Jenny’s Pledge (Part 2)
“OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD!” Jackie panted as the clippers dug further into her hairline. I let out a laugh as evil as I could muster, but I couldn’t hide the sheer enjoyment I was having at seeing Jackie’s perfect red hair get peeled away from her head. Her bare scalp was coming more and more into view as the clippers continued their journey to the back of her head, and before long her perfect red mane was off-set by one strip of glowing white scalp. It had I had only taken one pass over Jackie’s head, but as I looked at the massive pile of red hair in her lap I realized that just this one tiny strip of scalp had produced more hair than most people had covering their entire head!
“Be honest, how does it feel?” Janet asked, her own short, spiky blond hair a polar opposite to the waist length hair of Jackie’s hair and my hair… well… now just my hair.
“It feels like… OHMYGOD!” Jackie’s mouth opened in a wide silent O of shock as I moved the clippers to the left and began moving them back into the red forest of Jackie’s hair. With the middle portion of Jackie’s bangs now gone it was much easier to find the front ridge of her hairline. As I plunged the clippers into a new portion of lush red hair a portion of my own thick, golden blond mane swung in front of my face. I brushed it back with a hand as I thought what awaited my own hair in a year, just as two of our friends had already succumbed to the clippers.
There sat my best friend Janet at her vanity, her long baby blond mane shining a brilliant golden hue with a touch of silver in the lights and topped off with her joke tiara. She was laughing with a shot of vodka in her hand, gathered on a Friday night with her three best friends, having a great time, and at first glance things appeared no different than they were after Judy’s night in the light. In fact, tonight for Janet WAS no different than any other night, except for two VERY BIG differences:
The first and most obvious thing was that Janet’s hair was now much longer than it had been on the night of Judy’s shearing. The day after Judy’s big shave we decided to give Janet a chance to cut her hair before her official “Follicle Queen” duties began. We figured her hair was already incredibly long and thick, so if she wanted to cut it back to a reasonable length before she had to begin growing it out we figured that was only fair. Janet took us up on our offer, but to our surprise she decided to only trim an inch off.
“Why only an inch Jan?” I asked her that day I took her to our hair dresser. Janet just smiled as the dresser finished drying and fluffing her hair up, it now looked especially amazing, what I wouldn’t give for hair like that (I had no idea that soon I would get what I wanted).
“Well, I figured that my days with it are numbered, so why not enjoy it?” And she plunged her hands into her silky, thick mane. And enjoy it she did, we all watched with excitement as Janet’s amazing mane crept down past her hips and past her butt, and now fell softly to her thighs in a glorious waterfall of platinum blonde shining silk. To top things off, the expensive regular shampoo and deep conditioning treatments we paid for made her hair even softer and silkier. When her hair was down it was common for strangers to walk up to her and ask if they could touch her hair, and although it was glamorous and amazing it had taken quite a bit of time to grow to this length.
And that brought us to our second big difference, not how long it had taken for her to grow her hair that long, but actually how long she had left with her hair. While it glistened and shined beautifully in the lights like the most perfect hair in the world should, at that particular moment it had less than two minutes left on her head. That’s right, it had been 365 days, 2 hours, and 7 minutes since Judy’s curly sacrifice, and tonight was going to be even more of an event with Janet’s massive mane about to hit the floor. Janet wanted the shave to begin at exactly 9:58 PM because she had found out that was when Jennifer was born and figured this would be a good way to honor her. A digital stop watch was now running on her vanity, the red numbers slowly ticking down the time left until her beautiful mane came to an end.
“Janet pleeeeease don’t do this.” Jackie pleaded as she ran her fingers through Janet’s waterfall of silky, shining locks one last time, “there has to be another way of honoring Jen without ruining your hair! Just take a minute and think about this.” Jackie had become increasingly hysterical as the minutes ticked away on the digital clock, it now read that Janet had one minute and thirty-seven seconds left before she was going to begin the shave. Jackie had always had an obsession with Janet’s hair that nearly bordered on fetishism, she always seemed to be playing with it, loved putting it into styles, and even now I thought I saw a tear beginning to form in her eye as the clock brought Janet’s hair closer and closer to its destruction. In face Jackie seemed to be taking Janet’s impending shave much harder than Janet herself.
“Jackie, no, I’ve been ready to do this for a while now and I’m just glad it’s finally here.” Janet downed her shot, then continued to brush out her magnificent mane so that it looked clean and smooth for its final moments, but the point was moot. Hanging over the back of her chair her hair still touched the floor, not showing a hint of damage or split ends or even thinning at all at the bottom of the strands. It was nothing short of miraculous hair, and even I was growing a little sad at the idea of destroying it.
“But what if we do something else instead?” Jackie continued to plead. She only grown her hair two more inches since Judy’s shave, but had cut thick bangs into it which completely covered her forehead, and the extra care she had begun giving her hair had made its condition much thicker and healthier than I had ever seen it before. “Listen Janet, what if instead of your hair, Jessica and I shave our heads instead?” she asked wearing a smile.
