I was walking through the lower mall area after having a quick meal in the food court. As I walked down the long lobby, I passed a unisex salon. Walking out of the salon was Peter, my local mail delivery man. We exchanged pleasantries and I teased him a bit about his bald head. “You are stunting any opportunity for growth,” I said. I always tease him about his bald head because he had told me in the past that he gets it shaved every two weeks.

When I tease him, he would usually come back to me with some sort of remark that one day I would do it too. “Everyone should do it at least once in their lives,” he usually tell me.

Now here I am today standing in front of a salon. “What is holding you back?” he said to me with a big grin on his face. “Your hair is short as it is. Why not just go in and tell them to take the rest off?”

“I have actually been thinking about it,” I answered. “But I was going to go and buy a pair of clippers and get Geri to do it for me.” Geri is my girlfriend.

“No man! You want a professional to do it for you. That is more exciting,” Peter said to me. “Go in there and ask for Lara of Gladys. Either one of them will take care of you. I don’t let anyone else shave my head. It is either one of those two ladies.”

I looked into the salon and there were three ladies standing in front of the receptionist’s desk. One of them was particularly tall and she had a huge smile on her face. I looked at Peter. “Well, are you going to do it or not? Look, they are waiting for you. I bet they are laughing about you,” Peter said.

The tall brunette walked away from the desk and she actually came out of the salon. She walked over to Peter and gave him a hug. She raised her hand and actually rubbed his bald head. She handed him a business card and he placed it in his pocket. “Lara, this is my friend Darren. I have been telling him what an amazing job you do with your clippers and how he needs to get a shave done professionally and not by his girlfriend. He has been all talk and no action,” Peter said.

Lara offered her hand and I shook it. “So you are thinking about shaving your head?” Lara said.

“We have an on-going thing every time I see Peter, I make some sort of remark about how he is stunting any opportunity for growth,” I said.

“But you must think it looks daring if you continue to comment about it,” Peter said.

“It is daring, I guess. But why do I always see you getting it done by a woman and for that matter why do you spend $40.00 for the cut when you can go to the back of the mall and get old Joe to shave you and just pay $10.00?” I said. “What is the difference?”

“There is no real difference. I am sure old Joe could do the same job but I choose to let Lara do it and I don’t care if it costs me $40.00. It is just that Lara and I have known each other since high school and when I asked her what she wanted to be when she graduated, she told me that she wanted to go to barber’s school. I told her that if she did, I would be her first paying customer. That was 5 years ago and I have not allowed any other barber have free reign with my hair. Lara was actually the one who told me that I would look good with a shaved head. So I let her do it and she has been doing it ever since,” Peter said.

Lara continued to stand next to Peter. “Well, Lara, I have to get back to my route. Thanks again and I will see you in two weeks,” Peter said as he turned and started walking away.

I waved good-bye and as I turned my head, Lara was still standing next to me. “So Darren, are you going to let me shave your head today? Or are you all talk and no action?” she asked. I saw a twinkle in her eye and she smiled as she turned and walked back to the salon. I also saw her wiggle her finger, inviting me to follow her inside the salon. My feet started walking away but then I made an abrupt stop and I walked back to the doors of the salon. Lara was standing beside her chair, a pink cape draped over her arm and a pair of clippers in her hand. She slapped the back of the chair. “I am waiting, Darren. The chair is open,” she said as she smiled again.

I slowly and cautiously walked into the salon. I looked down one side of the wall and noticed chairs with at least four females seated and caped. They were either being shampooed or being cut. The other side of the wall where Lara stood waiting was larger and there was only one other person in a chair. He was being cut by an older man. Lara stood beside her chair. She turned it around. I walked to the chair and I sat down. Lara turned the chair around so that I was looking into the mirror. I sat back in the high chair and Lara pumped it up slightly.

She flicked out the pink cape and let it drop over my form. “I look like a sissy,” I said as I looked at the pink cape.

“You men drive me crazy. You are supposed to be so macho and here you whine about a pink barber’s cape. Your friend Peter actually likes my pink cape,” Lara said. “Now, you are not going to whine when I pop the switch and touch your neckline, are you, because if you fight me, I will tie you to the chair and buzz you under protest? Now are you going to make trouble for me?”

“Look! I don’t care if you are worth the amount of money Peter spends on you or not. But I still do not believe you are better then old Joe,” I said.

“Think whatever you want but you listen to me,” Lara said as she grabbed my chin and raised it so that I was looking directly into her eyes. “No one leaves my chair without a cut and if you want to be a hard ass, so be it. I can tie you down before you could even get out of my chair. I could also gag you so you will be rendered speechless. You don’t want that. I can assure you. So just co-operate and you will walk out with dignity.” With that she popped the switch on the clippers and she pushed my head down. Her hold was very firm. I surprisingly impressed with how strong she was because I did try to fight but she managed to hold my head down as she buzzed my neck and nape. I did not see hair fall over my back and to the floor but I did feel a cool wind hit the back of my neck as she continued to shear my neck.

From there she moved over and started shearing the right side of my head, drawing the clippers up to the lowest part of my crown. It took her less then two minutes to move over to the left side and repeat the process. All that was left was my crown. She grabbed my head under my chin and lifted it up. She held it tight as she stood in front of me. “Look up and hold the look!!!!!!!! Here!” she said as she raised my head to where she needed it to be. “Concentrate on me and keep looking at my eyes,” she demanded. With that, she raised the clippers to my hairline; my bangs, and she started zipping my crown. Now I actually saw hair fall down over my shoulders and land in my lap. She had me totally buzzed in four minutes; quick and forceful. It was done.

Before I could react, she had a wet towel over my head and she was rubbing the moisture into my scalp. She took the towel off and draped it over my shoulder. She then rubbed my head with white cream and before I could figure out how far she was actually going, she was scraping my scalp with a straight razor. “Oh god! I am going to be totally bald,” I said.

“Just like Peter. You reacted the same way he did the first time. But he came back a second time and so will you. You will come back in two weeks and I will clean you up and you will pay my price. Just this time I will allow you to pay the price that old Joe would charge just because I am a nice person. But next time, and you will come back, you will pay my regular price,” Lara said. “Do you understand?” She pinched my chin until I whimpered and nodded my head. “Good!!!!! That is what I needed to see.” With that, she grabbed the wet towel and wiped it over my now bald head. “There. You are done.” She undid the cape and pulled it off my torso. It dropped to the floor and she flicked it together and folded it. She draped it over the arm of her chair and she walked to the front of the salon.

Like a lost puppy, I followed her to the desk. She got to the cash register and she keyed in some numbers. I looked at the total. $10.00 for the haircut and $5.00 for the shave. I took out my wallet and took out a $20.00 bill. I gave it to her and she placed it in the register. She took the $5.00 change and she placed it down her smock. I looked with disbelief. “You do want to tip your barber, don’t you, Darren?” she asked as she gave me a business card with the time of my next appointment. I nodded my head. “And you were going to give me a good tip, weren’t you?” Lara asked. Again I nodded my head. “Good boy!” she said.

I turned and walked to the door. “See you in two weeks, Darren,” Lara said as I walked out of the salon, a newly shorn male.

Author: clippedandsnipped Copyright protected © 2005 Copyright legal and registered with international copyright laws ® 2000 JCWP DESIGN SERVICES