A visit to the country barber

Max lived with his parents in a big busy city and were very wealthy people. Max had just turned 17 and was enjoying life in the big city to the fullest. Since things were going well at school and he didn’t consume drugs or large amounts of alcohol, his parents gave him a lot of freedom and he could go to parties whenever he wanted and meet up with his buddies and girls. He was always tastefully dressed according to the latest fashions and intensively cared for his wavy blond hair. He hadn’t had them cut short for years, so they reached far over his belt at the back and his smart side parting hung up to his hips at the front. His mane was his emblem and the girls liked him. He regularly went to a sinfully expensive hair salon to wash and trim. So, his mane always looked well-groomed and fragrant. Most of the time he wore them lengthwise as a ponytail or braid.

During the summer holidays, it was unbearably hot in the city and the number of entertainment options was limited. Then his parents suggested that he visit his aunt Jenna in the countryside for a few weeks, as they had booked a boat trip themselves, but Max didn’t feel like it. He agreed and went to his aunt Jenna’s country house. Jenna liked him very much and was happy. She hadn’t seen him for a few years and admired his long mane. “My goodness, you grew up and have super long hair,” she said and had to digest how he looked now. She remembered him as a boy with a brush cut and was not very enthusiastic about his appearance. Hair up to the buttocks, there was no such thing in the countryside. Jenna let him do what he wanted, and so for the first few weeks he spent most of his time at the pool of his aunt’s huge estate, sunbathing and chatting with his friends. He did not leave the estate and did not visit the neighbouring village.

One evening he looked at the tips of his hair in front of the mirror and noticed that they had grown a good 10 cm, got out of shape and had become brittle from the sun. Before his departure, he had not managed to get his hair in shape in his salon. This bothered him very much and he spoke to his aunt: “Jenna, can you trim my hair?” – “I can do it Max, but I only have simple household scissors here and no care products for your hair.” Max didn’t really trust his aunt and believed that she would cut him off too much and unevenly and therefore asked: “Is there a barber in your village where you can have this done?” – “Yes, there is one in the village, and he also cuts the hair of our people on the estate. If you think he can do it better than me, then go to him. You don’t need an appointment there. ” He thought a professional would be more likely to do it.

The next day he washed his hair thoroughly, brushed himself in front of a large mirror after drying and looked at his tips. Yes, a trim was urgently needed, and he didn’t want to wait until the end of the holidays. So that the hairdresser could get started right away, he wore his hair open over his dark jacket for once and tucked his parting hair behind his ear. His jacket was covered in the back under a torrent of hair.

With a flowing, flowing mane, he walked towards the village and reached the main shopping street after 20 minutes. The passers-by all stare at him as if he were an alien. He noticed that the men and boys were all wearing the same hairstyle. 2 cm short at the top and sheared at the back and sides. Somehow, he had a strange feeling about whether he was in the right place, but he ignored it, because his fluffy uneven tips urgently needed a trim.

Then he saw a sign with the inscription “Barbershop” and marched off. When he reached the salon, he stopped for a moment and reflected himself with his flowing hair in the shop window while he inspected the salon from the outside. It was an old-fashioned shop with two barber chairs and a waiting area with wooden chairs. The barber, a man in his fifties with a blue coat and bow tie, was serving a customer with a hair clipper and there was only one customer in the waiting area, who looked at him in amazement. He wouldn’t have to wait too long, and he entered resolutely. A bell rang as he entered.

The barber interrupted his work, turned to him and said, “I’m sorry young woman, but this is not a ladies’ salon.” He paused, looked at him again and smiled: “Excuse me, but I thought you were a young lady when you came in. Take a seat, it’s your turn soon. ” Turned on his clipper again and shaved out his customer’s neck. Max sat down next to the man and threw his curls behind the backrest so as not to have to sit on them. He took out his side parting behind his ears and brushed himself thoroughly.

In front of the salon, some villagers with children stopped and stared at him through the window. “Why are they all staring like that?” he asked the man next to him. “When I came in, I also thought you were a woman. We have never seen such long hair on a young man here. Where do you come from?” he said- “I’m visiting my aunt and want to have my hair cut a bit. They have grown a good 10 cm in the last few weeks and have gotten out of shape,” he answered. “How long do you let them grow?” ́- “For 6 years” – “My wife would like to have hair like that, too,” said the customer. Max replied, “I usually wear them in a ponytail or braid. To make it go faster at the hairdresser today, I wear it open as an exception.”

The barber had overheard the conversation and was already looking forward to the haircut. He has never had a customer with such a mane in his shop. The young sons of mothers who let their children’s hair sprout until they started school and received their first real haircut from him had long hair. Once a mother came with her little son, whose hair reached down to his waist, and cried when he sang him. But a young man with a mat that was even longer and more well-groomed than most women… He had never seen anything like it. That was crazy and had to be changed.

Max was annoyed by the gawking people and when another child pointed his finger at him, he continued to talk to his neighbour about sports topics. A young man with thinning hair came into the store and sat down next to Max when it was the customer’s turn next to him. The guy looked at him for a long time in amazement and sneered: “Well, lady, did your parents finally send you to the barber?” Max ignored him, but became more and more nervous, shook his hair and fished for a magazine. He was already thinking of returning to the estate without having achieved anything, when the barber shouted: “The next one!” and it was his turn. He stood up, shook his mane and throw a quick glance on his hip long hair.

He took a seat in the first hairdresser’s chair, was given a paper ruff and a cape. The hairdresser grabbed his hair at the nape of his neck, lifted it, fastened the cape and dropped it. “What are your wishes?”, he asked Max. “Cut 1-2 cm!”, he said in a brittle voice and showed with his fingers what length he meant. The hairdresser nodded and just said “Let’s do it this way!” and combed out his mane so thoroughly that Max had a thick curtain in front of his eyes. The barber looked at his customer, who looked like a haystack, and shook his head. He was stunned how a young man had let his hair grow so long. The whole backrest had disappeared under the mane.

What madness! He decided to use a particularly large pair of scissors and cut off, snip, snap, the first long strand at the nape of his neck. Max felt cold metal on his neck and screamed: “What are they doing! I only want 1-2 cm at the tips! Are you crazy!” The hairdresser quickly continued to chop and long curls after curls slid to the floor and into his lap. “No, I understood how to shorten it to 1-2 cm. I think it’s good boy that you finally went to the hairdresser to get rid of this wool. “Said the hairdresser unmoved and cut everything except the bangs to 5 cm.

Max was shocked, paralysed and tears ran down his face. This scumbag from hairdresser! How dare he cut off his beloved mane! He had a lump in his throat and couldn’t make a sound. He heard the clipper turn on, hummed and he felt a gentle vibration in the neck and on the sides above his ears. The hairdresser was now ankle-deep in hair and the cape was overflowing with curls. He was done with the back of his head and sides. Now he shortened the hair on the top of his head to 2 cm with scissors and comb and finally cut off the parting hair just before the hairline, so that Max could look at his “work”.

Max was shocked when he saw himself in the mirror. What a sheep shearing! The hairdresser had given him a 50 annual cut and he now looked like all the villagers. What a disaster! The hairdresser took off his cape and paper cuff and masses of hair slid to the floor. “Be glad. Now you look like a rational creature again! This was urgently needed! You should have it trimmed in three weeks,” said the hairdresser. Max looked at the hair massacre on the floor with swollen eyes and ran out of the store confused, without paying. The hairdresser happily swept up the mass of hair. This fun was worth it even without payment and he served the next customer.

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