“Wait what?” I asked, genuinely shocked that I had just been volunteered against my will to shave my head early. “Don’t drag me into this Jackie!” I nearly shouted as I reached up and touched my silky ponytail.
I had been growing my own hair out since Judy’s shave and taking great care of it as well since it now had a time limit, and it now hung to below my shoulder blades in a poker straight fall of thick golden brown silk. Having never had long hair before in my life I was shocked to discover how beautiful my hair really was when it was long, and now I was excited to see what it looked like really long, like maybe to my butt oreven longer. My long hair looked so nice that even Janet had even told me (in secret of course) that it looked better than her own hair had looked when it was at this length. I had originally begun growing it out to see how much hair I could expect to have the night of my shave, and while I had originally planned on cutting it back to my chin length style the day after Janet’s shave I found that I was actually beginning to grow fond of my impressive locks. So I had changed my mind, deciding instead that I would continue growing out my mane for the day of my shave. Now here was Jackie trying to guilt me into getting rid of my hair early to save Janet’s hair? On a whim? No frekain’ way!
“Oh come on Jess, shave your hair and Janet will get to keep this! How can you think of shaving THIS?!?” Jackie said as she held up two massive fistfuls of Janet’s silvery locks. Janet’s hair was so long that her satiny locks spilled down the back of the chair and not only touched the ground, but piled on the floor
in a pool of beautifully shining living silk.
in a pool of beautifully shining living silk.
“One minute!” Judy announced the countdown as she began to open the box containing the clippers. She had grown out her hair as well after the shave, but in no particular hurry to do so. Now her black curls hung down to her chin, “If you’re going to do this, we have to agree on it quickly.” Judy continued with a hint of sarcastic humor in her voice. She was clearly enjoying the sight of Jackie go to pieces over Janet’s hair.
“Jackie stop it!” Janet said sternly but calmly as she took off her tiara and places it on the vanity, “This is my decision, and I’m doing this for Jennifer.”
“But Janet, your hair!” was all Jackie replied.
“I’ll still have it, besides pretty soon it looks like Jessica will pass me up anyways in the hair department, and I don’t mean because mine will be gone.” Janet winked over at me and I smiled back.
Jackie seemed irritated, but sighed and picked the brush out of Janet’s hands to begin brushing it out for the final time.
“Forty-five seconds.” Judy said, she fired up the clippers to make sure they worked then turned them off, “you ready for this beautiful?”
“I have no idea!” Janet laughed, but she never even began any sort of protest, even as she reached her hand back and slid her fingers through her hair for the last time.
“Any last words hun?” I asked with a smile.
“Not really, but I’d love it if you guys ran your fingers through my hair one last time to commit to memory, I’m going to miss that feeling.”
Jackie was more than happy to oblige, putting down the brush now that her hair fell in a perfect smooth mass. Judy and I joined in, running our fingers through the lush, silky mane before the end began. It took almost ten whole seconds for me to run my fingers through all that hair from crown to tips, and as her mane slipped through my fingers for the final time I turned to see Jackie now holding the clippers with a determined look.
“Twenty seconds. Remember Jackie, just like we practiced.”
“Gotcha.” Jackie replied, and turned the clippers on with their customary SNAP hmmmmmmmmm… then she turned them off as she went back to running her fingers through Janet’s silvery golden mane, a motion she would continue to do until the last hair fell from her head.
“Last chance hun.” Jackie said as she put the clippers on Janet’s forehead.
“Not a chance at all actually,” Janet replied with a smile, “remember, I want those clippers biting away at my hair the SECOND that counter reads zero, OK?”
“I’ll try.” Jackie said with a smile.
“5…” Judy and I counted out loud, Jessica closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she tilted her head slightly back.
“4…” Jackie snapped the clippers on again and Janet jumped a little at the sound, a reaction that her, Jackie, and myself would all experience the day of our shavings. Her eyes opened wide for a second and her beautiful mane shined brilliantly as it swung slightly with the movement. That was the last memory I ever had of her hair.
“3…” Janet laughed a little at her own reaction, then closed her eyes again in anticipation of the clippers.
“2…” with a sigh of sadness Jackie placed the clippers back on Janet’s left temple, about two inches in front of Janet’s thick hairline. At the same time I heard Janet utter a low hum of nervousness and saw a small smile spread across her face.
“1…” Jackie slowly began to pull the clippers back towards Janet’s hairline as Janet’s hum began to increase in volume and her smile spread.
“ZERO!” Judy and I yelled. Jackie’s hand hesitated for the briefest of moments just before the clippers touched Janet’s hairline, and for a second I thought that it was going to be myself that shaved Janet that night. But then with a deep breath I saw Jackie’s hand continue back, followed by the horrible and unmistakable sound of the clippers plunging into Janet’s doomed hairline.
