Sheryl was trying to make it though her first year in college. Things weren’t going too well for her. She needed to make some changes.

She was getting enough scholarships and financial backing from her parents. But they gave her a small `allowance’ and she was having a tough time adjusting to that. She had to basically use it to buy food and some basics. She couldn’t afford the newest fashions, so she often dressed very plainly. She wore her hair in a very plain vanilla fashion, bangs cut across the eyebrows and hanging down past her shoulders in the back.

Now, she had tried to hold a few jobs, the most success she had was at the college bookstore. But she tended to put schoolwork first, and that affected her availability. Eventually her manager pulled her aside. “Sheryl,” she said, sternly, “you hours are too fluctuating for me to keep scheduling. I’ll give you a choice, you can give me a set schedule, or we can part ways as a resignation.”

“You’re firing me?” spluttered Sheryl.

The manager shook her head. “You and us went our separate ways. Don’t think of it as being fired. If your schedule was more flexible, we could work on it. As it is, some weeks you only work about 3 hours, some it’s almost 20. It’s too variable. I need more steady schedules.”

“I can’t help my schoolwork,” Sheryl stammered.

The manager seemed genuinely contrite. “I’m sorry, Sheryl. I need a steadier schedule to keep you on.”

Sheryl left, fuming inside and puzzled. How could they let her go? Just because she didn’t keep regular hours? She would show them. Who needed that stupid job anyway?

Anyway, after Christmas break she became acutely aware that money was an issue. She wasn’t making enough to survive. Her roommate came from a rich, snobby background; she always dressed in the latest fashions and was going out to parties. But she wouldn’t part with a dime to Sheryl. She would look at her disdainfully, and then make some sort of scoffing noise. She almost always wore her shortish brown hair in a pair of ponytails. Boys seemed to have a thing for her, whereas when Sheryl walked into the room, it was like there was a light switch turned off.

Boys tended to ignore her almost universally. Sheryl didn’t worry a lot about it. She had schoolwork to worry about and of course, the hunt for a new job to help makes end meet.

Sheryl looked in the school’s paper and hunted about for job offers. She got the OK for one job in a hardware store, but when they said she would have to start at 5 AM, she declined. The hunt continued.

One Saturday, as she was walking downtown looking in shop windows at things she couldn’t buy, or else for help wanted signs, she came across what appeared to be a hair salon. She would have kept walking, but there was a help wanted sign on the window, no haircutting experience needed. She took the plunge and walked in.

It was a fairly modern looking place, with Nagel prints and pictures of movie stars framed on the walls. The radio was playing some new age music she didn’t recognize.

She walked up to the counter where a girl with a chin-length bob of black hair, a red sweater and dark burgundy lipstick was sitting. “Can I help you,” the girl behind the counter asked.

“Yes,” Sheryl said, feeling her skin go clammy and a layer of cold sweat form behind her eyelids. “I saw your help wanted sign in the window.”

“You want to apply?” the girl at the counter asked, looked a shade disdainfully at Sheryl’s attire.

“Yes, please,” Sheryl said. The girl paused, then reached out and pulled a paper application out. “Sure. Fill it out and bring it back.”

“Can I fill it out here?” Sheryl asked.

The girl shrugged her shoulders. “Sure thing. Here’s a pen.” The girl handed her a simple plastic ballpoint pen.

Sheryl sat in the waiting area and filled in the application. She noticed once or twice that the girl was looking in her direction, there didn’t seem to be a great deal of love being directed at her. Perhaps this snobby girl was the reason they were hiring. After all, it did indicate that no experience in haircutting was needed.

In the meanwhile a female customer came in and the girl helped her. A man emerged from the rear of the salon and began to cut the woman’s hair. The girl seemed a bit nicer to the customer than she had been to towards Sheryl. Sheryl figured this was a total waste of time, and was tempted to crumple up the application and throw it at her. She bit back that momentarily ridiculous feeling and kept filling it out. She could not afford to burn bridges if she could help it.

