Hi, my name is Denise and together with my sister Jane I own and run “Austen Klipper Kutters”, a unique unisex hair salon barbershop in the middle of the city.

We gave the shoppe it’s name because we are the Austen sister’s and we deal almost exclusively in hair cutting and almost all our cutting is done using clippers. Both Jane and myself have two pairs of clippers each. We both run “OSTER 97’s” with all the associated clipper blades and cutting guides for the coarser cutting but we differ in the clippers we use for the finer finishing clipping.

Jane prefers to use “WAHL” and has a mains power operated multi cut model clipper with all the attachment guides whereas I prefer a rechargeable battery type clipper and have a “PANASONIC” model ER153A which can operate on both battery or mains and comes with a set of clipping guide attachments also but which I do not use very often, doing all the heavy work with my “OSTER”. My “PANASONIC” have ceramic clipping blades and are perfect for the hair sculpting and pivot point type cutting I do with clippers, as being battery or mains capable I do not have the electric chord in the way all the time.

Jane and I do each others haircuts exclusively with our clippers. I have my dark brown hair cut in a high and tight bob which Jane compliments with a very high clipper undercut and a totally shaved neckline. Jane on the other hand prefers the close crop look for her dark black hair which I do with a number two blade all over with my “OSTER” followed by a neck taper using my “PANASONIC”. I usually finish her off with the cut throat razor neck shave.

A large percentage of my clientele are male however I do have some regular female clients one of whom is Cindi whose hair I have tended for the last six years or so. Cindi has jet-black hair which I have kept in a short bowl bang and bob style using my clippers only. Cindi phoned this morning to see if I had a spare appointment as she required “in her words” a hair repair. Cindi lives in one of the cities outer suburbs and has learnt to cut mens hair herself. I believe she has a reasonably large clientele of local schoolboys and husbands from her local neighbourhood. She is just coming in the door now.

“Hi Denise I’m so glad you had a spare appointment this morning” she said as she walked in the door.

“Hi Cindi” I replied “why what have you done”.

“It’s not what I’ve done but more what my friend Shaz has done which is the problem” Cindi replied.

Here take a look at this she said as she turned around to have her back facing me.

“Oh my god Cindi what a mess” I said as I took a look at what Cindi meant and saw the large clump of hair cut from the middle of her nape “how did that happen”.

“Well Denise it’s a bit of a long story but I will try to keep it short. As you know Denise I have learnt to cut men’s hair and Chris has set me up with a small barbershop at home. While I normally do mainly boys and men’s short haircuts, I like using my clippers, especially the large and powerful “Oster”. Yesterday my neighbour Shaz came over. Cindi she said Gazza and I are finding things a little difficult at the moment and he doesn’t want me spending sixty bucks to get Chantelle down at “Teazers” to give my long blonde hair a cut, in fact he has suggested that I come to you and get you to cut it in a style like yours.”

“Well I couldn’t refuse a request from a trusted neighbour so I sat her down in my chair and gave her a beautiful high cut bob clippered super short underneath. After I had finished Shaz and I was brushing her down I noticed in the mirror that my own neck fuzz was starting to show dramatically although my bob was still looking fine and not yet in need of a cut. I asked Shaz if she would mind giving my neck a quick buzz and she jumped at the chance, grabbed my “OSTER” off their hook and here’s the result”.

I asked Cindi whether Chris was happy about what had happened and she replied that he hadn’t noticed as he had a late night at work and hadn’t arrived home until late when she was in bed and had had to leave for work early this morning.

It wasn’t until I had Cindi sitting in my barber’s chair and caped up that I was able to see the full extent of the damage Shaz had done.

“Well Cindi” I said “it’s quite a large clump that has been cut out and I think any repair I attempt means a pretty short clipper cut”.

Cindi said fine if it has to be done it has to be done. Chris has been on to me for some years to go really short so I suppose tonight I’ll be able to give him a pleasant surprise.

