not visible, it appeared that all his hair had been allowed to grow
to a single length that would be somewhere near the
tops of his shoulders, if the curls were stretched to their full length. His
hair appeared well cared for-it was always clean and
bouncy and there were no apparent "split ends." It was my guess, from its
health and appearance, that he regularly blunt-cut his
hair to keep it all at one length. Each time I saw him, I thought, "How
great it would be to give this guy a haircut. He's cute as
he is, and would he look great with a short haircut." But I have those
fantasies all the time. Generally, they are transient and only
occasionally come to pass.

Earlier this week, I went to the car wash and a woman was registering the
cars. I told her the type of wash that I wanted and
parked my car in the line. I went inside and waited until my car started to
pass through the automated part of the wash. I paid
the cashier and went outside to sit in the sun while I awaited the finishing
of the car at the end of the line. When I looked up,
one of the guys working on the finishing line was the tall guy with the long
blond locks. He looked very uncomfortable in the
sun. Perspiration was dripping from his forehead, and his normally shiny,
bouncy hair was damp, matted and hanging in strings
around his jaws from where it had been pulled behind his ears. Yet, he was
working very hard and seemed to be doing a few
extras for customers despite the unusually hot fall sun.

There were three cars in front of mine. I watched him and his partner work.
Soon he took my car off the line. He cleaned the
interior windows, dusted inside and dried the exterior. Then he took special
care to clean the wheels by hand. When he raised
his hand, I went over to him and gave him my receipt. I said, "You really
have a lot of hair. If you ever decide to cut it short,
please let me know. I send hair to an organization that makes wigs for
children who have become bald from medical causes.
Your hair would be great for that purpose."

He looked at me at first with surprise and then he smiled and said, "Well
I've been thinking about getting my hair cut. So the
hair is a donation?"

"Yes," I replied.

"Do you have to pay for the haircut?"

"No. I cut the hair for free, and I send the hair into the company that
makes the wigs."

"Any kind of haircut?"

"As long as there is enough hair that comes off in one length to make good
wigs," I replied.

"Well, I think I'd like to do that," he responded. I gave him my phone
number to call me when he decided to get the haircut. He
said his name was Jason and thanked me profusely. Then he told me that he
would call me after he looked at his work schedule
to find out when he could come for the haircut. I left thinking that I'd
never hear from him again.

But I was wrong. Today Jason called me and told me that he was ready for the
haircut. We made arrangements for him to
come to the barbershop I have in my house and he arrived on time. He did not
have his baseball cap on, and his hair was very
clean and luxurious. It was nicely brushed behind his ears. Maybe because
the humidity was low there was little curl in his hair
and it was obvious that it was at least 15 inches long on the top and the
back and sides reached to the top of his shoulders. I
escorted Jason into the shop and had him sit in the chair. As I was putting
the pinstriped cape around him, he asked what types
of hairstyles I cut. "Whatever type you want," I answered while firmly
clasping the cape at the back of the neck, "but in order to
use your hair for wigs, it will need to be a short style so the hair can be
removed with the length left intact." He looked a little
nervous as I turned him away from the mirror and he saw the collection of
clippers and shears on the counter.

The first thing I did was free his hair from under the edge of the cape
around his neck. I then brushed his hair to see if it had
tangles in it. There were none; it was like dense silk fibers. Next I combed
his hair straight back on top and all around,
smoothing it carefully as I went. "I was thinking maybe about something with
layers," he said as I combed.

"Layers?" I asked. "I thought you were going to get your hair cut short
enough so it can be made into a wig for needy children?
Layering will not allow me to remove hair long enough for a wig. It will
have to be a shorter style than that. What do you think
about a crewcut or a flattop?"

"Ooh! I've never had hair that short in my life. My hair hasn't been shorter
than collar-length since I was a little boy-maybe
never! I don't know about cutting it that short."

"Oh, it will look great," I responded. "Don't worry, Jason. Just leave me in
charge. We'll end up with a lot of hair for wigs and
you'll have a great haircut-maybe the best one you have ever had in your
life." I picked up the Oster 76 clipper and put the #1
1/2 blade on it as I was talking to him. I flipped on the switch and the
clippers roared to life.

It was clear that this was a sound that Jason had not experienced before and
his level of anxiety surged. He turned his head
toward me and said, "I'm not sure about this. I'm really not sure." I turned
off the clipper and put my left hand firmly on his
shoulder as I pumped the chair a little higher.

"Jason, this is the right thing to do. You have been thinking about this
haircut for a long time. Now you have the opportunity to
get the haircut you want and give a donation to a very worthwhile charity.
Now, what's it going to be? A haircut or not? I
thought you'd made this decision. I'm surprised that you're acting like a
scared child."

Jason turned his head away from me and looked sheepish. "I think you know
best, sir. I guess I'm just nervous."

"Of course, you're nervous. Guys are always nervous when they get their
first real haircut. But I'll tell you that once this hair is
gone and you find out how great short hair feels and you see how masculine
you look, you'll be coming back to see me every
couple of weeks for a fresh haircut." With that, I turned the Oster on again
and with no hesitation I placed the heel of the blade
at the bottom of his right sideburn and ran the clipper up through the hair
on his temple to the top of his head. Flicking that 15
inches of hair onto the cape in his lap, I continued on over the right ear
pushing higher and higher from behind the ear toward
the front so all the hair would fall in his lap. I continued the cut around
the back, running the #1 1/2 up to the crown and then
finished off the left side.

After the sides were finished, I put the #2 blade on the clipper and
attacked the top front of his hair. As I moved the clipper
toward the top of his head, he pulled back. I put my left hand on the back
of his head and held him firmly. "Relax and trust me,
Jason," I said as the clipper found its way into the top hair and it began
to fall into his lap along with the rest. With this, Jason
relaxed and seemed comfortable as I finished cutting the top. He moaned as I
ran the Oster over the top of his head repeatedly,
holding and rolling his head with my left hand as I cut-insuring that they
were no long hairs left behind. When I finished, I
wanted this boy to look as though his head had never seen long hair-as
smooth as cut silk.

I powdered my brush and brushed the remaining hair forward onto his lap. I
picked up the hair with my hand and said, "Look
at this, Jason, this was all on your head. And now it's going to make a wig
for some needy child. What a wonderful thing you
have done." He looked at me with a smile on his face as I put his hair in a
plastic bag.

Next, I picked up my Andis Master and tapered his hair tightly around the
sides and back-introducing him to another unique
sound, the soft buzz of the Master and a vibration that made him laugh like
a tickled boy. Then I edged his cut with the
edger-another sound and experience that was new. When I finished this, the
lather was hot for his shave. I put hot lather around
his ears and on the back of his neck and sharpened my straight razor. By
this time, Jason appeared to be enjoying himself
immensely. I shaved his sideburns to the tops of his ears and outlined his
ears and shaved the back sides of his neck. Then I
took a towel and ran hot water through it until it was saturated, and then I
wrapped the hot towel around his neck and ears and
rubbed away the remaining lather. When that was finished, I rubbed the hot
towel over his entire head, massaging that freshly
cut crewcut. I finished the cut with some Witch Hazel around the ears and on
the neck and then some more powder.

When I turned Jason toward the mirror, he looked at himself first with shock
on his face; but that quickly was replaced with a
gleaming smile. As I was taking the cape from around his shoulders, I
wondered if I will see him on a regular basis as I
predicted.

Only time will tell.

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