As the man finished up with the lady whose hair he was cutting, Sheryl finished the application and walked back to the counter. “All set?” the girl asked. “OK.”

She started to read the application over and Sheryl blushed. Why was she reading it if she was going to be replaced. The girl didn’t notice the red pallor come over Sheryl’s cheeks.

The girl worked over the application for a few moments and then the customer walked over to pay. “Same time in two weeks, Naomi?” the girl behind the counter asked. The customer, obviously Naomi, nodded. “I need him to neaten be up then, yes.” She handed over some money. “See Nate gets that little bit extra, please. When are you going to be going back to cutting?”

“As soon as we get a counter person. This girl is applying right now for it.”

The customer gave Sheryl a once-over. “Not your type, is she?”

“You never know,” the girl behind the counter said. The customer finished paying and went out.

“Normally we are pretty busy, but business has been a bit slow of late,” the girl continued, now speaking to Sheryl. “We have a pretty loyal customer base.”

Sheryl was a bit confused by the customer’s comments towards herself. What was wrong with her? OK, maybe she wasn’t dressed like a hooker, but she was a decent person with a good heart. How come so many people judged a book by its cover?

To be fair, the girl behind the counter seemed to not be judging her. “It says here you did a number of customer-oriented jobs.”

“Yes,” Sheryl said quickly. “My schedule with school was a bit hard to work around for them. Now it is a bit more settled and I can give a better schedule. More steady hours.”

The girl nodded. “Good hours, actually for us. Do you have some time to talk now?”

Sheryl didn’t feel totally comfortable being interviewed on the spot and felt she wasn’t dressed. However, the alternative was not being interviewed at all, so she agreed.

“Cool,” the girl said, standing up. She was a slender girl, also wearing a dark brown leather miniskirt and black stockings. To finish off her ensemble, she had on ankle boots with tall, tapered heels on them. She looked rather, well, new-age, to Sheryl. But somehow, she looked a bit more cool and understanding than that snobby dorm roommate of hers.

The girl went out back for a moment, and another girl came out and sat behind the counter. At least she smiled at Sheryl and said `hi’. Sheryl felt more at ease with her and said `hi’ back. The girl was sporting shortish blond hair, a pink sweater and black trousers. She didn’t look as much of a tramp as Sheryl figured the black-haired girl was. Still, the raven-haired girl carried herself well.

“Let’s go to the coffee shop next door and talk,” the dark haired salon muse said, leading Sheryl to the door. Somehow Sheryl thought her chances were between slim and none.

As they sat at a table (the black-haired girl ordered a latte, Sheryl ordered nothing as she was too poor) and the girl introduced herself as Dee. “Short of Desiré,” she said, smiling. “I hate that name, so I just prefer Dee.”

“OK, Dee,” Sheryl said, feeling herself start to relax. That was good wasn’t it?

“To be honest, there’s not a lot I want to ask,” Dee said. Uh-oh, Sheryl thought. Bad sign!

“Are you willing to, say, undergo a bit of makeover to get you more in line with what our customers expect?”

Sheryl thought about it. “Sure, I gue
ss. If it’s not too much.”

Dee looked at her. “To be honest, you don’t really dress the way our customers expect. A bit too square for their tastes. You need to be a little more hip and with the times.”

Sheryl gave Dee a quick grin. “I haven’t had a lot of extra money to keep current.”

Dee smiled and she had a rather nice smile. Sheryl felt herself less adverse to her now. “I think you’ll find we pay pretty good,” Dee said. “If you decide to take the job.”

Was she getting an offer? Sheryl didn’t want to leap at it. “Great,” she eventually said after a pregnant pause. “I hope you’ll offer me one.”

“Depends on your acceptance of a makeover,” Dee said. “You have to accept that, and I think we can work on a compromise.”

Sheryl thought about it. “When could I start, if I accept a `makeover’?”

