The alarm rung at 7am as was usual. What was unusual, however, is today Sarah awoke in a wonderfully happy mood and rather than hit the snooze button on her alarm clock, she simply laid back, bright eyed, and reflected on the wonderful evening she had just enjoyed.

The evening meeting Steve’s parents could not have gone any better and his parents proved to be truly delightful. They had given Sarah a wonderfully warm welcome and it was completely obvious that they absolutely approved of their son’s choice of girlfriend. In their eyes, Sarah was quite obviously considered to be a nice, gentle, and presentable young girl and certainly not one of those “Trophy Girls” they so disapproved of.

Steve’s Mum (Barbara) made a great effort to make Sarah feel welcome and did all the things that Mum’s do when meeting their son’s new girlfriend; well, that is, meeting a girlfriend that they actually approve of. First came all the embarrassing stories, and then the dreaded photo album. Sarah thoroughly enjoyed this experience and although Steve sat in the corner cringing, Sarah actually found herself feeling closer still to Steve and his family and started to feel as if she was beginning to belong. Sarah couldn’t help but focus on one particular photograph though, it was of Steve taken at a family gathering and he looked incredibly respectable and very very smart. He was wearing a smart business suit and his hair was cut very short into a basic, neat and tidy, short back and sides with the most perfect side parting. Sarah couldn’t help but notice how different he looked in comparison to the way he looks now, with his designer clothes and trendy surf-boy long locks. She couldn’t help but comment; “Oooooh, look at you, looking all smart” She gushed.

Steve merely blushed and shrugged his shoulders. Sarah, meanwhile, couldn’t help but tease further as she cooed; “And look at your neat and tidy short haircut!”

Steve was completely lost for words and simply shrugged again and blushed even more. Barbara, however, did have something to say as, with great enthusiasm, she added; “Well said Sarah, I’ve been saying this to him for years. I much preferred him with his hair cut nice and short and look at him, it’s ridiculous, his hair is longer than his girlfriends!”

Both Barbara and Sarah chuckled to themselves and then Barbara continued; “I hope you don’t mind me saying this, but it’s so nice to see a young lady these days with such a nice short haircut. Most of the girls seem to be wearing their hair in such high maintenance long “prissy” styles these days and I always think to myself it would be much nicer for them to wear their hair in nice, sensible, short styles like yours. Have you always kept your hair trimmed up short?”

Sarah blushed a little and replied; “No, I’m afraid not. Up until recently it was quite long, longer than Steve’s in fact, but I just got fed-up with it. It took ages to style and even then, if the wind blew or it started to rain, I’d still end up looking scruffy. So, I decided it was time to opt for something easier and less fussy.”

Barbara, breaking into a broad smile, enthused; “Well I definitely think you did the right thing by saying goodbye to those troublesome long locks. I’m sure it’s much easier for you now and it must be very comforting to know, that come rain or shine, you will always look neat and tidy. Yes dear! I really must say that it’s so very nice to see a young girl with such a neat little head of short hair, and especially when this short hair used to be long.

Barbara, who was now riding a crusade of respectability, looked straight at Steve and with an element of fun, but with more than an element of scorn, began to semi-lecture him; “Really Steven, you should go get a haircut, we’re going to your Grandmother’s on Sunday to celebrate her Birthday and you could put in just a little bit of effort. You know how much your Grandmother likes us to look smart and even I will be having my hair set before we go. It is such a shame seeing you look so scruffy, especially when your girlfriend looks so neat, tidy and well groomed. Sarah’s made herself look wonderfully presentable by opting for a short haircut and I think the least you could do is to support her by opting for one yourself!”

Again, Steve was lost for words, but although he struggled to produce any meaningful response, his mum’s words had hit home.

Fearing that the evening was becoming a little too serious, Steve’s father (Howard) decided to lighten things up a little, as he changed the subject and invited Sarah to accompany the family on Sunday to celebrate Steve’s Grandmother’s birthday. Sarah gladly accepted.

The evening ended at 10.30 when Steve drove Sarah home. They pulled up outside Sarah’s house and gave each other a wonderful hug, the kind of hug where they could both feel each other’s hearts racing.

Steve gently whispered; “Thank you so much for tonight, my parents absolutely adored you.”

Sarah, feeling completely relieved, in a very gentle tone, replied; “I really enjoyed myself and your parents were lovely to me. I’ve been worried all week that they wouldn’t approve of me, but I think they did?”

Steve, in an animated tone reassured; “Sarah my darling, I know without any doubt that my parents have more than completely accepted you. They’re absolutely smitten with you, you are the girl of my Mum’s dreams and more importantly, the girl of my dreams too, all of me simply adores all of you!”

These wonderful words put Sarah’s heart in all of a flutter as she replied; “And all of me simply adores all of you too.” She then, in a cheeky tone, continued “I think it’s just as well I had my hair cut though, God only knows what reaction I’d have received otherwise?”

