Jane loved her new job. She had been working in a small but busy office for a very successful theatrical agent as a general secretary for about 4 weeks. The office was located in the West End of London and was very busy but Jane found she was able to cope well with the various tasks she was called on to do. She was quite a shy girl of 18 and more attractive than she realised with a tall slender figure and lovely long pale blonde hair. One afternoon her boss called her into the office and said. “Oh Jane, I need you to run an errand for me. My wife is at the hairdressers and needs to look at some paperwork urgently. Get a taxi and take these for her and then you will probably need to come back here with her and do a final draft.” 

Jane had seen his wife several times since she had begun working at the office and was quite in awe of her, and thought her one of the most attractive women she had ever met. Paula was about 30, quite a lot younger than her husband, and had been a model before marrying. She always appeared in a cloud of expensive perfume, wearing sensational designer outfits, beautifully made-up and her gleaming chestnut hair, aglow with subtle colouring, looking superb in a softly curling shoulder length style.

The hair salon that Jane needed to go to was located in Mayfair and she knew that it was one of the most expensive and famous in London and as she approached it she felt nervous about even entering such a grand establishment although she was only going there on an errand. She pushed open the heavy plate glass door of the salon and entered a world she didn’t know existed. The heavily perfumed warm air enveloped her and the rich carpet and fittings of the reception area almost overwhelmed her, She walked hesitantly up to the plush reception desk and asked if she could see Mrs Jacobs. The flawlessly made-up girl raised her head and smiled at Jane and said, “Yes, she said you would be coming. I will take you to her.”

She moved from behind her desk and indicated that Jane should follow her and Jane admired her beautifully shaped short hairstyle as she accompanied the receptionist through the salon. There were chandeliers, gleaming mirrors, gold fittings, luxurious chairs everywhere in the large open salon and it was very busy with both male and female stylists working, all seemingly with young assistants alongside. Most of the clientele appeared to be in the twenty to thirty age groups and Jane envied them for she knew it would probably cost her more than a week’s wages just for a cut and blow-dry. She felt very frumpy and ordinary with her hair just pulled back in a simple ponytail, although she did love her hair long and it had been ever since she had become a teenager, she had often thought about having it shorter in a more modern style. Like many longhaired girls however, the thought of parting with her long hair was rather frightening as it was such a dramatic step.

The receptionist led her right through the salon to a smaller separate area at the back where Mrs Jacobs was sitting with a female assistant applying colour to her hair. She smiled at Jane and said, “Thank you very much for coming, I will need to check through this document and there are sure to be some alterations required. It will mean you working later tonight. Do you mind?” “No, of course not.” replied Jane. “Oh, good, I think I will be about another hour or so here and then we can go back to the office together in my car.” She paused and then said, “while you are waiting I will see if they can fit you in to do your hair. It can go on my bill as thanks for you working late.” Before Jane could even reply, Mrs Jacobs had called across to a young man nearby who was blow-drying another client. “Martin, could you do me a big favour and fit Jane here in for a wash and cut?”

Jane felt a wave of different emotions spread over her. She was surprised and pleased that she had the opportunity to have her hair done in one of the leading salons in London but also just a little concerned at what might be done to it as she did love the length of her hair and couldn’t imagine herself with it shorter. The young man glanced across at Jane and gave a smile, “Of course Mrs Jacobs, it will be a pleasure. I can do it in a few minutes.” Mrs Jacobs replied, “Good, give her a nice trendy cut, that pony tail needs to go, it is so old fashioned.” Jane felt stunned and hurt at these words as she felt her hair was one of her best features and men in particular seemed to like it long. A young assistant was already approaching her with a cape at the ready and Mrs Jacobs smiled at her and said, “Off you go Jane, Martin is a brilliant stylist, you have lovely hair but it does need a good cut.”

Jane felt like saying she was quite happy with her hair as it was, but realised it would be very churlish and also she was half looking forward to seeing what this attractive young man, an acknowledged expert, would do with her hair. Feeling very nervous she sat in the chair the young assistant had led her to and sank into it gratefully. The enveloping cape was swiftly wrapped around her and the girl lifted out the long gleaming ponytail and then released it so that it fell heavily down over the cape. She removed the ponytail clasp that allowed Jane’s hair to spread out across the cape and then took a brush and began drawing the brush through the long gleaming hair. Jane was feeling quite tense and tried to relax to the soothing feel of the brush being drawn through her hair. 

She was still feeling a mixture of emotions, surprise at the opportunity of getting her hair done free by a leading hairstylist, excitement about looking forward to a new image but a little apprehension about how much of her treasured long hair would be removed. She realised that she really didn’t know what style would be best for her and would be wiser to leave that decision to him. She had occasionally been attracted to shoulder length tapering bobs on other girls and hoped for something like that, anything really as long as he didn’t cut her hair too short. She had hated herself with short hair ever since at the age of six, before taking her on a beach holiday, her mother had decided that short hair would be easier for her to cope with, and her near waist length plait had been chopped off and she had been given a very short pixie cut.