Dee shrugged. “I have to discuss with the man. Nate is the big boss, I am just his partner. He needs to OK you before I can give you a definite date. When could you start?”

“Today,” said Sheryl without even thinking. That was a bad thing, wasn’t it? To be so eager to jump at a job without, even, saying a few days?

Dee grinned. “You are so eager to get rolling! I like that! Nate and I are partners, so what I say usually goes with him,” she said rising. “Let’s go back to the salon.”

They walked back; meanwhile Sheryl wondered what she was letting herself in for. She hoped it was just a slight `makeover’ and nothing too radical.

Dee brought her back and had her sit in the waiting area. The blond girl was cutting someone’s hair. They must all be stylists, Sheryl thought, that are covering the desk. Sheryl hadn’t even thought to ask what the position was for when Dee and she were talking. She was in for a surprise.

Meanwhile, Dee stepped into the back office, where Nate was sitting, working on a computer. He looked up as Dee entered. He smiled. “How’s it going, Dee?”

She handed over the résumé that Sheryl had given her. “She is a bit of a square, but she’s agreed to have a makeover.”

“A square, huh?” he asked, rubbing his chin as he scanned the application. “Do you think she could fit in?”

“It would have to be pretty radical, I think. I’m thinking that we need to get her in a racier outfit and she definitely needs a haircut.”

Nate looked at the camera monitors for the CC security system. “Is that her, in the waiting area?”

Dee peered briefly at the black and white monitor. “Yup,” she said, nodding.

“A square, indeed. OK. If you think she can make it, you can give her a makeover. Give her the rules.”

Dee almost jumped up and down with glee. “Thanks, Nate! You won’t regret this. I think she’ll work out just fine!” She leaned over the desk and planted a kiss right on his cheek. He smiled and briefly ran his hand through her raven-colored bob. “I guess I am just a sucker for your charms,” he said, smiling. She laughed as she made her way out of the office.

Dee came back as Sheryl was leafing through a magazine she couldn’t afford looking at styles of fashion that she wouldn’t wear. “Nate gave me the okay to hire you,” Dee said, “provided we undergo that makeover I discussed. You can start today if you agree.”

Sheryl wanted to say she’d think about it, but she was desperate to get some sort of employment. She stood up. “All right, I agree.”

Dee nodded. “Okay, as long as you agree we can start on your makeover. Come with me.”

Dee led her to the back of the salon. The blond girl, whom Sheryl had seen earlier, gave Sheryl a quick smile and wink. Sheryl didn’t know what to do other than smile back.

Dee led her to a small room with a single patent leather stylist’s chair in it. “OK,” Dee said, her voice becoming more matter of fact and demanding. “Time you were out of those clothes.”

“What?” Sheryl asked. Was she hearing right?

Dee shook her head. “Out! Take off those clothes you have on.”

Sheryl was flabbergasted, but she needed the job really badly. She started to pull off her blouse and long floral skirt without giving it much more thought.

She stood in front of Dee, wearing nothing but the plainest, most vanilla bra and panties in the world.

“Those too,” Dee said sternly. She indicated Sheryl’s underwear. “They have to come off too,”

Sheryl wanted to splutter and pull her clothes back on and tell Dee to take the job and shove it where the sun didn’t shine, but she was rooted to the spot. She couldn’t react. Instead of pulling a piss-and-vinegar routine and storming out, she meekly started to unhook her bra. She didn’t know why. Perhaps it was the tone of Dee’s of her voice? Perhaps it was a secret desire to undress in front of a stranger? Whatever it was, Dee was dropping her bra to the floor and working out of her panties in front of this raven-haired girl she hadn’t met before an hour ago!

Now, Sheryl stood completely naked in front of Dee. Dee didn’t give any indication of desire or revulsion. “You’re too attractive to wear that frumpy clothing.” She scooped up Sheryl’s dropped clothing, leaving the poor girl standing there naked. Sheryl felt so awkward. Why was she doing this?

