In the Shower

I was standing in the shower, my butt pressed against the soothingly cool tiles. The air was still thick with steam from the hot water I had just turned off. My body had been washed and scrubbed, and my cropped pixie hair had been shampooed and rinsed. Normally, I styled and textured it with a bit of wax or gel and used a ton of hairspray to set it. But right then it clung wetly to my head, and occasionally a droplet of water would drip from the wet tips and run down my body.

Like every week, I tended to my body hair – its removal, that is. I had already done my armpits, legs, and underarms, and had moved on to shaving my privates. I greatly enjoyed the smooth feel of my freshly shaved skin, so I followed this weekly ritual slavishly.
The tool I was using for the job was a men’s razor that I had switched to a long time ago, mainly to save myself the pink tax. However, it would be a lie to say that I didn’t find its utilitarian design oddly appealing. Stroke by stroke and with a precision that only repetition breeds, I freed my folds from the stubble that had grown down there over the last few days.

Lost in the trance of habit, my mind wandered – until, suddenly, a clear thought surfaced: I wondered what it would feel like if all of me were clean-shaven. Startled by this mental intrusion, I froze. My free hand involuntarily shot up to touch a strand of my hair. Surely it would look ridiculous if I were bald. And besides, the two-and-a-half inches of my hair would simply be too long for the razor…

Almost without thinking, I lifted the blade to my sideburn, pressing it lightly against my skin. I pushed it down very slightly, then there was a little tug, and suddenly a small tuft of hair had come loose. It took all my focus not to drop the razor. So I had tested my hypothesis and found that shaving it off like that were indeed possible. For a few shocked moments, I stood there with my mouth agape. Then my other hand shot up and smoothed back my short bangs as tightly as possible. The razor seemed to move to my hairline of its own accord. A few short, gentle strokes, and another clump of wet hair fell, landing in the shower basin with a soft splash.

The razor wasn’t quite as easy to use on longer hair, though. There was a great deal of tugging involved, and I was sure I nicked myself a couple of times. But despite the difficulties, the hypnotic scraping of the blade on my scalp was irresistible. Soon enough, I had finished shaving the top of my head. Luckily there was no mirror in which I could see how ridiculous it looked, likely akin to a monk’s tonsure.

I continued my work on the sides of my head, where the hair was shorter than on top. With confident strokes from top to bottom, it didn’t take long. The back was the last and most difficult part. Thankfully, it hadn’t been too long since my last monthly visit to the salon, so most of the hair at the back of my head was still neatly short. Compared to the mostly even top of my head, the back of my head felt like a challenge. I carefully felt the shape of my nape with my free hand to avoid any painful cuts.

The fog had already long cleared from the shower when I was finally done. My arms were covered in goosebumps, but I have to admit that this was only partly due to the chilly, humid air. I looked down at my feet and saw the small mound of clumpy, wet hair. It was two shades darker than when it was dry. I knew that if I washed it down the drain, it would likely clog the shower, but I didn’t care. I turned the hot water back on because I wanted to feel it raining down on my scalp and wash over my now bald head.

While the water pelted my skin, I ran the razor over it a few more times with gentle, long strokes, not applying too much pressure. I made sure to catch all the straggling hairs, and finally put the razor to rest. Astonished, I ran my hands over myself. First, both of them over my head to feel the new smoothness. Then, one over my head and one between my legs to feel the familiar smoothness there. I lost myself in the steamy haze, thinking that I would have to extend my weekly ritual to another part of me.

Author’s Note: Thanks for reading. I felt inspired today while (guess what) taking a shower.

– rightdownthemiddle

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