Steve in a warm and reassuring tone quickly replied; “To be honest, I don’t think mum would have approved of the old look, but I know she completely approves of this” Steve gently stroked Sarah’s head as he ran his fingers through her hair and whilst tightening his hug, continued “And more importantly, I, absolutely love the new you!”

Sarah, breaking into a big smile thanked Steve for his love and support, but curiosity got the better of her as she asked “Steve, you know you said you’d like to see me with curly hair?”

Steve simply replied; “Yes”

“Well, were you being serious? Are you sure you’d like me to be curly, like in having permed hair?”

Steve feeling a little awkward and under pressure simply replied; “Yes, yes I would. I know it might sound silly to you and I don’t know why, but I just think you’d look really sweet with curly hair. I can remember when my mum had my sisters hair permed for my Grandparents 50th Wedding Anniversary; it was a bit plain in comparison to the way most of the girls were wearing their hair, but a big part of me thought it was really nice, it was a really presentable style but, at the same time, wonderfully feminine.”

Sarah found herself liking these words very much and was completely surprised to find herself even talking about permed hair, and totally amazed when she realised that she was actually considering becoming curly. Before she had the chance to reply, Steve gave Sarah a long and lingering kiss and it was time to say goodnight.

*********************
By now the normal 10 minutes “snooze time” was over and it was time to get up. Sarah immediately ceased her dreamy recollections of the previous night, jumped out of bed and straight into the bathroom, where she was met by a very pleasant surprise, because the reflection staring back at her from the mirror was a girl who, without having done anything at all, looked neat, tidy and completely presentable. Sure, she needed to run a comb through her hair, but after all of 10 seconds this was done and her hair looked just as neat and tidy as it had the night before. Sarah was thrilled, not just because it looked good, but also because she’d just saved herself the normal half hour spent on styling her hair.

Just as the night before, sh
e decided to do without makeup, which was another 10 minutes saved which meant that she was at her wardrobe some 40 minutes sooner than normal. What was not normal, however, was the fact that rather than grab for the normal short skirt that formed part of her uniform, this time she automatically went for the longer, more conservative, pleated skirt. Sarah put on the skirt and matching blouse and then went for shoes and found a dilemma; should she wear the normal heels that made her look slimmer, especially as the flared skirt made her hips look so much bigger, or did she opt for the low heels that not only made her look shorter, but also plumper? She concluded “in for a penny” and opted for the low heels; work was going to see the real Sarah, the Sarah with the homely child baring hips.

Sarah, having got ready for work in record time went downstairs and found her mum already in the Kitchen.

Sheila, being surprised to see Sarah downstairs so early, was even more surprised to see that Sarah had decided to extend her new toned down appearance to everyday life and was wearing the more conservative work uniform. Sheila, who was a rather old fashioned and somewhat reserved lady, had always hoped that her daughter would grow up to be a nice and gentle unassuming “girl next door” type, but although Sheila was incredibly proud of Sarah, Sarah had not always modelled her appearance, as her mum would have wished. However, to see Sarah standing there, with her short hair, conservative uniform, her face free of makeup and nails cut short and free of any colour, Sarah now looked exactly as Sheila had always hoped she would.

Sheila broke into a very approving smile as she gushed; “Good morning Sarah, you are down early”

Sarah smiled back as she replied; “Good morning Mum, yes, I am, it didn’t take me half as long to get ready as it normally does”.

Sheila, breaking into a rather motherly and reassuring tone, replied; ” Well sweetie, that’s another benefit of your new haircut, not only does it look wonderful, it’s also very practical and I must say, although I appreciate it’s entirely up to you, I for one hope that now it’s short, you will keep it short.”

Sarah simply smiled and nodded her head in agreement.

“And how did it go last night?” Enthused Sheila.

Sarah, with great enthusiasm, recounted everything that happened whilst Sheila listened contently. Sheila was absolutely thrilled to hear things were going so well and was absolutely over the moon to hear that Steve had again raised the subject of curly hair. Sheila couldn’t help but try to force the issue, when she asked Sarah if she fancied giving it a try. Sarah, was taken a little aback by her mothers directness, but to her complete amazement found herself replying that “Yes, she was considering it.

Without giving Sarah a chance to expand further, Sheila interrupted and said; “Look sweetie, I know going curly might seem a big thing at first, so if you are a bit nervous, why don’t you go and have a shampoo and set. A set won’t be permanent, but it will allow you to get a feel for curly hair and if you don’t like it, you can wash it out and there will be no harm done.” Sheila fetched £20 from her purse, handed it to Sarah and continued; “Here, take this and let it be my treat to you. Now all you’ve got to do is get yourself to the hairdressers and get yourself curly. I really am sure you’ll like it, but just remember, if you don’t like it nobody needs to see you and you can easily wash it out.

Sarah was rather taken aback by her mum’s support and generosity and without initially realising it, by having taken the money, had agreed to have it done.

To be continued..