Desperate Times

Here’s just a fun little stand-alone story. The classic tale of a haircut for cash, the only difference is this time I’m writing it. Hopefully you’ll enjoy my take and if you’ve never read my work, be sure to check out my other stuff.

Financial Woes

Sitting at their kitchen table, Courtney and her husband Dan stared at their monthly budget. Dan closed his eyes and rubbed his temples with his thumb and forefinger, covering his eyes with his palm.

”I just don’t know how we’re going to do this,” he said, running his hand from his temples back over his head and rubbing the back of his head. Courtney could hear his fingers scratching against the stubbly hair of his slightly grown out shaved head.

She leaned her head against his shoulder, putting an arm around him. The high bun she wore her waist-length blonde hair in brushed the back of Dan’s neck as she pressed her cheek against his neck.

”I’m so sorry. I can’t believe the bar laid me off,” she said.

”I know. It’s not your fault. And my hours got cut back too so it’s not like you’re the only one,” Dan said.

”Yeah, but at least you’re bringing in some money. And they’re letting you work weekends which always means better tips than on the weeknights that you got cut from,” Courtney said, lifting her head and kissing his cheek.

”You always wanted a good maternity leave,” Dan said with a wry chuckle.

”Yeah, I just wish it had come sooner than a year after Isla was born,” Courtney said, attempting to laugh.

”We’ll figure something out. I’ll make enough for us to barely scrape by, but we’ve got to stretch our groceries out. And I’m worried we might have to sell your car,” Dan said with a shrug.

”Whatever we need to do. Mine is newer so hopefully that means we can get more for it. It’s not like I’ll be going anywhere without you,” Courtney said with a sad nod.

“We’ll figure it out. We always do,” Dan said.

”I’ll do whatever I can to help. I know I’ve pretty much only ever been a waitress, but I’ll apply to everything I can. Maybe I’ll get lucky,” Courtney said.

”And until we do, we’ll be fine,” Dan said.

As the weeks crawled on, things only grew tighter. They had only just barely done better than live paycheck to paycheck before their daughter Isla had been born, and now with a little one and Courtney not bringing in any money, they had nearly burned through their meager savings and the money from selling the car.

One day while looking through classifieds, Courtney saw something that caught her eye. “Long haired women wanted.”

She toyed with her bun that she wore her hair in every day to keep Isla’s curious fingers from tangling and pulling. She had long hair. Plenty of long hair.

She read further on the advertisement. “Models needed for haircuts. Cash for each cut received.”

Her heart fluttered. She loved her long blonde hair. Her mother-in-law was a retired hairstylist and she kept her naturally honey blonde hair a cute pale blonde that Courtney and Dan both loved. But she needed money.

”What do you think?” Courtney asked Dan after he got home from his shift that night.

Dan rubbed his stubbly head and sighed. “I don’t know babe. How much hair are we talking?” he asked with a shrug.

“I don’t know. It says cash for every cut. So I guess the shorter I’m ultimately willing to go, the more money I can make,” Courtney said, toying with her long hair that she had taken down from its bun,

“So, and I’m not saying I want you to do this, because I can’t ask you to do something like this, but how short are you willing to go?” Dan asked.

Courtney shrugged. “I guess it depends on how much they offer. I think I might reach out. It’s just a haircut. I’ve been wanting to try out something shorter. Maybe a bob,” she lied. The idea terrified her, but if she let on she knew Dan would never let her.

”Only if it’s something you want to do. I’m sure whatever you end up with will look great,” Dan said.

And so, Courtney called the number. The person who answered was interested when she told them how long her hair was and requested photos of her with her hair down. After straightening her hair, she had Dan take some pictures that she could send.

She was shocked by how quickly the response came.

”We’d be happy to have you. We can offer you $200 a haircut with seven levels down to a high and tight style, or we’ll give you a full $2000 for shaving your head completely.”

Courtney felt like her heart stopped. She had to google what a high and tight was. That wasn’t much longer than shaving her head completely. There were several steps between how long her hair was and a high and tight. She could get several hundred dollars and still walk out with a reasonable amount of hair. But $2000 was a lot of money. That would cover a lot of groceries.

”Babe, I’m going to do it,” she told Dan.

”Okay, how much are you going to make?” he asked.

”A few hundred dollars at least. I’ll leave with a bob, probably,” she answered.

”Probably?” he asked.

”I don’t know. Maybe I’ll have more than that,” she said with a shrug.