“I’ll first shorten it a little and then see how it looks”.

With that I took my “PANASONIC” clipper out of its holder and switched it on. The battery was fully charged so the motor was running quite strong as I combed her hair up between my fingers and ran the clippers over the top. I shortened it down to three finger lengths all over but it still did not look right.

“I think the only thing for it is the all over buzz my dear” I said to Cindi as I placed the “PANASONIC” back in the battery charger holder, the only decision is how short do you want to go”.

“Well” Cindi replied “Chris has always wanted me to try it really short so why don’t you finish it off like Jane’s. She has a number two all over”.

“Will you be happy with that?” I asked her.

“Sure” she replied.

“OK, shall we get on with it then, it’s going to involve major use of the clippers” I said as I took my “OSTER” off their hook and attached the number eight cutting guide. I clicked the switch and the powerful rotating motor burst into life with the familiar whistling and phurrrring sound that “OSTER” clippers make.

“Keep your head down Cindi” I said as I made the first pass up the back of her head from her nape to her occipital bone then flicking the hair from the clippers onto the floor. I really do enjoy cutting hair with the clippers I was thinking to myself as I working my way around the right side of Cindi’s head with my “OSTER” clipping the hair up over her ears to her right bang which I clipped off. I then returned to her nape and slowly worked my way around her left side to her left bang with the same procedure. Finished with the number eight guide I turned my clippers off and hung them back on their hook. I took my finest comb and combed the back of her head down but unfortunately the clump of missing hair was still wildly noticeable.

“God Cindi” I said “your friend Shaz certainly lost control of your “OSTER” giving you the little neck trim”.

“Well Denise” she said “I can’t go around with a big clump of hair missing out of the back of my head especially since I do run a sole charge barber shoppe so if it means you’re going to have to go shorter so be it”.

I again took my “OSTER’s” from their hook and this time attached the number four clipper guide before repeating the process I had just gone through with the number eight guide but unfortunately it still wasn’t short enough to cover up the botch up.

“Well Cindi I’m afraid it’s going to have to be a number two on the sides and back to get rid of that hole” I said as with my “OSTER” still running I swapped the number four for the number two cutting guide.

I got Cindi to put her head right forward as I went around once more with the number two guide, this time managing to cut out the hole Shaz had made. With the number two short back and sides complete I turned the “OSTER” off and hung them back on their hook.

You’ll then have to think about what we’re going to do with the top but I’m afraid at the moment it looks like you’ll have the choice of either a flat top / crew cut or the all over buzz. I suppose the good thing about it Cindi is it is only hair and it will grow again.

With that I took my “OSTER” off the hook once again and clicked them to life. With the number two guide attached I once again started at Cindi’s nape but this time ran the clippers right through to over her forehead allowing the build up of hair on the clippers to fall in front of he
r eyes down onto the cape. Over and over her head I ran the clippers with Cindi’s hair peeling off with every stroke, front to rear, rear to front, left to right and right to left I continued until I was absolutely sure that no hair had been left uncut. After about five minutes of close clipping the “OSTER” were quite warm when I turned them off and hung them back on the hook.

To finish off Cindi’s hair repair as I was now calling it I once more took my “PANASONIC” clipper from its holder and closely shave tapered her neck hair into the number two cut.

After I was absolutely sure that no hair had been left uncut I turned off and placed the “PANASONIC” back in their holder and took my fluffy neck brush and brushed all the short clipped hair from Cindi’s neck. Before I uncaped her I turned my chair around for her to look in the mirror.

“Wow” she said “that’s absolutely awesome, that’s what Chris has been wanting me to do with my hair for years, I think I’m going to be lucky tonight”.

I finally unclipped the cape and gave her neck a final wipe with the neck towel. Cindi hopped down from the chair and moved to the counter.

“Fifty dollars for that one Cindi” I said.

“That’s great” she said “thanks very much” and turned and left the salon.

THE END