Sisterhood of Hair (Part 2)
“So what now?” I asked as I stroked my perfect platinum mane, a mane which I had just placed in horrible danger of being taken from me at any given moment. When this was all said and done how much time would I really have left with my silky hair? A year? A month? A week? Tonight? I didn’t know.
“Now, we decide what needs to happen for us to lose our hair. I’ve been thinking about this night for a while now.” Mary said with a smile as wide as her face.
“I’ll bet you have. “ Jenny said as she took off her glasses and began cleaning them again nervously. She had been growing irritated by her glasses the last few weeks, but strangely, she hadn’t brought up the idea of switching back to her contact lenses yet. “How do we decide what these criteria are exactly?”
“Well, it has to be something that’s not going to be likely to happen soon, but definitely could eventually.” Mary replied.
“So how do we decide?” Nicole asked, running her fingers through her silky hair as she attempted to fluff up her mane. It was clear that Mary’s idea to reinvigorate our love of our hair had clearly worked.
“Here, I’ll leave to use the little girls room and freshen up,“ Mary had now begun running her fingers through her long, thick, silky red mane too, “and while I’m gone you three can pick something for me.” And with that she got up and left for the bathroom.
“So what’s it going to be for her?” I asked, curious to find out what would cost Mary her hair since she had gotten us into this mess in the first place. That was when it hit me. “I got it!”
So Mary was the first one of us to have a price tag attached to her lovely hair. Mary would lose her precious locks if she ever got us all to agree to another crazy pact again. This wasn’t the first time she had done something like this, but they were rare so it would give her plenty of time to enjoy her long, thick mane before it was gone.
Mary came back, and when we told her we had chosen her condition it was Jenny’s turn to go to the restroom. As she walked away we discussed what would be an inevitable event for her, and we agreed that it would only be a matter of time before she gave up glasses again for contacts. The day she put the contacts back in her eyes her hair would be coming off her head.
Nicole was next, and as I eyeballed her beautiful and expensive leather jacket enviously a crazy idea came to mind. Nicole had an exciting, sexy, and expensive collection of clothes, but the jacket she was wearing had a particular story behind it. It had been given to Nicole by her ex-boyfriend as a gift, and while it had become her favorite jacket she had grown mixed feelings over it since they had a nasty break-up. As time went by we could all sense that she had been growing more and more detached from the jacket, even asking us if she thought she should give it away. It was only a matter of time before she gave up on that jacket entirely and got rid of it, but when she eventually did she had no idea of knowing it would cost her her luscious brown locks as well.
Finally it was my turn, and as I walked into the ladies restroom to touch up my make-up my mind wandered to what the others were writing down on their napkins. I studied myself in the mirror for a moment, looking at a very pretty face that was framed beautifully by a silky blonde curtain of hair falling from a center parting and wondered what random event would eventually lead to this wonderful blanket of lush, shining satin falling to the floor. Would it be an outfit I wore? A promotion at work? A vacation I went on? I loved sushi, so would it be me trying a certain new type of sushi roll that would cost me more than just money? That idea haunted me, the idea that that simply biting into a particular combination of rice, seaweed and fish would result in me losing my luscious hair.
Finally letting out a sigh of worry, I quickly fluffed my hair and walked back to the table, where all the girls were smiling at each other in shit eating grins that I had been sporting just a few minutes ago. I had no idea what was going to eventually destroy my mane, but it was clear that the wheels had already been set in motion that would likely lead to its’ eventual destruction.
A month passed after the night of our arrangement, then two, then three, and yet somehow none of us had triggered any of the events that would cost us our hair. Since that fateful night myself, Mary, Nicole, and Jennifer were all somewhat on edge that we were going to screw up at any moment and lose our hair in the process. Already I had noticed that the other three were getting progressively closer to losing their manes, Mary had twice proposed crazy ideas that we should all go in on, but we didn’t agree so technically they didn’t count for the bet. Jenny had finally brought up the notion that she had been thinking about contact lenses, but had yet to go through with actually switching to them. Nicole was not only wearing her leather jacket less and less, but letting me borrow it from her more and more, something she never used t do a mere six months ago, and I was sure that in some way I was doing something that was bringing me closer and closer to shaving my head, but I had no idea what it could possibly be.
But while each and every one of us were getting ourselves into an increasing danger of shedding our mammoth manes, it appeared that Mary’s theory about our hair care had indeed worked like a charm. Since the night of our arrangement each and every one of us had fallen in love with our hair all over again. In addition to regular deep conditioning nights becoming a weekly thing and salon treatments almost twice a week, the four of us would gather at each other’s houses in alternating turns and play with our hair like little kids. Nicole rekindled her love for her hair by buying the most expensive products she could find, and even frequently invited all four of us to her professional salon for expensive treatments that were completely on her. It wasn’t long before her hair was shining a brilliant chocolate shimmer that caused envy in every girl we knew.
For a while Jenny had decided to keep her hair at the length is already was, but after a couple months of regular trims and deep conditioning treatments she decided to start growing it out again to a length she would decide on later. Over time her lovely, honey blonde hair was shining like dark liquid gold, and was so soft to the touch that you would swear it was alive.