The date for what the contact person had called a hair modeling job was two weeks out and whenever Courtney let herself think about it, she was completely terrified. So she did her best to ignore it until the day came.

Modeling Debut

On the morning of her modeling job, Courtney woke up early. It fell on one of Dan’s days off so he would stay home with Isla. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror after having gotten ready.

Her hair was down and straight, just like the person from the modeling job had said she should do. It fell all the way down to where her lower back curved inward. She was somewhat tall at 5’9” and slender, having breasts that were smaller than she liked, but not absent with a small but nicely shaped backside. She wore a simple white top and black shorts to deal with the hot, early Arizona summer. It was already in the 90s even though it was only 10am.

Pulling her hair back with one hand, she stared at herself in the mirror, trying to imagine what she would look like with no hair. Big, brown eyes, a long, slender nose, full lips, decent cheekbones. Her ears were a little big, but not horrible. Would she look okay bald? Would she even be willing to go that far? Dan didn’t even know she was considering going for the full $2000.

She turned her head side to side, looking at the shape of her face, it was mostly an oval, but she had a nice jawline. Pretty enough to get decent tips at the different restaurants and bars she had worked at.

Letting out a sigh through pursed lips, she shook her shoulders to try to shake out the nerves and then walked out. Dan sat on the floor with Isla, playing with toys as the little girl giggled and crawled, pulling herself up occasionally.

”Are you ready, mommy?” Dan asked, calling her mommy in hopes that Isla would soon start using the word.

Courtney sighed again and nodded, eyes closed. “I think so. It’s just a haircut.”

Dan smiled. “Exactly. Remember when you cut your hair short before?”

Cut her hair short. She had cut it to collarbone length, once back when she and Dan were dating. And she had immediately grown it back out. Other than occasional trims, she never actually got haircuts.

She forced a smile onto her face. “Right, just a haircut.”

With a kiss for her husband and child, she was off. Driving in their shared car, an older Toyota Camry, something they had gotten cheap and had been fairly reliable, she broke into a sweat. It was hot out, but the AC worked well enough. She was nervous. She couldn’t believe she was considering going all the way. There was music on the radio, something fun and upbeat, so she turned it up and did her best to ignore it. No sense in messing up her makeup.

In the parking lot of the salon where she’d be getting her hair cut, she felt her hands shaking but she forced herself to get out of the car. Her feet felt like lead as she walked in, her purse slung over her shoulder.

On the way in, she passed a woman leaving. She had freshly cut hair, bangs and a lob that reached her shoulders. She wasn’t especially pretty but wasn’t ugly either. Just kind of plain.

”You here for the hair thing?” she asked. Courtney was sure her nerves had given that away.

”Yeah, I need a cut and the cash sounded nice,” she said, casually tucking her hair behind her ear.

”They’ll love you. You’re beautiful and you’ve got the longest hair so far. I know that because they said my hair was the longest so far and yours is longer than mine was. Well, good luck,” the woman said as she continued her walk, pulling out her car keys and clicking the unlock button on the fob.

”Thanks, have a nice day,” Courtney said.

Approaching the glass door, she saw what she would be walking into. There were two cameramen with professional looking camera equipment and also a white sheet with a photographer sitting in a chair playing on her phone. Lastly was the stylist, a woman around her age with a cute undercut pixie. She had several piercings in each ear and a tattoo sleeve. The stylist saw her and smiled, waving a friendly wave.

Now there was no going back. Courtney opened the door and walked in.

”You must be Courtney,” the stylist said with a bright smile. She stepped forward and shook Courtney’s hand. “I’m Sierra, it’s nice to meet you.”

”Nice to meet you,” Courtney said.

”Let’s get started, we have a few more models after you so we’ve got a tight schedule. We just got finished up with the last girl,” Sierra said.

”I passed her on her way out. Her hair looked cute,” Courtney said.

”Yeah. I just wish she had let us do more. She only made $400. She could have done way better,” Sierra said, guiding Courtney to the chair.

A man that Courtney hadn’t seen from the outside introduced himself to her. “Hi, Courtney, I’m Hal. I was your contact person and I’m the director and producer for this little video we’re about to make. And I’m the guy that will give you your cash.”

Hal looked nice enough, with a pleasant smile, reasonably fit build, clean shaven face and his brown hair was cut into a neat short on the sides a little longer on top haircut. It seemed like he was more businesslike, with khaki pants and a golf shirt on. It seemed like his cellphone lived in his hand and even as he spoke to her, his fingers tapped away on the screen.

