Prelude

He saw her across the dimly light bar. She was a waitress with the longest, shiniest red hair he had ever seen! He felt the familiar urge begin. Not the ordinary kind of urge that men get when they see a beautiful woman, but the kind that a few men and women get, the urge to shave all that hair off! He hesitated for a minute, then decided "what the H—" all she could do would be to say "Kiss off" or something.

He got off his bar stool and walked over to where she stood, waiting for her drink order to be processed. "Excuse me" he heard himself say. "Yes, did you order a drink?"." No", he replied "but I would like to give you my card." She looked at him with a puzzled look on her face. "I’m a hair fanatic, some would call me a barber, but that intimidates people. He continued, "If you ever think about cutting your hair, let me know. I also work with Locks of Love, you have heard of donating hair to them? To chemo sufferers. Yours would make at least two people feel so much better."

She relaxed somewhat thinking he might not be such a jerk after all, when he mentioned Locks of Love, she remembered a friend who had a wig from them. She thanked him for the card and said "I will think about it". "Great" he said. then added, "keep in touch".

She smiled to herself, went about her job and life. She kept thinking of the card and her hair. It was like he had started her brain thinking short….hmm…..One day, about three months later, she called him. "Remember me? The one with the long red hair?" "How could I forget?" he replied. "Do you want to talk about a cut?"

"No, she replied I just want it done. You started me thinking about it and now I have to do it!" Oh, my GOD he thought – what luck! His anticipation was driving him crazy. "Ok, before you finally decide, I want to give you an option." "What’s that?" she asked. "Well, if you don’t mind, I shoot videos of the haircuts I give, sell them and give my models 10% of the profits". "I also pay the models $100.00 for doing this think about it and get back to me."

"Wow," she thought, people must be weird to buy videos of haircuts, but what the heck, it grows back and I’d get paid for it! Hmmm. "Ok" she said. "Where, when and how much hair would come off?" "In my studio, you tell me when, and all of it. In stages, ending up with a complete shave". "A complete shave?" she sounded horrified. "Yep, I get more money for the shaved videos". "Oh, well, I could use the money and it grows back and it’s for a good cause. OK, before I loose my nerve, tomorrow is my day off, say around 7PM?" "Great", he still couldn’t believe his luck and started planning all the ways he would "do" her hair. "Meet me at the Salon der Vue it’s on Oak Street, you can park in the back, come in the front and I will meet you".

The Event

Salon der Vue, located in a small shopping plaza, with two other stores was in all purposes a beauty salon with a one station barber chair in the back. There was a room off to the side, which also contained a Barber chair – the old fashioned red leather one, a rack with clippers arranged with their various attachments, a small shelf which contained combs in the sanitizing liquid, powder, neck tape and the capes. The video equipment was kept hidden from view, cameras in the ceiling and every good angle to the chair. It was a sophisticated set up – he made lots off of the videos.

She appeared promptly at 7. She looked nervous, like a deer caught in the head lights. "Relax, I poured some wine", he said "Once I start I can stop at various stages, you won’t earn as much from the video, but it’s an option for you. I have a contract for you to sign, it stipulates my agreement to pay you 10% of the sales of the tapes. Look it over and if you agree, sign it and we will begin."

She looked it over, it read like a standard agreement. She liked him, and more she trusted him, not sure why, but she did. Maybe because he was not aggressive with her. She signed it, handed it to him, downed the wine in one swallow and said "let’s go!". "Ok, follow me to the washing station, your hair needs to be clean and soft for the locks of love people"

He ran water, got it nice and warm, shampooed, massaged her head, added conditioner. He blew her hair at the station inside the room. He had turned the video cameras on, put them on pause while he washed and dried the her hair. When he was finished, he told her how much he had enjoyed washing her hair and added yes, it will make two women more able to deal with the chemo. She smiled and told him about her friend who had a wig from them and said that was one of the reasons she had decided to do the shave. The other reason was she was really curious and had always wanted to see what it would look like. "Every woman should shave their head at least once" he told her. Yes, she agreed.

He then proceeded to tell her how he would cut the hair. "I want to do it in stages, the video would make more money for you that way. I will section it off in pony tails, cut them off, create a style from the results. Then I will invert a very short bob cut, then we will work our way to the clippers, going slowly down to the full shave. I want you to relax and enjoy the process."

He pushed the button to start recording. He gathered his comb and clips and sectioned off her hair. He put the sections in elastics that were placed very close to her head. When he had sectioned all the hair, he proceeded to scissor the sections off. She sat and stared wide eyed, watching him work. Schnicccckkkk the scissors worked on the first section, she felt the pull, then freedom from the pull. She looked up and saw what she had never seen before, her scalp and her ears! There was no hair there! She smiled. He noticed, and kept going. After each section had been cut, he placed in carefully into plastic bags. She closed her eyes, trusting his skill. When he was done with the initial cuts, he told her to look.

"Wow is that me?" A woman with short, close cropped hair smiled back at her. "I can see my features, this is neat." "I’m glad you like it" He said. You really look hot!" "Now, I’m going to do the bob and I will use the clippers on the back of your head and some of the sides. It will be very close to the shave thing so you will get a peak at that" "Ok, let’s go again and some more wine??" "Here you go" he handed her a glass.

He reached for his Oster’s, put a #2 on, clicked it to life. She heard the buzz, jumped a little, he pushed her down in the chair and pushed her head forward. He let the clippers vibrate on her neck for a minute. She felt the blades, the cold and the then the vibration, she relaxed and was astonished to find she was enjoying the feeling. He pushed the clippers up her head to the crown. He was actually doing an all over buzz, but had told her bob to get her comfortable. It had worked. He worked around the sides buzzing to the top of her ears. Her hair was now #2 all the way around. Some of the hair on top were longer, he would deal with them next.

She was enjoying the feeling of the clippers, and watched her hair fall into her lap was a sight she had thought about. She was also enjoying the feeling of the hair dropping to the floor as it rolled off her back, sort of like rain, she thought.

"You can look if you dare!" She opened her eyes, she was shocked, but then a smile overtook her when she ran her hand over what was left of her hair. "It feels soft, I never expected it to be soft". "I can stop now, I would just have to even the top." he offered. "No, let’s keep going" "Great". He popped the #1 onto the clippers and started going straight down the middle of her head. "Oh my G–", she was stunned. "It’s too late now" "No, that’s not it – I LOVE IT! Keep going, please!"

He smiled, continuing the shearing. He put the Oster down, picked up his bald fader and started on her sides and back, he put the 00000 on and buzzed the back and sides for the last time. He then oiled the skin where he had just shaved, it gleamed. He took a comb and stood the top of her hair up and picked up the Oster again, with no guard on, he carefully clippered out a landing strip. He stopped and they both smiled at each other. "You ready to go all the way?" he asked.

"HMMMM, don’t stop" she replied. He picked up his bald fader again and went over and over her head. She moaned louder with each pass. When he was satisfied with the results, he turned the lather machine on. He placed a warm towel on her head, then the white foam, picked up his straight edge and began the shave. She really loved the feel of the razor as much as the clipper. She moaned again and again.

"All set", he told her.

Epilogue to follow.