Mary decided to be the first of us to try something a little radical with her mane, and while her change included a lot of snipping and clipping it came out looking pretty amazing on her, so amazing in fact that I would have probably followed suit if I didn’t have other big plans for my hair. First she trimmed her hair back a bit. Not much, but after lopping off several inches it went from the top of her butt to just above her belly button. Next she cut some layers around her thick, perfect bangs, and then to top it all off she cut even more layers into the back of her mane so that her hair fell in thick, feathery, silky layers. The effect was that her hair now stacked off of her back beautifully, and the layers added so much volume and “oomph” to her hair that you would swear it had a life of it’s own.
As for myself, I decided that even though her hairstyle was nothing short of amazing, I was too in love with my poker straight fall of silky locks to ever do anything that drastic to them. Instead, having a countdown attached to my hair allowed me to rediscover my deep desire to grow it out even longer than I had originally planned, and now thanks to Nicole’s generous d
eep conditionings my hair looked even more brilliant and shiny than it had ever been, even while I continued to grow it out.
eep conditionings my hair looked even more brilliant and shiny than it had ever been, even while I continued to grow it out.
Pantene nights now had more significance than ever before. As the four of us would walk down the street with our hair loose we would turn guys’ heads so far around that they almost severed spines. We were four girls with manes that every girl wanted, and Mary was right about us rediscovering our love for our hair now that our manes were living on borrowed time. Months and months went by after the four of us had fallen in love with our hair all over again, and it was just like old times with our new found hair fondness. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, and eight months after our arrangement the first event finally occurred and robbed one of us of our beloved manes. This was the turning point of the adventures of our hair, and just like in stories, once the turning point of the story occurred, things began to happen very fast.
Almost like destiny it happened on a Pantene night, just like our arrangement had. This was the night our four perfect manes were reduced to three, and then two, and a few months down the line only one of us would still possess their amazing hair, this was the night that my best friend Jenny became the first of us to lose her hair.
Nicole, Mary, and myself had all met at Chili’s for dinner, Jenny was the last of us to walk in and when she did she was beaming from ear to ear. “So what do you guys think?” She asked with a huge smile on her face and a twirl. I looked her up and down looking for something new she may have bought, but noticed that she was dressed comfortably like the rest of us, wearing a pair of black yoga pants, a pair of comfortable running shoes, and a white tank top under a puffy black North Face satin jacket.
As she twirled her hair flew out behind her like a storm, and I couldn’t help but notice how much longer her hair had grown in just eight months. In fact as I looked around the table I realized all of our hair looked different from that night eight months ago. Jenny’s hair had grown from her waist to nearly the bottom of her bum, Nicole’s hair now shined with such a beautiful shimmer that it almost looked like a satin blanket, and Mary’s complete hair makeover had turned her long straight hair into a long, stylish, Hollywood worthy mane. Even my own hair, which had been to the middle of my bum eight months ago, had grown quickly down the back of my legs, now resting at the middle of my thighs. It even defied the laws of physics, as hair usually became more frail the longer it got, mine instead only became thicker, shinier, healthier, and more beautiful with each new inch. I think I had Nicole’s treatments and products to thank for that however, as did Jenny. But other than her new length, I couldn’t see anything other than the fact that she had apparently forgotten her glasses again.
“Leave your glasses at home?” I asked, a split second before the answer hit me.
“No, I decided to go back to contacts, what do you think?” Jenny was beaming ear to ear, but Nicole, Mary, and myself all looked at each other with a look of growing dismay. Later on I would swear that Mary had a look of excitement on her face after realizing what was going to happen to Jenny, but she would deny it vehemently. “Well come on, it can’t look THAT bad.” Jenny said, sweetly oblivious to her impending plight.
Luckily Nicole was on her feet and shot back “Oh, no Jenny, they actually look REALLY good, we were just talking about something funny before you came in…”
We decided to wait until later to tell her about her hair, but the whole time at dinner I couldn’t help but stare at her beautiful, long blonde mane and think with dismay that it would be gone in less than four hours. I would absently reach out and play with one of her locks, a habit I quickly had to break out of fear that she would catch on to what was about to happen. It was so thick and soft, shining brilliantly and silky to the touch, so much hair that was about to be stripped from her head, was this how it was going to happen to me one night? Would I be sitting there completely oblivious to what was about to happen to my breathtaking mane of hair mere moments before I had to bid my hair farewell? I took a moment to stroke my thigh length hair and hoped not.
We left the restaurant and drove back to Jenny’s place, and as Jenny continued to stroke her hair absently my heart ached every time I saw her beautiful hair flutter with the movement. When I first proposed growing out our hair in high school Jenny had been the most excited to do it, and now in mere moments she was going to feel like an outcast until another one of us fell victim to our damning events.
“Make yourself at home girls, I’ll go get some drinks.” Jenny started to trot towards the kitchen, but stopped when Nicole grabbed her hand.
“Jenny wait, there’s something we need to tell you.”
