Next Lady

Shelley had already closed the shop for the night.

The floor had been swept, the stations cleaned, and the front curtains drawn tight. She and her college friend, Claire, had stayed behind just long enough to finish closing everything down. Now they were ready to head out the back door and spend the rest of the evening at a local bar.

Shelley was reaching for the door when her phone rang.

It was her niece, Kylie.

“Hey, Aunt Shelley,” Kylie said. “Are you still at the shop?”

“Barely,” Shelley said. “We’re literally walking out the door.”

There was a short pause.

“I want to get my head shaved.”

Shelley stopped with her hand still near the door.

“You mean tonight?”

“Yeah,” Kylie said. “Tonight.”

Shelley looked across the shop at Claire.

“We’re just going to have to hang out a few more minutes before we go,” Shelley told her. “She wants to come through.”

Claire shrugged and dropped into one of the waiting-area chairs.

Shelley went back to the phone.

“The curtains are already drawn,” Shelley said. “Come around back. Just come through the back door.”

A few minutes later, there was a knock.

Shelley opened the back door, and Kylie stepped inside.

There was no long discussion. Kylie knew exactly why she had come.

“Ready?” Shelley asked.

“Ready,” Kylie said.

Kylie climbed into Shelley’s barber chair. Shelley wrapped the neck strip around her neck, fastened the cape, and picked up her clippers.

Claire remained in the waiting area. She lit a cigarette, leaned back in the chair, and watched.

Shelley approached the haircut almost like an old-fashioned military induction cut. She placed one hand against Kylie’s head and tilted it dramatically backward until Kylie was nearly looking toward the ceiling.

The clippers came on.

Shelley drove them straight into the hair at the front and pushed aggressively across the top of Kylie’s head. There was no cautious first pass and no gradual shortening. The clippers went directly against the scalp.

Kylie stayed still.

Shelley immediately repositioned her head.

“Over.”

Kylie’s head was tilted sharply to one side.

Shelley ran the clippers rapidly up the exposed side, stripping the hair away. Then she shifted Kylie’s head in the opposite direction.

“Other way.”

The other side disappeared just as quickly.

Finally, Shelley pushed Kylie’s chin toward her chest and attacked the back, running the clippers upward from the nape until she connected with everything she had already removed.

Because of the way Shelley had handled the cut, the long hair remained together rather than scattering across the floor. When the final section separated, the mass of hair came away essentially as one piece.

Shelley lifted it clear and set it aside.

Kylie was buzzed down to the scalp.

Claire said nothing.

She simply took another drag from her cigarette and continued watching.

Shelley put away the regular clippers and brought out the foil shaver. The sound changed as she began working systematically across Kylie’s scalp, stretching the skin with one hand while moving the shaver with the other.

Front.

Top.

Sides.

Back.

She repeatedly tilted and repositioned Kylie’s head until the remaining shadow was gone.

Claire finished her cigarette and lit another.

Shelley felt across Kylie’s scalp with her fingertips, checking for anything the foil shaver had missed.

Then came the hot towel.

Shelley wrapped it around Kylie’s head and let the heat soften the scalp. When she removed it, she prepared the skin and opened her straight razor.

Claire’s attention was now completely fixed on the chair.

Shelley stretched the scalp and began shaving it with the razor, working in controlled strokes across the top before moving around the sides and back. Kylie cooperated with every movement, tilting her head wherever Shelley directed it.

By the time Shelley finished the razor work, Claire was on her third cigarette.

Shelley wiped Kylie’s scalp clean and ran her palm across it.

Smooth.

Kylie looked at herself in the mirror.

Then she touched her freshly shaved head.

“I want my face done too,” Kylie said.

Shelley smiled.

“Okay.”

Another hot towel went on, this time across Kylie’s face.

Shelley prepared her skin and carefully performed a traditional straight-razor face shave, repositioning Kylie’s chin and stretching the skin as she worked across her cheeks, jawline, chin, and neck.

Claire continued watching from the waiting area, cigarette between her fingers. What had started as casually waiting for Shelley so they could go out had clearly become something else. She was fascinated by the entire process.

Shelley finished, wiped Kylie’s face clean, and removed the cape and neck strip.

Kylie stood and looked at herself one last time.

She smiled.

“Thanks, Aunt Shelley.”

“You’re welcome.”

Kylie wrapped her arms around Shelley and hugged her.

Shelley hugged her back.

Then Kylie picked up her things, crossed the darkened shop, and disappeared through the back door.

The door closed behind her.

For a moment, the shop was silent.

Shelley turned around.

Claire was still sitting in the waiting-area chair, watching her.

Shelley looked at Claire.

“Next lady.”