“Nice to meet you,” she said, shaking his hand with a smile. She hoped that he couldn’t feel the tremor in her hand from the nerves.

Sierra swept her hand out, inviting Courtney to sit. “So how far are we going today?” the stylist asked.

“I’m not sure. I know there are seven levels, or well, I guess eight counting shaving my head. What are the levels?” Courtney asked as she sat in the chair.

”First level is just bangs. Then it’s a lob, then a chin length bob, and then an earlobe length French bob. After that it’s a longer pixie cut, then a cropped, skin faded pixie, then the high and tight. And then bald,” Sierra explained, putting a black cape over Courtney’s body and fastening it around her neck.

Not So Bad

Courtney’s heart raced. The options got really short really fast. She wasn’t sure what some of the options meant, but earlobe length and skin fade were enough for her to figure them out.

”What’s the furthest someone has gone so far?” she asked.

”We had a pixie cut earlier today,” Hal said.

”That’s the furthest we’ve gone. Why, are you wanting to beat the record?” Sierra asked.

Courtney spoke, hoping her voice didn’t come out as a squeak. “I’m thinking about it. Can we just go a step at a time and see how far I want to go?”

”Of course we can, sweetie. Don’t be so nervous, it’s just hair. Even hair as pretty as yours is still just hair,” Sierra said.

Courtney nodded, looking at her long, beautiful hair in the mirror that was on the wall in front of her. “I know, you’re right,” she said, feeling breathless. Like she knew something terrible and unrelenting was coming.

”Are we ready to roll?” Sierra asked, snipping her scissors in the air.

Hal looked to both cameramen and nodded. They both nodded back and Hal said, “Action.”

”Alright, sweetie. Let’s do these bangs first,” Sierra said, using a comb to section out a hefty clump of hair that would become Courtney’s bangs.

”Okay,” Courtney said, still feeling like her voice was only coming out in a whisper.

With practiced hands, Sierra twisted the clump of hair in one hand and snipped off a massive chunk with the other, just above where her fingers held the hair. Her new bangs fell onto her forehead, covering her eyebrows in shaggy bangs. Pulling them out away from her forehead with her left hand, holding the hair between two fingers, Sierra snipped into the bangs with the tip of her scissors.

She snipped a few times and then let the hair fall again. Ruffling the hair with her fingers, she smiled at Courtney. “There you go. Bangs.”

Hal moved behind Courtney, out of the frame of both cameras and mouthed, “look at one of the cameras and smile.”

Courtney did as she was told and after a beat, Hal said, “Cut.”

Sierra smiled at Courtney in the mirror. “Great job! That’s one cut down. You’ll go take some pictures with the photographer and then we’ll see if we’re going to keep going.”

”That wasn’t so bad,” Courtney said, suddenly feeling relief wash over her as her breath and normal voice returned.

It Gets Worse

After a few posed pictures in front of the photographer, Courtney’s nerves subsiding at the distraction of figuring out the modeling part of being a hair model, she’s back in the chair.

”We can do the lob. And the bob,” she said. “After that I’ll have to think about it.”

And so they did just that. First was the lob, bluntly cut with a slight angle, going from her collarbone at the front to the top of her t-shirt collar at the back. Then it’s pictures with the photographer and back in the chair. That had also not been so bad.

The bob was worse. It didn’t look bad on her, the bob, blunt and straight, reaching the tip of her chin. It was bouncy and almost flippy as she moved her head around for the pictures. But it was just so different. As long as she could remember, her hair had been long. The “short” cut that she had gotten several years before was nothing compared to the bob she had now and she was strongly considering going further.

”So, are we doing the French bob?” Hal asked after Courtney finished with the photographer for the third time.

She glanced at herself in the mirror. She had a bob, a French bob couldn’t be much worse.

”Let’s do it,” she said, her heart pounding in her chest.

Back in the chair, the cape over her body again, she heard a noise she had heard several times. Ever since Dan’s hairline had started to recede, she had shaved his head with clippers. A zero buzz is what it had been called. And now, behind her head, she heard the clippers.

Sierra pushed her head down, the now short hair hanging around her face. She felt the clippers plunge into the hair on her nape and go up, just a couple of inches and then peel away. Sierra drove the clippers in again and again, pushing them up and then peeling away as they reached just below her occipital bone.

The stylist started up the middle of her nape, but soon worked her way outward, toward Courtney’s ears. She could feel the plastic guard of the clippers touch her earlobes at the end of the upward strokes when finally the clippers flipped off.