The girl had stopped brushing her hair now and stood to one side as the young man approached her chair. She felt her stomach give a little lurch and she smiled nervously back as he greeted he and then picked up the hairbrush and once again her long gleaming hair was skilfully brushed. He lifted it away from her neck several times and looked at her closely from several different angles. His fingers sifted her hair, feeling the texture and then he asked her to stand up and again studied her from different angles. How different this was from her normal salon visits for a trim! Finally he told her to sit down again and studied her reflection in the mirror.

“Right, now your hair is lovely just as it is but….” Oh, oh, thought Jane, here comes the crunch. “I think it will look superb if I give you a completely different look It needs to be quite a lot shorter obviously. Ok?”   Jane swallowed nervously and took a deep breath, ” Ok, but not too short please.” &n
bsp; He squeezed her shoulder encouragingly and said, “Just relax and leave it to me.” He began brushing her hair again, pulling it all sleekly back from her face and gathering it at the back of her head. Still holding the great bunched up hair he motioned forward the assistant who stood in front of Jane and then putting her hands on top of her head gently tilted it forward. He pushed it a little lower and said, “Good, keep your head like that whilst I take off some of the length. Once that is done Ann will shampoo your hair and then I will cut it to the final shape.”

Jane stared down at her clasped hands that rested in her lap and tried to calm herself, she could feel her heart pounding and her colour rising and she took a deep breath and tensed her body as she heard the slight rattle of steel from behind her. The assistant pushed her bowed head even lower and the tension was increased on her scalp as he pulled down on her bunched up hair and then she felt the touch of cold steel at the nape of her neck and heard the very distinctive sound of shearing scissors. She gave a little gasp as she felt the sharp blades biting into her hair and knew from where she had felt the blades being placed that he was cutting her long hair off close to the roots. She felt horrified that so much of her hair was being removed but knew that now it was far too late to do anything about it. The scissors sheared remorselessly through her bunched up hair for a few more seconds and then she felt the tension released on her scalp and knew that her treasured longhair was no more.

The girl holding her head stepped back and Jane was able to raise her head, shocked at how light and bare it felt, and in the mirror she saw a smiling Martin holding her severed ponytail almost like a trophy. She sat stunned for a moment, staring at her unfamiliar reflection in the mirror with short hair angrily sprouting about her face and then she was ushered over to the shampoo basin. As the warm water flowed over her head she could hardly believe that less than 10 minutes ago her hair had been almost waist length and now with hardly any warning she now had short hair that probably would be cut even shorter in a few minutes.

She was returned to the chair and her short damp hair was combed through, her head tilted forward and the scissors began another assault on her hair. He spent at least 10 minutes working at the back of her head and she heard the snippets of damp hair spattering down to the floor and could feel her hair getting shorter and shorter. She felt absolutely helpless to do anything about it and tried to console herself with the thought that he must know what he was doing and perhaps she would like her haircut when it was finished but she had loved her long hair. Strangely although she hated what the scissors were doing to her hair, she found the constant feel of the comb against her scalp, the hypnotic sound of the snipping blades and the touch of his hand against her cropped nape was both soothing and erotic. Despite her distress about her hair being cut so short she found herself swiftly getting very wet and she moved her hand gently under the cape to increase her pleasure.

At last he stopped cutting and she felt part relief and part disappointment as he straightened up her head and now began working on the top and side hair. Her nape felt incredibly bare and light but she was still throbbing from the sensations she had experienced. The assault now began on her remaining hair and once again snippets of damp hair fell from his busy blades and rolled down over the gown and spatter on the floor around the chair. She watched her hair becoming shorter and shorter with a feeling of despair and had to sit for a further10 minutes as he worked on the top and side hair. Finally he put down the scissors that had removed so much of her hair and he began blow-drying her short-cropped hair.

She hardly recognised her own reflection in the mirror and still couldn’t believe that her ha ir had been cut so short. He had left a little length on top and dressed it in short fronds over her forehead but had removed all the hair from around her ears and even before he showed her the back view she knew that most of the hair at the back of her head had been cropped skin tight. She hated it! She made slight approving noises as he enquired if she liked her new hairstyle and listened listlessly as he explained how much easier it would be to maintain and how much more modern the style was. She hated it!

A few minutes later Mrs Jacobs appeared and was very enthusiastic about Jane’s dramatic change. “Oh, you look sensational,” she exclaimed, “I just love you with short hair. It really suits you.” Jane tried to look pleased but she was close to tears and looked longingly at her long gleaming ponytail that lay on the dressing table in front of her. She hated her new-cropped appearance. All the way back to the office Mrs Jacobs enthused about her hair saying how much more attractive she felt it made Jane look but Jane still missed her long hair dreadfully and felt that she was just being kind in saying how good her hair looked. Surely she now looked like a cropped schoolboy with her hair so short. Oh she hated it!

Back at the office Mr Jacobs also told her how much more attractive she looked with her hair short and then to her amazement whilst on her way home, two girls she had never seen before told her they thought what a fabulous haircut she had and wanted to know the name of the salon where she had had it done. Even her mother, once she had got over the shock of seeing how different Jane looked, told her how much short hair suited her and how beautifully her hair had been shaped. In the next few days Jane received many more compliments on her new hairstyle and Jane herself felt a little less miserable about losing her long hair but she still hated it!

The End