The move to the Midwest had been an experience to say the least. But over the course of the few weeks we had been there, our neighbors had been so nice and helped us with the unpacking process. School was about to begin for our boys and so I decided to take them into town for their school clothes. We stopped at the local mall and while shopping I noticed a strange phenomenon. Almost every mother I saw with their kids shopping had extremely short hair. While waiting for my boys to try their clothes on, a woman with a flattop started up a conversation with me. After a few minutes of very polite small talk, I inquired about the hair. ?Oh this? She said rubbing her short bristles. ?A few years ago we started a short hair club for women in the area. We had all grown tired of the long hours at the Beauty Salon and began getting our hair cut shorter and shorter. It sort of climaxed when there were several of us at The Barbershop watching our boys get haircuts for the school year. We started talking about how envious we were that the men could wear such low maintenance styles and how cheap the haircuts were. One thing led to another and we had all agreed to get our haircut at the barbershop that day. The guys at the shop did such a great job that we started going there on a regular basis for trims. At first we just had short cuts, but one by one we started getting a little shorter until I was the first to take the plunge. I went for a flattop and have never regretted it!?

Our conversation was interrupted when my sons came out and showed me what they wanted. I politely thanked her for the conversation and went to pay. That conversation stuck in my head and while walking through the mall I saw at least 25 women with flattops or extremely short hair. I was intrigued. The next few weeks went by fast and the kids went off to school. I finally had a day to myself with my husband at work and the kids at school, I decided to go shopping. I also had to find a good hairstylist for a trim. It was relaxing shopping and after a few hours, I sat down in the food court for a quick lunch. I was going to try a walk-in for a trim at the mall salon hoping I would luck upon a good stylist. While eating I noticed a bunch of ladies sitting together laughing. There must have been over 50 women and they all had extremely short hair. This must be the club, I thought to myself. As I was watching from a distance, I noticed Ashley, the woman I had spoken with a few weeks earlier motioning me over. I pretended I did not see her and then she walked over to the table where I was sitting and asked me to join them.

I walked over and sat down and was introduced to some of the women. Up close, I noticed that every one of them looked striking with their short hair, and they were all very nice. After an hour or so with them, I had felt so welcome. It was as if I had known them for years. The time had come for them to have their meeting and I politely excused myself. Before leaving, Ashley gave me her card and told me to call her sometime if I wanted to do lunch. I thanked her and walked down the mall to the Salon. There were only two stylists working there and I found myself getting frustrated after I had been standing at the receptionist desk for over ten minutes waiting for one of them to acknowledge me. I finally asked the girl closest to the front how long it would be and she told me another 45 minutes or so. I signed in and told her I would be back in about 30 minutes. While shopping in one of the stores, I ran into Ashley again and some of the other ladies. They were trying on some new shoes and struck up a conversation with me. I explained that I was waiting on the stylists to finish up and they looked at one another and smiled. ?I would not go back if I were you!? Ashley said as the other ladies agreed. ?Both of those girls cannot cut hair worth a flip and they are so slow and way overpriced. You should come with us to the barbershop. You won?t be disappointed and there won?t be a wait.? My face must have given it away because the ladies started laughing and Ashley assured me that they would not ?do to me what they do to her!?

Perhaps because I was frustrated and I had no reason not to trust her, I agreed and followed them over to The Barbershop. It was very clean and there were even two women barbers. Ashley introduced me to everyone and I sat down feeling a bit out of place. The two men who worked there both had very short military style haircuts and both women barbers had very short flattops. I was the only person in the room with over one inch of hair on my head and I felt as if they were chomping at the bit to ?cure? me of my condition. My hair was about shoulder length but dry from all of the coloring I had done to it over the years. I had contemplated cutting my hair off many times and even verbalized it on several occasions to my husband who encouraged me to do so. But to imagine myself joining the Flattop Wives Club was a bit scary.

Ashley sat down in one of the chairs of the male barbers while the other three ladies sat down in the other chairs and within minutes the clippers were buzzing the women?s hair off. It was strange to see clippers being used on these women?s hair and I must say the barbers were very meticulous in their work. Within 30 minutes the haircuts were done and the barbers were putting the finishing touches on the ladies with the edging trimmers and dusting them off with talcum powder. I found myself curious and somewhat aroused at the sound of the clippers chewing away the hair of the ladies. And the smiles on their faces indicated to me that they were enjoying it immensely.

