A Few Extra Inches

I was recently inspired to write a quick story, I’ve been bad about starting stories and never finishing them so it was nice to just get this was done. As always I welcome any feedback and hope you enjoy it.

Sabina pulled the door open and the fragrant salon air hit her as she walked inside. Steven greeted her and guided her to his station. She set her purse next to the counter and took a seat in the chair, her sandals on the footrest and sitting straight against the short back. Steven twisted her hair into a bundle and then twisted it up into a coil on top of her head, deftly securing it with a large clip. He then grabbed a cape and tossed it over her, it billowed over her, slowly coming to rest across her body and the chair. The cape was secured around her neck, not too tight but definitely snug, the cool material felt nice on her bare arms.

Steven released the clip, allowing her hair to tumble down the back of the chair, uncoiling into a beautiful waterfall of hair. It had gotten long since she hadn’t been able to get it cut in a year’s time and sitting reached the bottom of the seat. Steven gave her hair a few long strokes with a brush, she could feel the gentle tugs as he removed the few tangles. He then guided her to stand up and she followed him back to the shampoo basins, taking a seat at the first one and adjusting the cape as she sat. He adjusted the bowl and lifted her long hair into it before guiding her back so her neck rested in the sink.

Sabina heard the water turn on and could feel her hair starting to get heavier as it started to get wet. The water ran for a moment before she felt the lukewarm water on her scalp, quickly wetting down her head and flowing down her hair. A moment later and the water turned off to be quickly followed by the sweet scent of the shampoo filling the air. Steven’s hands massaged her scalp and she shut her eyes, enjoying the sensation. He was taking his time, and she had no complaints about that. The massaging stopped and the water came back on, she could feel the water washing away the suds down the drain and enjoyed how the water played over her scalp. The conditioner followed, she could feel it being worked down the length of her hair, as he made sure the whole mass of wet hair was well coated. One more rinse and he was squeezing the water out and then wrapping a towel around her head, bundling the length up in a twist within the towel. She followed him back to the chair, her head heavy with the bundle of wet hair wrapped in the towel.

Sabina sat down gracefully into the styling chair again and Steven removed the towel, letting the mass of hair unravel and hang in a wet mess behind the chair. He began taming the mess, first taking a wide tooth comb to it and getting the big tangles out, and then with a brush and blow dryer; layer by layer running brush and blow dryer the length of her hair, making her hair glisten as it was dried and styled. Finally her hair was back to a black curtain of shining hair down the back of the chair.

“So what are we going to do with your hair today?”, Steven asked, looking at Sabina in the mirror as he ran his fingers through her freshly blown out hair.

“Oh, I was just thinking about the usual trim, maybe three inches?”

“It’s summer though, you don’t want to deal with all this hair as it gets hotter and hotter do you?”

“I don’t know, you know Sam likes my hair long, and I’m used to putting it up, it won’t be too bad”

“Let’s give Sam the surprise of his life, trust me you’ll be glad you did. Stand up.”

“Ok, but not too short,” Sabina replied warily as she stood up from the chair to stand to the side of it.

Steven stood beside her and ran his comb down the front most lock of hair to further smooth it out. Then he took his scissors and inserted them around her hair just below her chin; the cold metal brushing past her skin. Sabina gasped as he closed the scissors, sending two feet of hair dropping to the ground. She didn’t have time to recover before he continued his cut, sinding another swath of hair to the ground. He was past her shoulder now and while she could hear the soft crunch of the scissors and feel her head getting lighter the hair was tumbling to the floor out of sight. After a moment he was working his way around onto her other side; with a few final snips, the last lengths fell to the ground.

Sabina’s heart was pounding, she could feel the AC on her neck, and looked down to see the massive pile of hair that was surrounding her. Her hair swung around her face when she looked down and she was reminded of how short it now was.

Steven guided Sabina back to the chair and began trimming more, adding some layers and style to the new short length. An inch here, two inches there, little dustings too as he snipped away. Finally he was finished and undid the cape, sliding it off of her and the chair.

Sabina looked at herself in the mirror and ran her hands through it; it was so soft and looked very cute. She shook her head and admired the way the hair fell back into place. It had so much more style and movement, she had grown so accustomed to having long heavy hair, she forgot it could be this cute and stylish. She stood up, taking one last look at all the hair that had been on her head moments before and snapping a few photos on her phone of it before following Steven to the front, paid him, and thanked him, before heading out to her car.

Before she started driving, she texted Sam, “Heading home, Steven cut a few more inches off than planned, see you soon, I love you” and started the drive back to surprise her husband.

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