As he was walking along the street during his lunch break from his job at the bank, David’s gaze was caught suddenly by the glimpse of a short skirt in the distance. Quickening his pace David caught up with the brief piece of cloth adorning the body of a young and what looked like a very attractive brunette. As his eyes slowly took in the vision in front of him he hoped that it would be topped off with a short haircut. For as long as he had taken an interest in women, David’s thoughts and desires had been dominated by one thing – short. Short skirts. Short haircuts. As a child he remembered regularly watching his mother’s hair being attended to in their kitchen at home by Mrs Gray. Although she was well into her 50s, he had always felt drawn to her. After some time he had realized it was her hair that was the attraction, or rather the lack of it. Mrs Gray always sported a clippered haircut, usually cut sharply around her ears and tightly into the nape of her neck. On dream days she would arrive with her hair very clearly freshly cut, and he would gaze in wonder at the bristles of hair left around the back and sides of her head. So spiky. So clean. So severe. So short! He was always disappointed when she finished attending to his mother’s hair and hoped that, maybe this time, Mrs Gray would be wrapping her cape around his shoulders. But, it never happened that way and it wasn’t long before Mrs. Gray retired and left their lives for good.

Now in his early 30s, David had been through a long string of girlfriends. All of them had one thing in common – short hair. Some of them he had even managed to subtly persuade to go even shorter, although his gentle nudges had also ended some of his relationships. Always on the conservative and shy side, he had kept his own hair short, but never really short. He preferred the more relaxed surroundings of a salon, and the gentle clicking of scissors to the harsh buzzing of clippers.

He paused briefly as the young woman stopped to cross the street and he caught a glimpse of a very pretty face famed by the short bob that she wore. At the nape he could see where the clippers had recently cut away the short hairs to leave a crisp and well defined line. He guessed that she was in her late twenties, possibly even her early thirties. The black pleated skirt she wore swirled around her thighs as she walked, the wind occasionally catching the hem and lifting it even higher. She was a dream girl. He was momentarily lost in another fantasy when he realized that she had disappeared. Quickening his pace he glanced frequently into the shop fronts, guessing that she must have gone into one of the nearby shops. Growing increasingly worried that he had lost this woman of his dreams, he suddenly relaxed as he saw her. He glanced up at the store sign. It couldn’t be. The striped pole. The large black leather chair dominating the shop. He couldn’t believe his luck. Today was his dream come true.

Glancing at his watch he realized that he didn’t really have the time for a haircut, but this was just too good an opportunity to miss. Taking a deep breath he stepped into the shop. Inside everything was clean and tidy, and looked as if it had been only recently bought. There was now no sign of the pretty woman he had been following along the sidewalk, so he sat on the low padded bench to wait his turn. He heard a sound to his right and turned to see his vision emerge from a door at the back of the shop. Close up she was even prettier and the skirt seemed even shorter. Above the skirt she wore a bright scarlet blouse that was cut to cling to the curves of her body, its deep red color matching the varnish on her long nails.

She smiled warmly at him.

“Hi – do you want to take a seat?” she asked, pointing to the rather imposing barber’s chair.

David smiled nervously back and slowly made his way to the chair. As he sank into the close embrace of the chair he felt somehow smaller, as if his will was slowly slipping away.

“So, what are we doing today?” she asked, “I’m Jenny by the way”.

“Erm, well, I usually just have a trim with scissors”, David mumbled, his mouth suddenly dry.

“Oh, I think we can do a bit better than that”, the barbette laughed.

She turned away to pick up the black silky cape that hung on a hook behind him and he had another long look at the short skirt framed in the mirror’s reflection. I don’t care what she does, he thought to himself, I could watch this free show all day. Then he was covered with the glossy cape as it floated down to cover him almost completely. The dark cape was drawn tightly around his neck as the woman drew the cords firmly; making sure that it was knotted securely. David felt trapped under the cape and the tightness of the collar pulled at his neck.

Jenny looked at his nervous face reflected back in the mirror and smiled to herself. Maybe it was time for another “boy” to get his wish. She had seen the glances at her skirt and long, long legs. This was too easy she thought. She raked her long nails through his hair as she pondered just how severe this cropping was going to be. She couldn’t stop herself grinning as she caught sight of his scared little face again. She leant forward to pick up her largest clippers, deliberately giving him the chance to get a good look at her impressive cleavage if he wanted to. Of course, David looked, enjoying the view of her breasts right in front of him. Oh dear, that’s going to cost you Jenny thought, as she slipped the comb off her Wahl clippers. I think this one needs to be taught a lesson that he won’t forget!

