I found myself getting my haircut pretty regularly after my experience at the salon to keep it at its current length, just above my shoulders. There was no feeling that came close to watching my hair fall away as I sat helpless beneath the cape. I did buy clippers, which I convinced my boyfriend we needed after he decided to start shaving his head since he was going bald anyway.

I still didn’t like the way hair my looked though. It was too thick around my face, so I continued to wear it in a ponytail. “Maybe I’ll just shave my own head!” I told him, thinking of those women’s whose pictures I’d seen on the internet having their heads shaved. They always looked so pleased, so confident with their bald heads. He was horrified “No way! I don’t think I’d like that!” However, he was gracious enough to assist me with the buzzing of my nape though, every few weeks.

After my relationship with him came to an end, I decided that I should get a new start, and a new haircut. I found a salon that looked cool and made an appointment. The stylist sat me down in the chair at her station and asked what I was looking for. I told her I had had it at this length for about a year and half now, and was looking for something shorter, that would look not too thick and full when I wore it down. “I understand your problem, my hair is the same thick, curly mess as yours!” Currently, her hair was long white dreadlocked hair extensions though. A good look for her, but not exactly what I was looking for. She explained to me what she had in mind to fulfill my wishes: just to the middle of my ears in the back with slightly longer whispy pieces in the front framing my face. She ran her fingers through my hair and noticed my shorter nape, which hadn’t been buzzed in a few months. “Let’s go ahead and take care of this before I shampoo you,” she told me and wrapped a cape around my neck. She then clipped the long hair up on top of my head.

“I’m going to take it a little higher,” she said, “and use a #1 guard,” I knew that this was going to be shorter than I was used to, and got excited at that thought. She snapped he clippers to life and plunged them through the shaggy growth. Damn ,it felt good after so much time. “Okay, now it’s time to shampoo,” she announced.

She wrapped a towel over my shoulders, still wearing the cape, and led me to the shampoo bowl. I leaned back in the chair, feeling a little trepidation, as this wasn’t a sensation I had felt recently. The discount walk in place I had been patronizing never washed my hair first. She turned the water on and it ran through my hair, very warm. she pumped out some minty smelling shampoo and worked it through my thick curly hair, massaging my scalp. I really enjoyed the feeling of that. The warm suds were rinsed out of my hair, and my scalp got another massage as she worked the conditioner through. I was so relaxed I barely could get up when she was done.

I sat back down in her chair and she snipped away the thick curls with her scissors. Slowly, my cheeks were visible as cut the front. “This buzzed part in the back is going to show a bit if we go as short as we discussed,” she warned me, and I said that was fine. I wanted that sexy slip of nape to show underneath my thick blonde curls back there, just to tease. My hair was going to be too short to wear it up for a while so anyone who wanted to know what it looked like back their would have to do the work themselves. “thick hair like this is such a pain, isn’t it?” the stylist asked me. “Yeah,” I replied, “I’ve always wanted to just cut it really short, just so I don’t have to worry about it. I really hate my hair,” I confided. “Why don’t you go shorter?” she asked. “I guess I’m just too scared.” She didn’t attempt to persuade me, and went along with the agreed upon cut.

I was pleased with the work she had done, it wasn’t her fault I was too afraid to ask for what I really wanted. My thick mop was somewhat shaped in into a bob, longer in the front and tapering up to the back with my clipped nape peeking out from underneath, just slightly. At its longest, I guess it was about six inches. The longer pieces in the front delicately brushed against my cheeks. It was nice…for now.