It was spring break of my freshman year at college and I had decided to go with my Mom back to her hometown in Kansas to see her best friend from her childhood. It was a small farming community that felt like it was still in the 60?s. All my Mom?s relatives were gone, but she still kept in touch with her best friend like she was family. My Mom was somewhere in the middle, one foot in the past and one foot in the present. Mom never criticized anyone for their looks and was always stylish but not trendy. I was ready to break out and try new things. Our hometown was in Denver and I grew with my Mom?s conservative Farm upbringing. I am going to college in Boulder and have a lot of friends from California and San Francisco that have great personal styles in clothes, hair and makeup. I have gradually learned from them about makeup and clothes, but I still have straight brown hair to my shoulder blades. My hair was the one thing I feared changing. My hair had always been long and I liked it that way, or that?s what I knew and was afraid cut. But I always chicken out for whatever reason. I am finally at the point where I think I am going to do it. I even went so far as to tell my friends that I think I am going to get a ?real? haircut soon.

My mom had picked me up and we were on our way to her hometown in Kansas to see her best friend, Janice. It was about a 4 hour trip to the town and it we were able to catch up on our lives and my year at college. I even mentioned to her that I was thinking of cutting my hair shorter into a bob or something. She thought that it was a good idea as I have turned into a woman and this would be a great time for a change.

It had been about 5 years since we had been back to her hometown and I remember swimming with my moms friend?s daughter Shawn who was about 4 years younger than me. I thought that she must be in 10th grade now and I wonder how she had matured. The thing I remembered most about Shawn was she always had long black hair to her waist. We would swim and braid each others hair and then at night we would brush each others hair at night until it shined. And then we would sleep together in her small double bed.

It was Friday and we only staying until Sunday as my Mom had to get back to work. It was about 5:00 we stopped in front of Janice?s house. It was a huge old Victorian that had a little sign out front stating this was also the home of Janice?s Clip Joint. Janice was a small town hairdresser and ran her shop out of the back of the house.

We walked around to the back of the house as my mom said Janice was probably still working and her shop was in the back. As we walked there was Janice and as she saw us the screaming and hugging started as she was so happy to see us and she couldn?t stop talking about how much of a young woman I had become. It was a great welcome.

Finally, we all stopped the greetings and she told us to take a seat as she finished up with Shawn?s haircut. It was then that I looked and saw Shawn was in the chair under the cape getting a haircut. And she was getting a big haircut. We were behind her and she had no hair hanging down the back. In fact it wasn?t on her shoulders either. My eyes went up to her neck and still no hair. As my eyes continued up I saw her neck with very short hair. It looked like it had be cut almost to the skin and was all the same length. It was all the same length until it reached a point even with the top of her ears. At this point all of the hair was one length. It was this same length all the way around. Her hair looked really thick and it was cut so there was a lot of volume. It was what we called the mushroom cut in the 80?s. My eyes then went to the floor and there was the biggest pile of hair I have ever seen. There were mounds. It looked like it was the result of a weeks haircuts, but it was just Shawn?s.

I finally closed my mouth and I looked in the mirror to see how the style looked on Shawn and could not see her face. Janice had not yet cut her bangs and they were hanging down in front of her face and bunched up in her lap. Janice then slowly started cutting and a rain of hair was flowing into her lap. Janice then started talking about how Shawn had been bugging her for a shorter haircut like some movie star or rock star or something like that and that she was tired of the nagging so she finally gave in and cut it short. Janice couldn?t fathom why someone with such beautiful hair wanted to have all her hair cut off, but she would do it anyway.

I couldn?t think of any movie star or rock star that had that haircut, at least not in this decade, so I assumed that Janice must have had her own interpretation of the haircut and Shawn had no say in how it turned out. A mushroom wedge was not one of the latest styles that I knew of, but maybe in this town.

As she finished cutting the bangs, you could finally see Shawn?s face and see that she had turned into a very cute girl. She had a small button nose that was slightly turned up and bright blue eyes. Our eyes met and she smiled at me and said hi and tried to start talking but her mom told her to be quiet and came around to the back and pushed her head forward so her chin was on her chest. She then grabbed a set of clippers and took off the guard and turned them on. Grabbing a comb she began to trim up the back where it looked as if she already been over that part with the clippers. I couldn?t see what was going on as I could hear the clippers scrap against the comb and hair. This kept up for a minute or two and Janice turned them off and grabbed the hairdryer and a brush and started to dry out the hair that was left and soon there she was done and pronounced Shawn done and now trendy. Shawn now had a cap of hair one length all round that just ended above the top of her ears. At the end of the top hair in back it was a straight step down to the clippered part that tapered from probably ? ? to nothing. At the hairline it was straight across.