Lifting her chin and looking into the mirror, the damage had all been done at her nape and Courtney couldn’t see anything yet. All of the previous cuts had been done dry, but now Sierra used a spray bottle and sufficiently wet the hair that remained on Courtney’s head.

Starting at the back, from where the clippers had gone up and stopped, Sierra snipped a blunt, slightly downward angled line from the back of Courtney’s head, passing just underneath her earlobe and continuing the line out until she stopped at the corner of her lips. Sierra then repeated the process on the other side.

Using a blow dryer and brush, Sierra dried Courtney’s hair and styled it. The bottom of the bob was so blunt and bouncy, Courtney felt more like a mushroom than a luxurious French woman as she modeled for the camera again.

As she modeled this time, she touched her nape where the clippers had touched. It was so short. Not as short as Dan’s was when she shaved it for him, but way shorter than she had expected.

”So, that’s $800. You want to keep going?” Hal asked.

Courtney turned her head side to side, looking in the mirror. Unlike the previous cuts, she didn’t like the way this one looked.

”Why not,” she said rather than asked, sitting in the chair.

Why Not

The pixie cut was absolutely terrifying. Clippers again touched her head, this time with a longer guard as they went up the back of her head, this time pulling away at the tops of her ears. The clippers also were used on her sideburns, bringing relatively longer hair to come to a stop at the same level as her bangs.

Her hair was sprayed wet again and now Sierra lifted up pieces of hair and snipped at them, making them shorter, adding texture and depth to her rapidly shortening hair. When she was done, Courtney now truly and for real had short hair.

Ears fully exposed, her little cubic zirconium earrings glittering in the fluorescent lights of the salon, the hair on the top was shaggy and swept slightly to the side, her bangs now slightly shorter, showing her eyebrows. The sides had been clippered short, and as Courtney held the back of her head, modeling for a picture, she could actually feel the shape of her skull.

It looked fine. Even cute. But it wasn’t her.

“Let’s go ahead and do the next one too,” she said behind a dead smile. At this point, she had decided how far she was willing to go.

”Great, have a seat,” Sierra said, sweeping Courtney’s once precious hair away.

Back in the seat, Courtney watched as Sierra removed the guard from the clippers entirely and flick them on. The now short-haired young mother knew exactly how short that would be as her chin was tilted down and the clippers plunged into her already short hair. She could feel the tiny hairs falling down her neck and onto the floor behind her as the clippers went up into the hair on each pass that Sierra took.

The back was soon finished and Courtney’s chin was lifted, her head pushed to the side as the clippers took away the hair from the right side of her head, going all the way up to her temple before being pulled away. Her ears, though they had not been covered by hair before, now felt even more exposed as Sierra buzzed the hair away from the other side. There was nothing but barely visible blonde stubble around either ear. She felt naked.

A new, but very small guard was snapped on as Sierra blended the top of the sides into what would be the top. She was fast and skilled and soon, Courtney’s hair was wet again and being snipped away.

She was stunned to see that, while before Sierra had pulled the hair away from her scalp a few inches, she now held her fingers almost directly against her head before snipping the hair off brutally short. Seeing how short her hair was becoming made the decision Courtney would be sharing soon much easier.

The cut now finished, Sierra used a hefty helping of styling product in Courtney’s still wet hair and swooped the front up and back, creating a side part and combing it over. The cut was noticeably more masculine.

Modeling the new cut, Courtney felt her scalp for the first time in her life. She did her best to smile, to not shudder in disgust or fear. She was making a sacrifice for her family. There was no other option going forward.

”So, are we done? Or should we keep going? You’ve already broken the record,” Hal asked.

”Let’s go all the way. Shave me completely bald,” Courtney said.

All the Way

Sitting in the chair, Courtney’s head raced as the clippers hummed to life. There was a guard on, a number 2 Sierra had said. Although Courtney would be bald, there was one more step for her to pass through. It would ease her into what was to come.

The styling product washed from her hair, her now brutally short hair stood up spiky and wet. The clippers ate through it like a lawnmower over green grass.

Sierra started by plunging the clippers straight down the middle of Courtney’s hair, driving them back and through what little hair remained. Left behind in their path was a strip of quarter inch, blonde hair.

Efficiency was the name of the game as Sierra worked. Damp hair tumbled down and soon, Courtney’s round head was fully buzzed. The fade on the sides was taken up higher, to the edges of her crown. The edges of the longer hair were not faded as gently as the pixie had been. She looked like a marine. A jarhead.