Dee stepped out with her old clothes, leaving Sheryl alone. But the loneliness wouldn’t last long enough for Sheryl to consider if she had slipped into temporary insanity. Dee came back in holding a small bundle of clothing in her arms. “Your new attire,” Dee said. “But, I have more important matters to attend to than your awful taste. Sit down in the chair.”

Sheryl wanted to fight this whole process, but the tone in Dee’s voice made her sit meekly in the leather chair, her bare butt cheeks pressed against the patent leather that wrapped itself around her exposed skin.

“Time you had a haircut,” Dee said as she reached for a pair of metal bladed clippers. Never in her life had Sheryl had her haircut with anything more than a comb and scissors.

Tears started to well up. “You’re not going to shave me bald are you? No shaving.”

“Shut up,” Dee said sternly. “We’re going to get rid of that mess of hair you have and neaten it up.”

Sheryl felt her anger rising, but she couldn’t fight against this girl who held all the power in her life right now.

Dee started at the back, quickly cutting across the long strangling locks of hair, without even a plastic guard on the metal teeth. Sheryl shivered. What the hell was this crazy bitch doing to me?

Dee started to work around the edges of Sheryl’s natural hairline, cutting off all the long hair beyond it mercilessly. She didn’t pay any heed to the tears starting to stream down Sheryl’s cheeks, other to say, brusquely, “don’t be such a baby!”

Sheryl tried and tried to push the fear and revulsion of what Dee was doing out of her mind, but it was no use. The tears continued to stream down to her cheeks. She could not help it, no matter how upset she was angry and upset with Dee for what she was doing. What the hell was this job worth to her, anyway?

She wanted to fight, to run away at a high rate of speed (what a sight that would be, her streaking down the street to escape her fate) but she felt the force of command from Dee’s voice and sat firmly rooted into the soft leather, completely naked.

How much worse could I get? Sheryl couldn’t think of what could be worse, sitting rooted to the spot by the power of Dee’s voice. And completely and utterly nude! In addition to the humiliation of having a forced haircut!

No matter how Sheryl wanted to hoot and holler, she felt somehow forced to sit right where she was and not move a muscle. Dee must have some inner demons in her, Sheryl thought, that control the destinies of mere mortal girls.

But she sat there, unmoving, as Dee clipped more and more of her hair off. Great clumps dropped to the floor. Sheryl had never been treated like this, not even when she was a bad little girl. Now, as a grownup, she was getting the punishment for being behind the times!

“Please,” Sheryl finally stammered as bravely as she could. “Don’t shave my head bald.”

Dee was unrelenting. “Shut up, you sissy! You’ll get what I give you.”

Sheryl wondered why she was taking this nonsense. The power of Dee’s voice and attitude kept Sheryl’s ass planted in the chair!

But Dee just sheared the hair off just above the hairline, so she could taper it up. Despite the fact that Sheryl figured Dee to be nothing more than a two-bit hooker, Dee was a pretty accomplished hairdresser. She was tired of being the receptionist. She wanted to get back to being behind the chair and putting a plastic/vinyl cape around her customer’s necks. Instead she was scribbling names into a calendar and taking money from other clients, clients she should, by rights, have had for herself. That made her a little bit angry. Sure, she was guilty of taking it out on Sheryl. But didn’t Sheryl deserve this?

Sheryl figured that she didn’t serve this, but the commanding and insistent tone to Dee’s voice overruled how she felt. Dee was the dominant force here, and Sheryl was just along for the ride.

The anger of her situation washed over Dee, but she knew better than to let it go unchecked onto Sheryl’s hair. Despite the insistence to the contrary, she figured before long Sheryl would be longing for and begging for a shaved head.