Shawn looked in the mirror and smiled. She ran her hands through her hair and ran them up and down her neck and said it looked great and she couldn?t get over how much different it felt. She swung her head back and forth and it went up in the air and landed right back into the neat cap. Janice undid the cape and Shawn stood up and she had indeed grown up as she was now almost 5?8?. She was wearing jeans and a white t-shirt and I could tell that she was in great shape. She was thin, but athletic with wide shoulder. She even was showing some breasts. What my friends like to call ?perky?.

It really was a cute cut on her even if it was outdated. She came over and gave me hug and I put my arms around her and I couldn?t help but to rub my hand up her neck and scruff her hair up and exclaim that she looked great, especially her new haircut. My mom also hugged her and echoed my statements. Then my mom said that I was thinking of cutting my hair short as well.

Janice then piped up that there was no time like the present and grabbed her cape. My stomach jumped and I stammered that I wasn?t really sure and that I thought I would wait. My mom told me to go ahead and get it done now and then Shawn started in saying we could be twins and my head was spinning and my stomach was lurching.

Shawn grabbed my arm as she led me to the chair. I wanted to run, but with three people saying to just do it and not wanting to throw a tantrum in front of my mom, her friend and Shawn I went ahead and sat down. I really wanted to let Summer cut my hair, but I couldn?t say no. Janice then threw the cape around me, pulled up my hair and fastened it. She then let my hair down and it spread in front and back all around the cape. It was parted on the side and my hair slid over one eye.

Janice then started to comb through my hair and asked me if I wanted it just like Shawn?s. At this point I was able to speak up and say no I did not want to go that short. Then my mom piped up and said I think it would look cute a couple inches longer on the sides and back. Janice brought all of my hair back and agreed and even Shawn piped up and agreed and at that point I was out voted. At least it would still be somewhat long.

Janice said great let?s get cracking. She then made a part on the back of my head from ear to ear at the top of my ears. She put all the hair above that line on top of my head and secured it with a clip. She then spun me around so I was facing my Mom and Shawn and grabbed something off of the counter and the next thing I heard was a loud humming. I quickly looked around and saw clippers. NO I thought. I wanted it longer. Then Janice grabbed the top of my head and turned it back around and down so my chin was on my chest. The hair on the sides of my head fell forward and provided me with my own little hair cave. Then she gathered up all my hair in back into a ponytail and plunged the clippers into the hair. The clippers changed in tone as they made quick work of separating the hair from my head. Soon the ponytail was off and I could feel my hair fall back into place touching my neck. I had never felt this before. It felt strange, but a good strange. I was tingling all over. Then Janice put her hand on my head and told me to hold still and then I felt the clipper on my neck and she moved the clipper up my neck into the already shortened hair on my lower neck. I couldn?t believe the hair was going to be as short as Shawn’s. Over and over on the back she kept clipping. Soon she turned off the clippers and my head came back up. She turned the chair back around and I looked at myself in the mirror and I looked the same. Hair parted and hanging down on both sides and the hair from the back piled on my head. Then I looked down and on the floor I saw a pile of hair from my ponytail which was about 12-15 inches and the clipped sections of about 2-4 inches.

Janice then undid the top hair and started to comb out that hair. She then combed out both sides from a middle part. She then sectioned off a triangle section of my bangs and secured that on top with a clip. So there I was with my hair hanging down to about breast level on both sides still looking normal knowing that that it would be a while before I looked like this again.

Grabbing another clip Janice went to my left side and parted my hair about halfway up the side and secured the hair above the part on top. She then placed the scissors just below my cheekbones and started to cut an even line straight back. Over a foot of dry hair cascaded into my lap into a dark pile. My stomach knotted. In the mirror the start of a short bob was starting. Long hair was still hanging over my shoulder on the other side. My hair was then parted again higher up and combed down hiding the cut hair and then the scissors cut again at the same length. More hair came cascading down. I was getting dizzy. I looked at my Mom and she was smiling and Shawn was really smiling. The remaining hair was brought down and cut once again. I couldn?t believe the amount of hair that was coming down. I was now two people. On my left side I had a short bob. On the right side I had long hair. But not for long. The same process was done on my right side and more and more hair was flowing into my lap. I had quite the pile accumulating in my lap. Soon both sides were identical. From a middle part straight down ending abruptly at the middle of my ear.

