HaircuttingStories.com

At any given high school you'll find a number of cliques. Ours was no different in that respect. My girls and I had formed an elite and exclusive group that was to be talked about for years. There were five of us. We had known each other and been best friends since the third grade. Very few arguments or disagreements ever kept us apart for long. We were unshakeable. We were also the envy of every girl in school. We had wealthy parents, good looks, great fashion sense, and attracted the hottest guys. But we also had a secret. We weren't the bimbo cheerleaders you typically think of. We were overachievers. We never talked about our grades outside of the group and we never studied with anyone else. We made our parents swear to keep it quiet, too, because we rather enjoyed the reputation we had. We were always very careful not to get into compromising or dangerous positions with guys, and we always had each others back. But as we were approaching the end of senior year, it was all about to end.

I'm Allison, brunette, 5'6", 115 lbs. I play volleyball in the after school league. Next year I'm going to Stanford for pre-med.

Narissa is valedictorian, although nobody knows it yet. She's African-American, 5'11", and beautiful. She has curly hair to her shoulders. She's going Harvard Business School on a full scholarship.

Mindy is the blonde in our group. She's adorable and kind of shy. She's about my size and height, so we share clothes all the time. She's doing engineering at MIT.

Sun-Hee is Korean born. Her parents moved here when she was 2. We call her Sunny, just 'cause it's easier. She's the shortest, at 5'4", but her personality is larger than life. She always keeps us entertained. She got accepted at UC Berkeley for Poli Sci/Pre-Law.

Angie is the most talented of us. She's going to the Julliard School of Music next year. She reminds me of Nicole Kidman, classy and flawless. She's tall, 5'9", and has long red hair to her waist, and I think it's the hardest for her to keep this bimbo persona.

Regardless, this is who we are, and it's been alot of fun.

At one of our frequent sleepovers we were having a discussion on how to end the year at school. A few random ideas were thrown around, but the best one came from Mindy.

"I say we go out with a bang," she said. "We should shed our image in the most bold, in your face way possible. We should crash the prom."

Of course we were going to prom already. We had our dates lined up. They had asked far in advance. We had all broken up with our boyfriends early in the year because we didn't want anything tying us down to this place and getting in the way of our careers. The guys we were taking to the prom were nothing more than accessories. like a tiara or a pair of earrings. We weren't even planning on riding to the prom with them. We always wanted to come together. The five of us. Like a grand entrance. We were the most popular girls in school and we knew one of us would be prom queen, although we really didn't care, we had already moved on in spirit.

"Of course we have to look good," Mindy continued. "The image isn't just about that, but we can send a message that we no longer care what people think. I say we cut our hair. All of us."

Silence. None of us had ever considered that. We decided to sleep on it.

The following morning the topic was brought up again. "So what do you guys think?" asked Mindy.

"Count me in," said Narissa.

"Me too," I chimed in. "It'll be fun."

Sunny said, "Why not? You only live once."

Only Angie hesitated. She stared down as she fingered her gorgeous locks. "Oh, all right!" she said at last.

There was three weeks until prom, which in turn was two weeks before grad. We had some planning to do. None of us had bought outfits yet. So we started doing what every girl does before prom, looking through dress shops and trying on everything that looks good. We eventually decided to surprise each other with our chosen looks. The day of the event we agreed to meet at our favorite hair salon for our new makeovers. We went early enough so we wouldn't run into any of our classmates.

We were all so curious that we decided to go one at a time so everyone could watch the transformation. Angie volunteered to go first, which surprised me because she seemed so unsure before. I could tell she was nervous. She sat down in the chair and gave her hair a goodbye kiss and took a deep breath. She whispered something to Shauna, the stylist, and received a nod in confirmation. The rest of us watched with bated breath.

She drew a cape over Angie's shoulders and brushed her hair out along its incredible length. Finally she took the scissors from her cabinet in her right hand and with her left hand she gathered Angie's hair in a thich ponytail, which she severed at mid-neck. All five of us could breathe again. Shauna held alot a 24" ponytail of beautiful red hair that no longer graced the shoulders of my friend. She laid it down on the counter and continued to cut and style Angie's newly shorn hair. She worked diligently for the next 20 minutes or so trimming the cut to a finely sculptured bob at chin length. Finally she moved to the front, combing her hair forward onto her face. She cut her bangs at eyebrow length which really made Angie's eyes and cheekbones pop. She looked great. At last she stood up with a smile and thanked Shauna. The new cut really suited her. It was very classy. Her mascara was smeared a little from tears, but now she was happy. The rest of us couldn't wait.

Mindy jumped in the chair next. She also whispered something to Shauna that we couldn't hear. Mindy's hair was to the middle of her back with a slight wave to it. Shauna draped her and brushed her hair out, and grabbing the scissors took a handful of hair on the right side of her head she snipped it off at the level of her ear. My heart was racing. I never thought watching someone cut their hair would be so exciting. The hair was parted on the right side so everything to the right of the part was now short. She continued cutting and tapered her hair leaving her ear completely exposed. She moved toward the back and scissored a similar looking taper all along the back, leaving her neck bare. On the left, however, she gradually began to leave the hair longer and longer until it reached her collar in front, the long hair blending flawlessly with short hair in the back. She moved her attention to the front and cut some very short bangs on the right side and allowed them to elongate as she went more toward the left blending them with the longest lengths. Mindy stood up and modeled her new do. It looked fabulous. We all applauded.

