Baldies only
Ella had always seen her brother get the same haircut each summer. She had never imagined that this was the summer that she would be joining him. She didn’t think there was anything spectacular about her hair, but as she sat in the barber’s chair she couldn’t help but to feel embarrassed by her mom’s request.
‘Shave her head,’ her mom said, seeing that Ella was too shocked to respond.
Ella had never imagined being bald, but the clippers soon revealed the shape of her head. She could feel her underwear getting wet with sweat at the prospect of what she was about to look like.
The barber lathered her head with hot cream and then went over it with a straight razor, revealing a smooth, bald head. Ella was embarrassed but she tried not to show it.
Her mom came over and rubbed her head, telling her how beautiful she looked and how cool she was going to be for the summer. But Ella couldn’t quite believe it – feeling like a whole new person in just the few minutes it had taken to shave her head.
It didn’t take long for stubble to start growing back, so Ella decided to take matters into her own hands and purchase her own razor for a DIY shave. She soon became addicted to the feeling and the look of her bald head, and before she knew it the summer was over.
But the habit didn’t go away. Every day, Ella shaved her head, loving the feel and the look of it. It had been five years and she was still shaving, and she didn’t plan on stopping any time soon. Bald was her new normal.