Soon, Dee was trimming Sheryl’s hair into a classic `boy’s cut’ just like Dee figured would look halfway decent on the square girl. She didn’t fight the choice, so Dee figured she wanted a boy cut. She finished up, trimming the previously long hair into a manageable boy cut that made the girl in the chair look oh so sexy!

As soon as she snapped off the clippers, she was reaching for the small pile of clothes she had brought in. “Now,” Dee said sternly. “Put these on. We have a dress code.”

She wandered out as Sheryl inspected the clothing she had been given. There was a black blouse with an incredible plunging neckline, an extremely short black leather miniskirt and fishnet stockings. But above all were the black satin bra and panties. She had never worn clothing like this. Slowly she slid the smooth satin panties up her legs and they were around her waist. She marveled at how they felt. Then she put on the bra, slowly, enjoying how it felt- because she had never worn satin lingerie before.

Dee walked in as she finished putting on the bra. “Hurry up!” she insisted. “Get into those clothes, you hussy!”

Sheryl wanted to bite back at Dee, but the tone in Dee’s voice made her think twice. She started to work the fishnet stockings up her legs. Then Dee brandished a pair of ankle-high stiletto boots. “Your final touch,” Dee said, smiling.

Sheryl didn’t know why she was putting up with this. Couldn’t she just mouth off to Dee and be gone? Still, she had a boy’s haircut and was mostly into her fishnet stockings. What difference was there, anyways? It would all be the same in a hundred years.

She quickly finished sliding the fishnet stockings up her thighs and then she pulled out the leather miniskirt and stepped into it. Up around her buttocks, she felt the cool embrace of the animal skin around her erogenous zones. Her ass felt particularly sensitive right now.

Then, down came the tight, very tight, black blouse. Sheryl was rather surprised how much of her previously hidden cleavage was suddenly exposed. She was aware of Dee’s stern eye and she stepped into the stiletto boots. She turned to face Dee.

“Good, hussy,” Dee said in a low voice. “I like you a thousand times better now. You will make a good worker.”

Sheryl nodded, mesmerized by the continuing spell Dee was casting.

Dee grinned and continued. “These are the rules. First, all black is absolutely necessary. Second, plunging necklines are the rule, not the exception. Third, skirts can be no more than down to the knees and pantyhose are a complete necessity. Lingerie is up to you, but it must not hide your natural assets.”

Dee paused, licking her lips, as if in anticipation.

“Lastly, you must keep your hair neat, attractive and short. Nothing turns off a customer like a girl who looks like a savage! Basically, you have to look rather like a call girl! Do you think you can handle that?”

Sheryl wasn’t sure but what the hell, she was already this far, she might as well complete the interview/job process! She nodded.

“I will comply with your directions, Dee.”

“Miss Wright! Call me Miss Wright!” Dee was hissing, furious!

“Sorry, Miss Wright!”

Dee relaxed. This little whore was going to work out just fine. She smiled. “Good little hussy,” she said, coming forward to kiss Sheryl on the cheek. “Now is the time to go to the front desk and help our paying customers.”

Sheryl nodded. She was working again and whatever she looked like, Dee was obviously still infatuated with her! She moved to the doorway to go help out.

“And remember,” Dee said, almost as an afterthought. “The customer is always right.”

As it turned out, Sheryl was a quick learner and Dee was able to start cutting her customer’s hair again. Dee kept eyeing the new girl, admiring how well she was doing. What a choice she had made! Still, Sheryl wasn’t sure how to fulfill the salon’s dress code. She needed to go shopping, but money was an object. She brought it up to Dee at the end of the day and Dee gave her money that was hers from the till. “Go buy clothes that fit you, you hussy,” she hissed. “Be sure you come back dressed like a hooker or else we’re going to have issues.” And Sheryl pondered her hair as well. Perhaps it was still a bit too long.

Sheryl wasn’t completely sure how hookers dressed, but one look at what she was wearing gave her an idea. She figured she could take it the rest of the way.

And what decision would Sheryl make on the future of her hair…….?