Janice then moved to the back hair and although I couldn?t see what she was doing, it was the same process as the sides. Soon she was done in back. I now had no hair longer than mid-ear with the exception of my bangs. I was amazed at how my cheekbones now looked higher. Then Janice released my bangs and combed them out and I couldn?t see anything. Janice then proclaimed that she thought it would look cute with short bangs and started to place the scissors halfway up my forehead. A moment of clarity came over me and I knew I didn?t want my bangs that short and I jerked my head back just as the scissors started to close and the nothing was cut except air. I startled everyone. Sorry I said, but I want my bangs cut at just above my eyebrows. Janice chuckled and agreed and slowly cut some bangs straight across. It was wild watching my bangs slowly drop into my lap and my view open up. Soon it was done and there I was with a bob and bangs. I must admit I looked cute. Then Janice started combing through and checking to make sure it was all the same length and making a few adjustments here and there.

She then mumbled something to herself and said she needed to make some more adjustments to the cut. She grabbed a spray bottle and began to wet down my hair and comb through. Soon it was all wet and looked very sleek. She then started on the left side and combed the hair at my temple straight out and held it between her fingers and proceed to trim off a small amount at an angle. She told me this would give my hair more volume when it was dry. She worked her way around duplicating this process. She then turned the chair around from the mirror and I heard snap something off and click something on and heard the clippers start up again. She then pushed my head down. This time no hair came forward except a small tickle on my cheeks. Then the clippers were on my nape and went up a couple of inches all across my neck. Then she turned off the clippers and rubbed her hand up and down the clipped part. She grumbled a hmm and I heard a click and something landed on the counter and the clippers started again and she placed the clippers on my neck with no guard and ran them up about an inch. She then inverted the clippers and proceeded to clip away any hairs below my hairline. The clippers were then turned off and Janice rubbed her hands on my nape and said that was the ticket. I got goose bumps and tingled as she ran her hand up and down my neck. This could be the beginning of something new for me I thought. My head came up and I could feel the little hairs on the back of my neck. It felt strange with no hair on my neck and shoulders.

Janice then lifted up part of the counter right behind the chair to reveal a sink and turned on the water. She lowered the chair back and started to run water into my hair. She shampooed my hair. As she was doing this it felt good to feel the water on my neck. When she was done with the Shampoo and conditioning she towel dried my hair and moved the seat back up and I was facing my Mom and Shawna. Janice towel dried my hair some more and then squirted a big pile of mousse into her hand and rubbed into my hair and turned on the hair dryer. She was using the dryer and her hand to dry my hair. It was about halfway dry and she grabbed a round brush and started to brush the hair out and dry it curling it up a little on the ends. She made her way around from side to side with this process and then worked on the bangs and doing the reverse on the bangs, curling them under. The dryer stopped and she grabbed a can of hairspray and told me to close my eyes and proceeded to spray the my hair and use her hands to mold it into place. She then put down the hairspray and undid the cape and all my hair spilled out and onto the floor into a big pile. She then turned the chair around to the mirror and I couldn?t believe what I saw. I thought it would be a cute, sleek bob, but it now looked more like a big mushroom. The last cutting she did make the layer underneath a little longer and with my thick hair and the hair dryer and brush it fluffed out. A LOT. It looked like it was about two inches thick. I looked like I belonged in the 70?s. My mom started to gush about how grown up I looked and Shawna also echoed it was cute and came over and ran her nails and hand up the back of my neck. I finally spoke up and thanked Janice. I ran my hands through my hair from the front to the back and couldn?t believe this was me. I loved the feeling when I felt my neck and the prickly sensation of my hair. At the hairline it was almost nothing, but gradually got longer to about ??. The clippered section went up and under the bob in back. Janice swung me back around and handed my a hand mirror so I could see the back in the big mirror. I couldn?t believe my eyes. My hair came straight down and then there was a step and the clippered section tapered down to nothing. My hairline was in a nice W. I hated the cut. Loved the sensation. I was a big mushroom. I thought once I shower and style it myself it would look better.

How was I going to explain this to my friends??..I was definitely not in style?

The End?..