It was Christmas Eve, for most hairdressers it was the busiest day of the year and even if everything went well it usually left all salon workers exhausted. Today in John’s small salon everything had seemed to go wrong. The water heater had played up which had meant customers had to wait to be shampooed which of course, in turn led to a pile up of appointments and irritable customers. In addition the laundry had let him down with the quantity of towels they had supplied and so one of the assistants then had to attempt to dry some of the used ones instead of helping in the salon.

By 6 o’clock he was feeling very tired and irritable but relieved that the day was nearly over. He had caught up with the backlog and now only had one elderly customer remaining in the salon who was sitting under a dryer and would be ready to brush out in a few minutes. He had allowed his staff of 3 to leave a few minutes earlier and he took a deep breath as he went to the reception desk, thinking longingly of a hot shower and then a good meal with a bottle of wine. He glanced at the appointment book and saw that there was one name at the end of his list that wasn’t crossed off. He was annoyed that an extra appointment for a wash and dry had been fitted without any of his staff asking him, for he recalled that Mrs. Court, the lady under the dryer had been his last booking of the day.

The appointment had been made for 5.30 for a Miss Cornwell, not even a regular customer, as he didn’t recognise the name. . He mentally shrugged; it didn’t really matter anyway as it appeared as though she was not going to turn up, and even if she did, he was certainly not doing the hair of someone who was at least 30 minutes late for an appointment on Christmas Eve. His feet were throbbing and he was really hungry as he had not had time today for even a sandwich and although he always tried very hard never to turn down appointments, this time would be the exception. Suddenly the door opened and a tall slim woman entered looking very flustered, and said hesitantly, “Oh I am terribly sorry, I am very late for my appointment, can you still do my hair?”

His stomach gave a lurch of excitement as he saw how attractive she was, about his age with a lovely face and wonderful silky dark blonde hair that reached just over her shoulders. All his previous thoughts about turning down the appointment immediately disappeared, as he could not possibly resist the opportunity of handling such beautiful hair, and he smiled at her and said,” That’s alright, just sit over there for a few minutes, I just have to brush out this lady’s hair and then I will be with you.” She smiled at him gratefully and said, “Oh, thank you. I was really worried you wouldn’t be able to do my hair for me. The traffic was awful; I never thought I was going to get here before you closed. My mother, Mrs Clark, booked the appointment for me this afternoon when she knew I was coming down to stay with her. I am sorry it was at such short notice, especially on Christmas Eve.”

John realised now why one of the girls had booked the extra appointment as Mrs. Clark was a very good regular customer and it had been sensible to put the extra appointment in for her daughter. He smiled at the lovely girl and said, “You must be Susan then. She often talks about you.” The girl nodded and took the seat he had indicated, and a wave of expensive perfume wafted over him as she passed him. He took Mrs. Court from the dryer and rapidly brushed out her hair and his mind was full of the lovely woman who was sitting behind him. A few minutes later he had taken Susan’s coat and ushered her into one of the chairs and as he fastened a large cape around her he said, “I will just look at your hair before I shampoo it.”

He touched the lovely heavy silken hair for the first time as he lifted it clear of her neck and fastened the cape. His fingers thrilled to the cool smooth feel of her hair and then he released it and allowed it to fall back around her face and shoulders. He picked up a brush and began drawing it slowly through the lovely hair and she smiled at him and gave a little sigh. “Oh I feel I can relax for the first time today. I only got back from abroad this morning and decided to give my mother a surprise and spend Christmas with her so it has been all rush.” He continued to draw the brush slowly through her hair enjoying every moment of it and was delighted when she murmured, “Oh you handle hair very well. I was desperate to get my hair done for Christmas but usually have it done in London. I knew I didn’t have time to have it done up there so I was just a little bit worried about how good a local salon would be but my mother has always said what a very good hairdresser you are.” She hesitated and then said, “I know I am only booked for a wash and blow-dry but do you have time to cut my hair as well?”