“What? What’s wrong?” Jenny asked as she sat down, a look of worry spreading over her pretty face. We each reached into our purses and pulled out three crisp envelopes with the name JENNIFER written on them. Upon seeing them I expected Jenny to turn white with fear, but instead she just sighed and smiled. “Oh I know already, I could tell when I walked into the restaurant that I did something. And the way you were stroking my hair Tracie? Be a LITTLE more subtle next time.” A smile spread across her face, but I could tell there was some worry in there too. “So what did I do?”
We opened our envelopes and showed her the papers inside, which all had “SWITCH TO CONTACTS” written on them. “Wow, I never even thought of that one!”
“I’m so happy you’re OK with this Jenny!” I said, I had been terrified that my friend was going to go to pieces when she found out she was about to lose her locks, but she seemed perfectly OK with it.
“Well, I’m not going to lie, I AM going to miss it something awful…” she reached around with both hands and grabbed two massive fistfuls of honey blonde silk, stroking her hair lovingly as she looked down at it, “but I knew what I signed in for and I actually am ready for a change. So when do we do it?” She asked, still fiddling with her long, silky tresses.
“Well, you can decide, and the way I see it, we have two options…” Nicole said, “it’s 9:19 right now, so we can either let you enjoy it for another two hours and 41 minutes…”
“Or?” Jenny asked, but Nicole just smiled.
Seventeen minutes later I turned the Oster clippers on, making them snap loudly in my hand as I walked towards a smiling Jennifer sitting in a chair. She jumped a little at the sound, making her hair shudder along with the movement and causing it to throw off a brilliant shine in the light. “Are you ready?” I asked Jennifer as I made my way over to her. Her hair had just been brushed out for the final time and it looked like a river of shining silk spilling down her back in a light golden brown waterfall. In response to my question Jenny smiled even broader and shook her hair out for one final time, her perfect honey blonde hair flying around her head defiantly and shimmering gorgeously, my God it was beautiful.
“I’ve said my goodbyes, now take it all off Tracie.” Jenny almost shouted. I wonder if I’ll be this brave when it’s my turn I wondered, but then I quickly placed the clippers between her eyebrows and pushed them back into her silky, lush jungle of satin tresses. The noise of the clippers changed pitch quic
kly as they first bit into the thick, soft tresses, but after a small sputter they seemed to regain their steam and moved towards the back of Jenny’s head as they continued to nibble away at her amazing mane. After watching the clippers plow straight back for almost three whole seconds they cleared the very front center of Jenny’s hairline, and I could see the damage that I had done firsthand for the first time. The middle of Jenny’s hairline now had a two inch wide racing stripe of pale skin underneath zero razor shaved stubble.
kly as they first bit into the thick, soft tresses, but after a small sputter they seemed to regain their steam and moved towards the back of Jenny’s head as they continued to nibble away at her amazing mane. After watching the clippers plow straight back for almost three whole seconds they cleared the very front center of Jenny’s hairline, and I could see the damage that I had done firsthand for the first time. The middle of Jenny’s hairline now had a two inch wide racing stripe of pale skin underneath zero razor shaved stubble.
Oh my god, this is the beginning of the end I thought as the realization of what I was doing dawned on me, she’s just the first of us to say goodbye to our amazing hair. But I didn’t let the sickness I felt in my stomach deter me as I continued to push back on the clippers, continuing the destruction of Jenny’s amazing hair. Finally as I reached the back of her skull with the clippers I reached down and picked up the massive pile of hair that had been severed from her head and placed it delicately in her lap.
“HOLY SHIT!” Jenny exclaimed as she picked up the mass of living silk and pressed it against her cheek with a smile. “Look at all of this!”
“Meh, that’s just the beginning.” Nicole said as she plucked the clippers out of her my hand and made another pass through Jenny’s hair, quickly increasing the width of Jenny’s peculiar reverse mohawk. We each took turns with the clippers as we continued the complete destruction of Jenny’s mane. It wasn’t long before that small white strip spread outward, and before long the silky soft, warm, shining jungle of satiny tresses that had adorned Jenny’s head was nothing but barren stubble. Jenny sat with her mounds of hair in her lap, gathering it all into a ponytail we didn’t know she was going to make. Before long almost every strand of Jenny’s hair had been collected into that ponytail, and as she placed it down gently on the table she rubbed her hands over her pale, smooth head. She closed her eyes and groaned as all of our hands felt the rough pelt that covered her head, and I swear I could hear sexual ecstasy in that moan.
“It feels sooooo good.” Jenny said, then handed me her ponytail. “Here Tracie, before and after!” and everyone laughed but me. As I felt the soft, silky texture of her amazing thick hair it just didn’t feel right like all the times I would brush and braid it for her. It was still the same hair, but without being attached to my best friend’s head it almost felt like it had no soul to it anymore.
“What do you want to do now?” Mary asked, tucking a long red lock of her lovely, shining hair behind her ear, hair that she didn’t know she would only be able to enjoy for another forty-one days.
“I’ve been thinking about this for a long time… follow me, I want to make a bonfire…” Jenny said with a smile.
TO BE CONTINUED…