I got up next. "I've been obsessed with 80s fashion lately, so I'm going retro," I said. I told the stylist what I wanted and she sat me down and covered me with the cape. I was a little nervous. I was going pretty short and I knew it would take a while to grow back, but I was excited at the same time. She took the scissors and attacked relentlessly cutting my hair shorter and shorter. A few minutes ago it was past my shoulders; now that was all gone. She took a set of clippers from the desk and fitted a guard on them. She switched them on with a pop. I knew this was coming, but it still made me jump. She dove the clippers into my nape moving them slowly and steady upward. She stopped and repeated the process again and again until she was satisfied with the look. Then she moved to the sides and clippered my hair up from both ears. It was a half-inch guard that she was using. Finally she switched them off and took her scissors out again, cutting at the top until it was an even length and blended with the back and sides. My hair was three inches at most on top. She escorted me to the wash sink and shampooed my hair thoroughly. She dried my hair with a towel and then with a brush and blowdryer proceded to feather the longer lengths of my hair, leaving me with a right sided part. She finished with some mousse and hairspray. At last I was uncovered and stood up admiring my new look. It definitely made me look older, but I loved it. It was so clean and precise looking. I got alot of ooh's and wow's from the group.

Next Sunny took the chair. "I want to do a goth look," she said. She already had black hair, so that didn't need to be changed. Her hair was long too, but not quite as long as Angie's had been. Shauna took the lengths on the top of her head and, lifting them high, severed them to about six inches in length. She repeated this process again and again. Her bangs were cut irregular and long, below her eyes. On the sides the hair was cropped very short over the ears leaving a long sideburn on either side. For the back she cut the overall length to just between her shoulder blades and then began to thin it out with progressively shorter lengths as she went up. She then went crazy with the gel and hairspray. On top, her hair was spiked and draped and really all over the place. It looked very rock chic. I couldn't wait to see her outfit and makeup. She looked great so far.

Finally Narissa got up. "How much of this are we taking?" asked Shauna.

"All of it," Narissa replied. "Shave me."

The four of us gasped, and then giggled. This was unexpected, but we were sure she could pull it off. She sat in the chair and the clippers popped to life gritting their hungry teeth. With no guard on they made short work of her lovely hair. They plowed greedily from forehead to crown, over and over. Then from the nape up. Her head was perfectly shaped. She smiled as the cut began to take shape. Shauna placed a hot towel on her scalp and then spread shaving cream all over. She smiled again as the razor removed the cream and the last of her hair stroke by stroke. A moisturizer was massaged into her skin and she let out a gentle moan. As she reached up to feel her smooth scalp she laughed and squealed. "This is perfect!" she said.

We were five new women. We went out for lunch and laughed and cried about old times and life. After several hours we headed over to Sunny's house to get ready for the prom. We had dropped off our dresses there before we went to the salon. We fought over vanity space as we did our makeup. Angie, Narissa, and Mindy were pretty straightforward in their makeup preparation, but Sunny and I took a little more time. I layered on the blush and eyeshadow to achieve the authentic 80s look. Sunny wore a pale foundation with dark eyeshadow on her upper and lower lids. She put on dark red lipstick to complete the look.

Now for the reveal. Angie came out of Sunny's enormous walk-in closet wearing a floor-length maroon velvet dress that hugged all her curves snugly. It has silver sequins scattered about the bust and a flower clasp at one of the shoulder straps. She looked stunning.

Next was Narissa's turn. Her dress was also floor length, but a shiny pewter color. It had a long slit up the right side to show a little leg. Many cat calls were heard.

Mindy stepped out in a cream colored chiffon number that stopped just above her knees. It was sticky sweet and complimented her personality perfectly. 

My dress I bought from a vintage store on ebay. It was used, but loved and in great condition. It was royal purple, hit just below the knee and had lots of ruffles with puff sleeves and black lace trim around the hem. I thought it looked great with my short haircut. 

We all were excited to see what Sunny had to wear. She had a long black satin A-line skirt with black lace-up boots and a leather corset. She also wore long black gloves. This was a completely different look for her. She was always a closet metalhead and was finally able to get her freak on. She looked hot.

The hour was fast approaching and the limo would be here soon. We were a little nervous about the reactions, but it was too late to back out now. We mustn't let our fans down. We figured one of two things would happen. Either our fame would fade and everyone would lose interest in us or we'd start seeing copycats over the next couple weeks. Either way we didn't care. We were here for ourselves and each other.

We had arranged our big entrance with one of the faculty and she snuck us in through the back entrance while complimenting us on our new looks. We waited backstage until there was a lull in the music. We weren't pretentious enough to annouce our arrival over the PA, but we did want a little attention. We were told our dates were waiting by the punchbowl and that they were informed of our arrival. The band was playing a slow dancing number when all five of us walked out from the side entrance in front of the stage. The music stopped. Jaws were heard hitting the floor, followed by murmuring and gossiping. We were eating it up. Slowly things began to return to normal and we joined our dates. Throughout the night we all received many comments and compliments. Our dates were all happy. Finally it came time to announce the prom king and queen. Much to my surprise it was me and my date. That I never expected, especially with my hair being so short.

Over the next couple weeks it was confirmed that we were a hit, as short haircuts were popping up all over campus. There were even several copycat headshaves among the junior girls. I continued to feather my hair and wear 80s clothes to class everyday and Sunny continued to dress EMO/goth. The other girls true personalities slowly began show too. Then grad came and we revealed to everyone how nerdy we really were. Narissa gave an eloquent valedictorian speech and annouced where the five of us were going. Everyone was shocked. Angie played a beautiful piece on her cello which no one knew she even played. It was a great day. It's sad that in a few short months we'll be separating, but thanks to telephone and internet and vacations it'll never be the end.

Rate this story now.
5- Excellent 4- Very good 3- Good 2- Needs work 1- Poor  

Enter some comments about this story or see what others have said on the forums.