The next few minutes were a little blurry but in the excitement of it all I found myself sitting in the barber chair of one of the women barbers. With a tissue around my neck and the cape secured, she asked me what I wanted to do. I was a bit embarrassed because I really had no idea what I wanted. After a few minutes of silence I asked her for suggestions. She combed through my hair and I halfway expected her to suggest a flattop, but instead she suggested a chin length bob with an undercut. Within minutes she was cutting my hair and put the finishing touches on the back with the clippers. I had never experienced clippers before but I now knew why the other women were enjoying the moment!

In twenty minutes I had received the best haircut of my life by a woman barber with a flattop and I was thankful. The $10 charge was a bargain and I tipped her generously. My husband loved it and the kisses on the back of my neck felt so erotic! A few weeks had passed by and the cut was losing its shape so while the kids were at school I decided to go back to the Barbershop for a trim. It was early in the morning and only Tom, the owner was there. He was finishing up on an older gentleman and I sat down to read a magazine.

I was a little nervous having a man cut my hair but he had done such a good job on Ashley that I knew he could cut mine. After the man paid and left, Tom asked me to sit down in the chair. With the tissue and cape in place, he asked me what I wanted to do. ?Do you think I should go shorter?? I asked him. ?How much shorter do you want to go?? he replied. There was an awkward silence and the he asked me if I wanted to join the club. I nodded and the time had come.

He sprayed my hair down with water and combed it out. He then made a circular part all the way around my head about two inches above my ear and piled all of that hair on top of my head and clipped it up. He picked up a big set of clippers and placed a guard on the head. Pop! They came to life and he started shaving up the right side of my head to the part line. A mountain of hair cascaded down over my ear and I saw nothing but fuzz where the clippers had been. There was no turning back now. Little by little he shaved down the right side of my hair and then continued on to the back. And around my left side until there was nothing but fuzz from the part he had made all the way down. He then released the long hair on top and started cutting the bulk of it off with scissors. Pieces of wet hair 9 or 10 inches long were no longer attached to the top of my head but sticking to the cape in front of me. I watched, mesmerized at the site of my hair disappearing off the top of my head. The last long strand of hair on my head was cut off with the scissors and he took a towel to dry off what little hair I had left. He took the clippers again and took the guard off. He then took out the big comb I saw him using on Ashley and placed it on top of my head. With great skill and speed, he started at the crown of my head and moved the clippers across the comb, leaving nothing but a half inch of hair standing straight up. From side to side he moved the clippers swiftly inching his way to the front until he had removed any hair that was sticking out of the comb.

After removing the comb, I saw a very different woman in the mirror. All traces of blonde hair were gone and what was left was very short bristly brown hair standing straight up on top and a mixture of scalp and extremely short hair on the sides. He then took a comb and stood in front of me with smaller clippers and started touching up my bangs, or should I say front part of my hair. I had no bangs anymore! He then took the trimmers and shaved a sharp v on both sides of my face to give me very cool looking sideburns. Carefully he edged around my ears and then made his way to the back. He spent quite a bit of time in the back tapering the nape area and touching up any missed spots. When he was through he took a brush and talcum powder and wiped off the hair on my face, ears and neck. The talcum powder smelled good and I closed my eyes as he gently dusted my face.

I opened my eyes and saw him place some wax in his hands and rub them together. He then rubbed it all over the top of my head to make every hair stand straight up. He gave me a mirror to view the back and the first look was rather surreal. The first touch was even more dramatic and I thought I would be in shock. But the truth was there was a feeling of liberation, as if I had been freed from bondage. My head felt so light and my face looked about ten years younger! The back of my head was practically bald and my neck looked very graceful. It was odd that a traditionally male haircut could look so graceful and feminine on a woman, but it did and I really liked it!

?Well what do you think?? Tom asked with a smile on his face as he uncaped me and dusted me off. I looked at him and smiled. ?It looks great and it feels wonderful!? I said as I got up to pay him. ?That will be $7.00? he said and I handed him a $10 bill telling him to keep the change. I thanked him again and he told me to come back in about two weeks for a touchup. I looked forward to the return trip as I got in my car and drove home.