Janet’s hum became a low whine as the clippers ate away at the hair on her temple with horrifying efficiency, and she shut her eyes even harder as her smile opened up to expose her white teeth. The clippers slid slowly back over her ear, utterly destroying the most beautiful hair I had ever seen two inches at a time. As Janet’s hair was quickly separated from her head we all laughed in enjoyment, except for Jackie, who quietly grabbed the newly separated hair and placed it in Janet’s lap.
“Oh… my…. GOD.” Janet said as Jackie placed the clippers on her right temple and slowly pulled them back through the lush jungle of her hair for a second time. Suddenly Janet broke out laughing, but as we continued our laughter I saw a tear forming in her eye so I handed her a tissue. She was clearly enjoying this like I expected her to, but it was also hard for her as well as her tears were telling us. Jackie finished her second pass, piling another massive mound of hair in Janet’s lap. When we were finished we planned on gathering it into a ponytail for our donation just like we had done with Judy’s hair.
“OK OK, let me see something.” Janet said. Jackie turned off the clippers as Janet pulled her hair forward so that it swung down to cover the damage. It was amazing, but to the naked eye her thick hair completely hid her shaved temples. “Alright, ready for more.” she said laughingly, and Jackie snapped the clippers back on with just a slight smile beginning to blossom on her face for the first time. Apparently done with subtlety Jackie now placed the clippers on Janet’s forehead, and as Janet smiled broadly again she pulled them back straight into the heart of her glorious mane.
This time the clippers almost slowed to a halt as they began to nibble away at the thick hair on Janet’s forehead, but as the first hairs were separated I heard them pick their speed back up and continue the massacre of Janet’s formerly perfect locks. A slow steady swipe later and now Janet was sporting the reverse Mohawk that Judy had made tradition exactly one year ago. As Jackie took another swipe down Janet’s rapidly vanishing mane I took another moment to take in the strange scene unfolding in front of me.
One of my best friends was shaving the head of my other best friend, making her the second of our pact to succumb to the clippers. Exactly one year from now I would be shaving Jackie, who although she had a lovely head of hair (which would grow significantly longer over the next year) had never really cared that much about her locks, opting instead to dote over Janet’s mane at every given opportunity. Even now at the end of Janet’s reign as our official Follicle Queen Jackie’s hand was continuing to stroke Janet’s remaining hair as it continued to dwindle away, but I had a feeling Jackie would be fine on the day of her reaping.
It was now me that I was worried about. Formerly the girl in the group who cared the least about her hair, I had now grown quite attached to it as it had grown into the silky, long mane I now possessed. I had no intention of cutting it back to my chin like I had originally planned, but if this was how I felt about my hair when it was hanging just below my shoulder blades, how hard would it be to separate with it as it grew past the small of my back? Or my waist? Or heck, maybe even my thighs like Janet?
But at that moment I was two years away from facing that horrible dilemma,
so I reached up and gratefully stroked my silky ponytail as Jackie placed the clippers in front of the last strip of Janet’s hair. With a slow flick of the wrist, the last of Janet’s perfect mane was severed from her head and floated down to meet the rest of her mane in her lap.
so I reached up and gratefully stroked my silky ponytail as Jackie placed the clippers in front of the last strip of Janet’s hair. With a slow flick of the wrist, the last of Janet’s perfect mane was severed from her head and floated down to meet the rest of her mane in her lap.
“Wow… just… wow!” was all Janet could say as she stood up from her chair and looked in a mirror at her new stubble covered head. We all walked over to her and took turns rubbing her newly shorn head, and when it was my turn to rub her head I felt a wave of fear rush over me. Was this what my head would feel like after my day in the chair? My soft, silky locks replaced by nearly invisible 0 razor stubble that felt like course Velcro? I forced myself not to think about it.
“Do you like it?” Jackie asked.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I LOVE it! It feels so… new!” Janet replied. She shook her head from side to side, clearly reveling in the absence of her princess-like hair that had covered her head most her life. To me it didn’t look natural without her amazing hair swishing around her head.
“You’re not going to keep it that way, are you?” Jackie asked not so delicately, clearly the idea of not being able to play with Janet’s long locks was giving her anxiety.
“I don’t know, we’ll have to see.” Janet replied, “But right now I think we have another issue of business to attend to. Jackie, I now declare you the… drum roll please…” and with that she walked over to Jackie and placed the tiara on her strawberry blond locks. “The new Follicle Queen!” we all applauded this declaration despite Jackie’s hilariously over the top look of joking contempt.
“So one year right?” Jackie asked, “I grow my hair out for one year exactly now?”
“Yup, one year.” Janet replied with a smirk.
“Alright, I can do that.” Jackie looked at me with a smile. “How about a wager?” she asked.
“I dunno, what kind of wager?” I asked, I could tell she was up to no good, but she had me interested none the less.
“Our hair is about the same length right now, right?”
“Yeah, so?”
“How about we see who can grow our hair the fastest in the next year?”
“What’s the wager?” I asked.
“I don’t know, a hundred bucks?” I was afraid she was going to ask me to shave my head early if I lost, but this seemed much better.
“OK, a hundred bucks.” We shook on it, and a year later…
To be continued…