Once again John felt his stomach lurch. Oh how wonderful! Cutting hair was his greatest passion and this hair was magnificent and would be so exciting to cut. “Of course,” he responded eagerly,” What exactly would you like done?” She brought a hand out from under the cape and swept back the heavy hair from her face and then stared at her reflection in the mirror. “Oh I don’t know really. I have been letting it grow for quite a while but…….” She tailed off and paused for a few moments and then said firmly, “Give me a new style, something shorter. I will leave it to you.” He almost gasped with surprise as he had expected her to ask for just a trim but now to be given the option to decide what should be done with this wonderful hair was almost unbelievable. Christmas Eve was going to be a good day after all!

He brushed her hair a little more vigorously now and said, “That’s great. You have super hair and I know the perfect style for you.” She gave him an encouraging smile and said,” Let’s go for it then!” He was feeling very aroused because he had not had the opportunity for some time to cut off a lot of hair and now he had been given licence to decide what to do himself, he knew he was going to cut this lovely hair very short indeed. He had already noted that she had a very well shaped hairline at the back of her head and quite small ears that meant that the hair in both those areas could be cut her hair really short and it would look good. In addition, she had finely shaped features and large eyes, which would be emphasised with a short haircut.

He put down the brush and picked up a spray bottle and began soaking her hair with water as it had obviously been recently shampooed. He wanted to cut most of the shape now and then shampoo and blow-dry her hair afterwards before any final shaping. He combed the damp hair sleekly back from her face and then made a central parting right from the front of her head to the nape. Then he made a horizontal parting across her head from ear to ear, the front hair was then fastened up out of the way with some large clips and then he sectioned off the last half inch of hair at the nape of her neck, securing the hair above it again out of the way with clips. Now all was ready for him to commence cutting and he reached forward and picked up his scissors and comb.

He stood behind her and said, “Bend your head right down please.” She flashed him a little smile and then compliantly bowed her head so that her chin was touching her chest. He combed down the layer of hair he had sectioned off and inverted the comb so that it was underneath the hair and he was able to lift it slightly away from her neck. Then with a great feeling of exultation, he brought up the scissors so that they were resting agai
nst the comb and delicately snipped through the hair. The strands of hair, which were about 5 inches long, dropped gently away from the snipping blades and rolled down over the cape to fall at his feet. Because the comb had been resting against her skin as he had cut, the length of the hair remaining was very very short, just the thickness of the comb. Deftly he sectioned off another half-inch layer of hair and rapidly the damp locks tumbled down to join those already on the floor.

Using the same method he removed the hair until he reached the bulge of the occipital bone. Once he reached that level, he didn’t cut the hair quite so close so it would not stick out and then he wanted it to blend it in with the crown hair that he intended to leave much longer. He reworked the same area using a slimmer comb so that he was able to cut the nape hair even closer. He preferred using this method to using clippers for although the result was similar; he felt there was more control with the scissors. During the whole of the time he had taken to get to this stage Susan had made no comment and had kept her head perfectly still. Probably at the beginning of the cut she would have been unaware exactly how much he was cutting off, but later, as she would have felt the comb against her head as he worked up from the nape, she would have realised that her hair was being cut very short at the back. As he now moved to the side and lifted her head straight, he felt under his feet the great mounds of hair, which he had already cut off and was looking forward to removing a very great deal more.

As he straightened her head she looked at herself in the mirror and then turned her head from side to side. “Oh my god!” she said in a shocked voice, “You are cutting it very short. Are you sure it is going to look alright?” He gave her a smile and said, “Of course, don’t worry.” He positioned her head and then sectioned off a lock of hair in front of her ear and then pinned the rest out of the way. She watched closely as he brought the scissors up and gave a sharp intake of breath as cut through the hair at the roots and the 6 inch lock of hair tumbled down past her face and then rolled down over the cape to the floor. She gave him an imploring look as he quickly sectioned off another lock over her ear and then gave another gasp as she saw where he inserted the blades and snipped through her hair. “Oh please leave me some hair,” she gasped, as the long heavy lock of hair came away from her head. He smiled again at her and said, “I will be leaving the top hair quite long. Your ears are a perfect shape so I am cutting the hair shorter at the sides, it will look stunning.” She gave a little groan and said, “Oh I do hope you are right.”