The photographer asked her to run her hands over her head as she modeled this newest cut. Courtney’s hands trembled as they touched her round, nearly bald head. She couldn’t believe what she had done and what she was about to do. When she had first started considering this, she was going to walk away with a bob. Now she would be bald.

Numbly, she sat back in the chair, cheeks feeling flushed and hot, nearly slipping into barely concealed panic. The cape was draped over her and Sierra flipped the clippers on. Plastering her best version of a cool smile onto her face, Courtney waited for the inevitable baldness.

Sierra wasted no time. She had a schedule to keep and this model’s time in the chair had gone on longer than any of the others. Courtney watched in concealed horror as the clippers tore through the small amount of remaining hair she had in a single, white strip. Straight down the middle.

Quickly, without concern or ceremony, Sierra shaved another strip and then another. She kept going, sending the pathetic amount of hair that Courtney had left falling onto the now bald woman’s shoulders.

With a quick blow of the blow dryer, the last of Courtney’s hair fell to the floor. Again, like the professional she was, Sierra took the small trimmer, something Courtney had used to cut around Dan’s ears and on his neck. She flicked them on and then, pointing the blades directly against Courtney’s head, rather than placing them flat against her head, she worked over her head, somehow making the already bald head even more bald.

After finishing that, Sierra took a hot towel from a warmer that looked like a little mini fridge on the counter and wrapped it around Courtney’s head.

”You know, sweetie, when you walked in here, I never expected you to go all the way. But here you are. About to have no hair left on your head,” Sierra said, holding Courtney’s towel-wrapped head between her hands.

Courtney let out a nervous laugh. “I didn’t either.”

After sitting for a few moments under the hot towel, which, had her heart not felt like it was about to explode, Courtney would have actually enjoyed, Sierra pumped shaving cream into her hand from a dispenser on the counter and began to massage it onto Courtney’s head. The foamy shaving cream was warm, almost hot, and it helped to calm her fluttering heart just slightly.

Sierra placed the hot towel that had once been wrapped around Courtney’s head on her shoulder and took a straight razor, like something out of an old–timey barbershop, and began to use it on Courtney’s near-naked head.

She scraped away stubble from a small patch at a time, using the towel to dab the razor clean as she went. Shaving with the grain, the feeling wasn’t too rough, but it was alien to Courtney. It felt like her head was being polished into a bony ball. She fought back tears, not wanting to cry on camera for her very first, and probably last, modeling job.

First her crown was shaved, then the sides, her ears that now felt enormous being folded down so every trace of hair could be removed. Then her head was pushed down again and her nape was shaved.

A new hot towel was brought out and wrapped around her head, but only just long enough to wipe her head clean before another coat of just-right-hot shaving cream was massaged onto her scalp.

This time, Sierra worked the opposite direction of the grain, taking Courtney’s hair down to the skin for a perfectly smooth shave. It was faster this time, the bulk of the work finished, and soon her head was being massaged with moisturizer. To Courtney, though, it felt like her head was being shined.

Now so numb that it felt like she was floating, Courtney modeled her new bald head for the photographer. She placed her hands on her smooth, sticky scalp for the first time and did her best not to shudder at the alien feeling. It couldn’t be her head. There was no way.

Panic

”Great job Courtney,” Hal said, clapping as the job was finished.

The two cameramen, photographer, and Sierra the hairstylist all joined him in applause as Courtney awkwardly curtsied. Her cheeks flushed red and, as she saw in the mirror, so did her scalp.

”Here you go! Your $2000 as agreed upon and we threw in an extra $500 since you were the first one to go all the way,” Hal said, producing a wad of cash and handing it to Courtney.

Courtney felt numb as she took the cash and stuffed it into her purse. “Thanks,” she said, feeling like she might faint but smiling nonetheless.

”And, Courtney, I have another offer for you,” Hal said.

Courtney’s head spun. “Oh?” she asked, only being able to utter one syllable. She was already bald, how could she possibly do anything else.

”If you were to grow your hair out from now and not get a single haircut, you would have long hair faster, but there is another way to grow your hair out,” Hal explained.

”What’s that?” Courtney asked, doing her best to not see herself in one of the many mirrors lining the walls of the salon.

”Come back and get haircuts that will make you look good while it grows out. We’ll pay you $500 for a cut and you can get one a month,” Hal said.

”Wow, really?” Courtney asked. She felt a small glimmer of hope.

