“You are so not a rebel! You’ve never done anything wrong in your life. You’re so clean cut. Don’t even lie to me,” laughed Julie, a punk-haired tattooed freak with a rap sheet a mile long. She was making fun of her coworker at the local pharmacy, Erica, a beautiful blonde who came from a close-knit family in a white bread neighborhood. A beautiful face, gorgeous chestnut eyes and the most lustrous light-golden blonde hair that fell down to her elbows made her the object of everyone’s attention and every man’s affection. Erica, a high school senior, had skipped school for the very first time and thought she was such a rebel for it. Julie, whose list of activities included theft and every drug known to man, disagreed.

“Have you ever stolen anything? Have you ever been in trouble with the cops? You are not a rebel. Have you ever even smoked pot? I am a rebel,” society’s outcast proudly boasted. “Do something really rebellious and I’ll give you some credit.”

Dejected, Erica left work to go home for the evening. She somehow felt she needed to prove to this girl that she could be a rebel. She stopped in front of a music shop a few doors down from her work and saw a sign for a new punk CD, from a band that she recognized from one of Julie’s t-shirts. She decided she would go in, steal the CD and go prove Julie wrong.

The CD was on a shelf not too far from the door. She nervously paced around in front of the shelf, pondering whether or not she really wanted to do this. Her actions aroused suspicion from the store manager who watched her closely. She grabbed the CD and ran for the door. The manager couldn’t catch up to her but yelled out “I know who you are! I’ll catch you Blondie! I’ll find you and have you arrested! I’ll never forget what you look like!”

As she hurried around the corner and out of his view she began to wonder if he would catch her later on. He wouldn’t remember her would he? She could try to avoid that stretch of road until things cooled off, but how long would that take? Besides it was too inconvenient for her to avoid it, with her work being just a few doors away and her bank just on the other side of it. He wouldn’t be able to recognize her, would he? She couldn’t be that memorable, could she?

As Erica briskly moved down the street something grabbed her attention in the store windows. Something was following her. She turned her head as she kept walking to see that it was her hair flowing in the breeze. It looked like an airplane banner waving behind her as she flew down the sidewalk. Uh, oh she thought. “Of course he will recognize me. Nobody else has hair like mine.” It was true. Her hair was a spectacle to behold, an unmatched beauty that no other local woman could boast. It was not only gorgeous but it was distinct and very recognizable. It was thick, straight and perfectly trimmed straight across her back. It was the most perfect color, not too light, not too dark. Perfectly golden. It truly shone like the sun. She could try to hide it by pulling it up under a hat but she never wore them and all that hair would never stay up under one. She could wear it in various updos but she preferred to wear it down and it would only be a matter of time before she slipped up and walked by that shop with her glorious, not to mention tell-tale, mane waving around like a flashing neon sign. She began to panic.

“I have to do something. I need to disguise myself, and fast,” she said to herself. As she scurried down the street she almost collided with a woman exiting a shop. “Oh! Excuse me, I’m so sorry,” she said to the lady.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. I wasn’t paying attention either. Wow, you hair is so beautiful. I’ve seen you walking around here a lot, haven’t I? I’m sure everybody around here would recognize you with a head of hair that pretty.” This made Erica more nervous.

The woman admiring Erica’s tresses had her own hair cut in a short bob that swung around her face as she turned. “I’ve thought about growing it long like yours but I just love having short hair so much. I had let it grow down to my shoulders these past few months but I couldn’t take it anymore and I just went in and cut it all off again,” the lady said as she pointed inside the shop from where she just came. Erica turned and saw it was a salon. She looked back towards the lady who was sliding her hands high up her very closely cut nape. “I just love how that feels.”

The lady said goodbye and continued on her way. Erica stood in front of the salon and began to think. “This woman whom I’ve never met before knows who I am because of my hair. I need to do something about it or I’ll get caught for sure. I can’t chance that.” She stood frozen in the doorway of the salon. Another woman came out and held the door for her, assuming Erica was going to enter. She took that as her queue to go inside.

“Welcome, do you have an appointment?” the receptionist asked.

“No, I don’t. Do you accept walk-ins?” Erica asked.

“We sure do and Andy is available now if you like.”

“That would be fine. Thank you.” Erica was then led back to Andy’s station at the back of the salon. She sat down in the chair and Andy pulled her luxurious hair back over the chair and began to brush it.

“Hello, I’m Andy and what will we be doing today?”

Erica hesitated for a moment and then decided she had no other choice. This must be done. “I need a completely new look. Totally different. I need be unrecognizable.”

“Wow,” Andy responded, his ears perked up and his face aglow with excitement. After all, what stylist wouldn’t jump at the chance to have free reign over a model this beautiful with hair this amazing? “Unrecognizable, huh? What did you do, rob a bank or something?”

“Not quite, but something like that.”

“OK. I won’t ask any more. None of my business. Now, when you say `new look’ do you mean a new style, new length, new color? Do you want a drastic change?”

“Yes. All those. I don’t want anybody to recognize me, not even my parents. So do absolutely whatever you want just make sure I look completely different.”