He cut several more long locks of hair from around her ear and then using the scissor over comb method, he cut the hair really close to her head. He spent a long time ensuring the hair was perfectly shaped and he could see her watching very closely as he cropped her hair but she made no further comment. He moved to the other side and again she looked stunned and a little upset as the locks of hair tumbled down from his snipping blades. Now he released the remaining long hair that had been pinned up and it tumbled down to her shoulders concealing the short hair underneath which he had cut. He now made a side parting and began work on the hair on the narrow side. He proceeded to cut this hair level with the top of her ear, and her eyes widened and she looked shocked as the hair tumbled down on to her shoulders and then to join the mass already lying on the floor. He blended in the crown hair and was delighted with the way the hair was falling in to a superb shape although Susan still looked a little upset as large chunks of her hair were chopped off.

Now he moved over to the other side and combed the long hair down to partially cover her face, and then section by section, he reduced it to ear level. He was enjoying immensely the creation of this hairstyle although from her expression it was obvious that Susan was not very happy at seeing her hair cut so short. The smooth sweep of her hair, partly covering her forehead was a stunning contrast to the very short side and nape hair and he was now satisfied with the shape. He would now shampoo and blow-dry it and any final cleaning up of the shape would be done. He put down his comb and scissors and said to her, “ Will you come over to the basin now and I will shampoo your hair.”

She looked relieved that he had now finished his cutting and stood up from the chair and clouds of hair dropped down from the cape as she moved, to join the great piles of soft blonde hair lying all around the chair. She looked down at them for a moment and then brought her hand up and touched her cropped nape. “Oh it’s so short,” she said crossly, “I never expected you to cut my hair so short.” He gave a little shrug and said, “I think short hair suits you very well and you did say that you would leave the choice of style to me.” She fingered the short-cropped nape again and said, “Well I suppose I will have to get used to it.” He led her to the basin and proceeded to shampoo her short hair and he hoped she would be a little more pleased with her hair when he had dried it. He found her very attractive and intended to ask her if she would join him for dinner that evening and after that who knows. He would find it very exciting to take her to bed and fondle that beautiful cropped nape whilst making love. That really would make it a perfect Christmas Eve and compensate for the awful day it had been up until 6 o’clock and her arrival in the salon.

After a long shampoo, he used cream conditioner on her hair and then took her back to the main salon. He spent a long time drying her hair and then just tidied any stray ends and was pleased she was looking just a little happier as she stared at her reflection in the mirror. As he finally put down his brush after a final flick through the lovely hair, he felt that he had never done a better cut. He decided that he would show her back view and then ask her if she would go out with him that evening. She studied herself carefully and then gave a little smile and said, “It looks good. Thank you, it is much shorter than I would have liked, but at least my partner will be happy. She has wanted me to have my hair cut short for ages”

He felt as though he had been kicked in the stomach and she smiled at his shocked expression, “Didn’t my mother tell you that I am gay then?” He was so disappointed that his dream for the evening had been shattered and he muttered, “No” “My partner came down with me and is staying at my mother’s. I think I will persuade her to come to you next week and you can crop her as well. You should enjoy that,” she added knowingly. “Her hair is halfway down her back and you obviously get a lot of pleasure from cutting lots of hair off.”

A few minutes later he was on his own sweeping up the piles of hair from which he had got so much pleasure as he had cut it off. His tiredness had returned and he was still very disappointed and a little upset with the fact his fantasy for that evening would not be fulfilled. At least, he had had a very exciting time cutting off all that hair and creating a result of which he was proud, and as some consolation when he reopened the salon he may have a long haired girl waiting for him to crop. Perhaps Christmas Eve had been a good day after all!

The End