“Head down” she instructed.

David obligingly dropped his head forward, only to feel Jenny’s firm hand push it down much further until his chin was touching the silky material of the cape. Momentarily he was distracted as he now realized that had an uninterrupted view of her legs emerging from the short, short skirt she wore. That glance did not go unnoticed however by Jenny. Boy are you going to be cropped, just like a little boy, she pondered to herself.

She flicked the switch on her clippers and grinned as David jumped at the sudden noise. Without hesitation she started to plough the clippers mercilessly up the back of his head. She pressed firmly with her weapon of choice, easily slicing through his hair to leave a pale scalp untouched by the sun. It still surprised her, even now after thousands of haircuts, just how efficient an instrument hair clippers were. With barely a change in the note of their powerful motor the clippers relentlessly chewed a wide path right to the crown of David’s head. Unable to see what exactly was going on David suddenly felt worried as he felt a cool breeze on the back of his head.

“You’re not going too short are you?” he asked quietly.

“Quiet little one”, she murmured, not even pausing the brutal clipping.

It was so simple, yet so brilliant, she thought. First pass up the back of the victim’s head where they can’t see, and then it’s too late. It didn’t take her long to completely shear the back of David’s head. She paused to scrape the pale skin with her sharp nails.

“It feels very short” David whined, regretting now ever stepping into this place.

Jenny switched off her clippers and placed them on the counter. Reaching for the hand mirror she held it behind David so that he could see the devastation wreaked on his hair. He sat there stunned for a moment at what he saw, struggling to reconcile what he usually saw with the image now reflected in front of him.

“You’ve shaved my head” he gasped.

Jenny laughed, “Don’t be such a baby, I’ve just given you the short cut that you deserve. Anyway it’s just a little bit too late now. I can either finish your haircut, or you can go now. Well?”

David slumped in the chair. He knew that she was right and that he had no choice but to be clippered just as short all over.

“Well?” she demanded.

“Just finish it” David whispered.

Jenny fired up her clippers once more and moved his head firmly over to
the right to begin shaving off the hair that lay there. She glanced in the mirror and saw that her unwilling customer was no longer looking at her legs. Instead he gazed fixedly at the floor watching more and more of his hair sliding down the shiny cape to the floor. Jenny knew that she had broken yet another proud, leering man and there was no need to be gentle. Almost like a Marine barber she now swooped the clippers in long strokes across the side of his head. David could feel the now hot blades of the clippers against his scalp as he tried not to watch in the mirror. Yet he felt drawn to watch as his once styled head of hair was being reduced quickly to little more than stubble.

As she continued to clipper his head Jenny began to wonder if maybe this was an occasion for a total head shave. It had been a while since she had traced the shape of some poor man’s head with the unforgiving sharpness of her cut-throat razor. As she finally finished working with her clippers she gazed appreciatively at the results of her work. Running over a couple of spots once more to ensure it was all gone she made up her mind. Shaved it would be. She had already taken him through an important psychological barrier, so introducing him to total smooth should be easy.

Jenny picked up the small hand brush and roughly swept it across David’s freshly clipped head removing all the tiny remnants of his hair. Looking at his stubble covered scalp she now wanted to see it smooth – naked.

“I’m just going to tidy you up” she told him.

David was left sitting in the chair for a while as she disappeared into the back of the shop once more. He turned his head to the left and the right, taking in the brutal shearing that he had just endured. It had never been this short before. How long was this going to take to grow back he wondered. He cursed himself for allowing his long held obsession with “short” that led him to his current situation. His chain of thought was broken by Jenny’s emergence from the back carrying a canister in her hand. She squirted some of its contents into her hand and then started to smooth it firmly across David’s scalp. He assumed it was perhaps some kind of moistureriser to soothe his scalp now left open to the world. He was therefore surprised when once more he felt Jenny’s strong hand forcing his chin to his chest. As before, Jenny executed her first stroke across the back of his head, slicing away the shaving gel to leave just bare skin. David knew something was going on but couldn’t bring himself to even consider it might be her shaving his head. An expert in all aspects of male hairdressing, it didn’t take her long to shave his head – totally. Jenny collected a small towel and roughly wiped his now smooth scalp, using the towel’s coarse texture to buff the scalp to a nice shine.

“All done” she announced triumphantly.

David looked in the mirror, his mouth open, trying to take in his radical new appearance.

“Why?” he stuttered.

“I thought that you liked short” she replied, a strange smile on her lips….