“OK. Just wanted to be sure. Let me take a minute to look you over.” He lifted her hair and let it fall several times to feel the massive weight of it. He pulled it up into a ponytail nearly two inches thick and examined her hairline. Very nice. He looked at her ears, which were very cute. “Did you have any ideas?”

“Not really. I did just talk to a woman a few minutes ago outside. She had just come from here. She seemed to love her hair cut and I thought it looked very nice on her.”

“Was she wearing a blue skirt?”

“Yes, that’s the one.”

“Ahh. Her name is Nina. She works around the corner. I just gave her that hair cut before you arrived. I think you would look great with it. Your face is very well suited for that style. Let’s get started.” Andy wrapped a cape around Erica’s neck and fastened it securely. He let her hair down all around her and brushed it out for several minutes, releasing all of its luster and shine. He combed it down in a center part in preparation for the first big cut.

“You know, Erica, you have adorable ears. I was thinking we could angle the sides more so that you show them off.”

“OK,” Erica responded a little nervously. All of this was happening so fast she was starting to panic. But she had made up her mind, however, that this was the best option for her.

Andy then grabbed a comb and the scissors from the counter in front of Erica. He started to turn towards her when he stopped and had an idea. He then replaced the scissors and grabbed a large pair of electric clippers. Erica shook momentarily in fear before freezing all together. Recognizing her concern Andy calmly told her “don’t be scared of these. They’ll just help me remove the bulk a little more quickly than the scissors.”

He moved to Erica’s right hand side and combed her hair down a few times. He then slid the
comb in and moved it down at an angle. He positioned it in her hair so that the front was at the corner of her lips and the back was nearly at the top of her ear. He flicked the switch and the clippers whirred to life. He moved them to her lips and began sliding them upward along the comb. Golden blonde rain showered down upon the cape and slid to the floor. More and more of her jaw line appeared as the clippers moved further along. Before long he had reached the end of the comb and one half of Erica’s head was now bobbed very short.

She stared at herself in the mirror. The stark contrast of short and long was shocking yet intriguing. She had a strange mix of emotions inside of her. On one hand her most prized possession was being stripped away from her and she wanted to cry. She was scared of the unknown, this uncharted territory of short hair. But at the same time this was quite an adventure and she was curious and excited to continue onward. She didn’t know whether to cry or smile, to run away or jump for joy. Instead she just sat motionless with an expressionless face.

Andy moved to her right side and slid the comb into her hair the same way he had before. He angled the chair sideways a bit and this time he started at the back and slid the clippers forward along the comb. With the new angle of the chair she could watch the sheets of shining blonde silk fall to the floor. It happened so fast but at the same time she felt like she was watching each individual hair fall separately in slow motion. Her new look was taking shape and she began to smile because she looked phenomenal.

Andy turned her back straight in front of the mirror again and began to comb out he back. He sectioned off the back by combing a line straight across at the top of her ears. He twisted and pinned up the top hair and combed the rest down. He went back to the counter and grabbed a guard for the clippers. He snapped it on and returned the clippers to life. He pushed Erica’s head forward, parted the hair at her nape, positioned the clippers in the center and began to push them upward. Farther and farther he moved the clippers, turning 13″-15″ locks of gold into the softest of ¼” fuzz. Once he reached the top of the section he went back to the hairline, moved over a bit and continued pushing the clippers upward, freeing Erica’s nape of the glorious mane that had been weighing it down for years. With each pass of the clippers Erica’s head felt lighter and she smiled more and more. With each pass of the clippers she enjoyed the sensation of the vibration on this very sensual part of her body. By the time he was finished she felt like she was in ecstasy.

When Andy was done clippering her nape he removed the clip that held the last of her long hair up. He combed it out one last time, slid the comb in level across the back of her head, near the top of her ears. He slid the clippers across the comb and the last of the once-titan tresses fell to the ground. “All done. Go ahead, shake it around and see how it feels.”

Erica shook her had side to side and began to giggle, smiling beyond control as she watched her hair bounce around as it never had before. Andy then took out a pair of scissors and began to neaten up all the hair and give it some more shape. He then took out a small pair of clippers, this time to Erica’s excitement, and neatened up around the nape. He took away any stray hairs and then tapered the base of the nape, fading it out to nothing. He dusted Erica off, removed the cape and said “Voila! What do you think?”

“I love it!” She slid her hand up her nape for the first time and recalled the woman outside. Now she understood. It felt so good. Too good. She didn’t want to stop. “There’s just one thing, though. I need a new color, too.”

“Not a problem. I was thinking of a nice, soft brown. Light chestnut, perhaps?”

Erica agreed and was taken to the colorist. Over the next hour or so the light-golden blonde Erica became a sultry brunette, sexier than imaginable. She even had her eyebrows done to match. She hardly recognized herself in the mirror. Let’s hope nobody else did either. She paid for her services, scheduled an appointment in a month for a touch-up and left to go test out her new disguise.

Erica made her way to the music store, fearing she may not have been successful with the new hair idea. As she got to the store she told herself she needed to be confident so as to not raise any suspicion. She entered the shop, grabbed the very same CD, gave her money to the very same man who threatened to arrest her and left the store successful in her venture. On her way out she discretely placed the stolen copy on a shelf and continued home, curious if her disguise was good enough to fool her coworkers, family and friends.