Since I moved into my own place about 6 years ago, I’ve been having my hair cut about once a month. I always hated it when I was little – mostly because I was sitting in an oversize chair, a huge cape around my tiny neck, and a strange man poking around my face with sharp instruments. Today, I have my hair cut regularly, and don’t dedicate myself to any one salon or barber shop. I experiment with various shops, some of which I go back to more than once.

One time I went into a salon where no one was waiting, though the two stylists had clients in their chairs. As I came in one of the ladies came up to the front desk. `Can I help you?’

`Yes, I need a hair cut’, I replied.

`Hmmm…Susan, how long are you going to be?’ the woman asked her colleague. `I still have to blow-dry her, but I shouldn’t be too long – about 20 minutes’, she answered. `OK, can you wait about 15-20 minutes?’ she asked me. `Sure’, I replied, and took a seat.

It took less time than that before she spoke to me again. `Come on up’, she told me, and I stepped up & into her chair. She turned it to face the mirror, where her nameplate was visible across the top; HOLLY. She was an attractive 40-something woman, about 5’6, dressed in a sweater & dress pants and low heels, along with a black apron. Holly pulled a long tissue neck-strip from a dispenser and wrapped it snugly around my neck. Next she took a large black hair cape from the chair next to hers and unfolded it with a shake of her wrists. She draped the cape over me and fastened it tightly around the neck tissue.

`Now.what are we doing today?’ she asked me. `Looks like it’s been a while since your last haircut.’ she remarked as she ran her comb over my longish tresses. `It’s been about 6 weeks – that’s my normal time between cuts’, I told her as she sectioned my hair. `What blade do you use on the back & sides?’ she asked. `I don’t always use clippers but when I do, it’s usually a #4′, I replied. `That’s a long one, do you usually take a #4 on the back & sides, finger length on top?’ she asked. `Yes, that’s about right’, I answered. `Sure’, she said, `we can certainly do that’.

Holly took her huge clippers out of the drawer, snapped a #4 guard on them, and clicked them on. Bzzzzzz – the clippers came to life as Holly ran them up the back of my head. Soft tufts of cut hair fell onto the black cape at my neck, and slid down the cape. She then moved to the right side of my head and gently ran her clippers up that side, with small clippings falling gently to the floor & cape. Then she repeated the procedure on the left, and all that was left afterward was a series of small clumps of cut hair on the cape & floor.

Next, she picked up her spray bottle & comb and began sectioning my hair as she wet it down. Water squirted into my face despite her best efforts to contain it, and before too long water was running down the long black cape. My hair was also dripping onto the cape, and running down it. Holly picked up her sharp cutting scissors, and pulled the hair on the top of my head up using her fingers & comb. Hair dropped from my head as she cut pieces of it away, and then she moved across the top of my head snipping away with her scissors. She combed down my bangs to the front, which reached my eyebrows. I looked in the mirror as she snipped straight across, and the hair dropped to the cape. She then picked up a set of scissors with teeth on the blades, and moved to the back of my head. Using the scissors she cut away some more of the bulk that was at the back, and then worked them across the top. Pieces of wet, cut brown hair were falling everywhere, and soon the cape was covered with clippings from my head.

Holly then dried my hair with her blow dryer, and applied a razor to the back & sides to even out those spots. She then held up a big mirror to the back of my head. Wow – what a difference! She had taken my hair down to about ½ an inch in the back and just over _ inch on the top. It wasn’t quite a crewcut, which I was grateful for, but it was short enough to last for a while yet. `That’s good’, I told her, and she dusted off my neck with a fluffy pink brush & unfastened the cape. She pulled away the tissue from my neck and removed the cape, and I stepped out of her chair, pleased with my new look.

I paid Holly for her services and tipped her generously. Sadly, I won’t likely be able to return to her salon as I moved away shortly after.but I will continue my visits to new salons.