”That’s right. You have my contact info. And, if you grow it out for a while and decide to go short or bald again, we’ll do the same deal we did today but for $50 more a haircut. So $250 a cut or a full $2000 for going bald. But you’ll have to let it grow out for a good while before we can do that deal again,” Hal said.

Courtney put a hand to her head in an attempt to stop the spinning but quickly pulled it away after feeling the cool stickiness of her scalp that was beginning to bead with a cold sweat.

”Okay, thanks. I’ll think about it,” she said, putting her false smile back on her face.

”Great. Be safe okay? We’ll see you in a month,” Hal said with a wink.

Courtney forced a laugh, “Alright, thanks.”

Hurrying out to her car, Courtney could feel the heat of the sun on her fully exposed scalp as she kept her head down. She did not want to catch anyone staring at the strange sight that she now was. She had been a pretty blonde and now she was bald. Completely and totally bald.

She sat in the hot car and cranked up the A/C, feeling it blast in her face. And on her bare scalp. She checked her mirrors like she did every time she got into a car and caught a glance of her bald self. Her eyes darted away, to the steering wheel in front of her.

Courtney put the car in drive, still not believing what had just happened to her was real. Then, when she pulled onto the highway and checked her mirrors to change lanes, she saw a peek of herself again in the rear view mirror.

Should she call Dan? Tell him what had happened to her? Or what she had done to herself? He would freak out. She knew he would. Dan loved her long hair, loved to caress it, smell it when he hugged her, pull it when they had sex. Now he would only be able to rub her bald head, smell the masculine scented aftershave on her naked scalp, palm her bare head like a basketball during sex. If he would even want to have sex with her again.

Every time she would pick up her phone and hover her thumb over the contact labeled “Babe” with little heart emojis, she would panic and put the phone down. Then she pulled into the parking lot of their apartment.

Big Reveal

The lot was empty, it was the middle of the day during the work week. She was grateful that passing some neighbor as her head shined in the sunlight would be less likely.

Slinging her purse over her shoulder she hurried up the flight of stairs to their apartment and searched for her apartment key. She hadn’t passed anybody yet, but she had to hurry in case some neighbor that she hadn’t even bothered to meet decided to leave their apartment. The key slid home and she slipped inside, locking it behind her. Resting her back against the door, her head tilted back and touched the cool door. The sensation of the cool aluminum door against her sweat beaded, smooth shaved scalp startled her.

”Hey mommy, how’d it go?” Dan called from Isla’s nursery.

She could hear him baby talking to their child about how mommy was home from her big haircut. If only the haircut hadn’t been so big.

”Babe?” Dan called out, Courtney still sitting in stunned silence.

She shook her round head, bringing herself back to the present. “Please don’t hate me,” she said, her lip beginning to quiver.

”Why would I hate you? It’s just a haircut-,” Dan said as he entered the room before stopping abruptly and clapping a hand to his mouth. Isla babbled in his other arm.

Tears filled Courtney’s eyes as she tried to pull her prize from her purse, the $2500 she had made for sacrificing her long, beautiful locks.

”Oh my god, babe. What did you do?” Dan asked as he walked up to her, completely stunned.

”God, I’m so sorry, I’m sorry, babe, I-,” she stuttered, still trying to pick up the wad of cash.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as Dan reached up and touched her head, visibly flinching as he did so. Isla began to cry as well, not looking at her mother who looked so strange and foreign.

Hair Model

Eventually, everybody had gotten used to Courtney. Dan got over it the quickest, feeling guilt over making so little money that his wife had to shave her head just to help the family. She had ended up having to comfort him.

Isla got over it next, having been exposed to Courtney alone when Dan went to work later that night, determined to get more tips than ever before. The almost toddler had been so cautious and nervous until Courtney finally rocked her and sang to her, something that was special for the mother and daughter. Isla had settled in after that.

It took Courtney much longer to get comfortable with herself. She cried regularly over missing her hair, even as golden blonde stubble began to fill in. She missed how it felt on her shoulders, the comforting and familiar weight. She missed tying it back into a ponytail, being able to style it, missing how she looked with it.

All she had was one baseball cap, a teal cap with “MAMA” written in pink capital letters, and that became her best friend. Even though it felt uncomfortable on her bald head, she refused to step foot outside without it.

On the one occasion she did, she had noticed people’s stares and had even felt the hot sun burning her exposed scalp. She had hurried  off to find her cap and hurried to cover her regrowing stubble.

It got easier as time went on. Her first cut had been a skin fade, a male barber doing the cut instead of Sierra. He had been gentle and kind about it all, but the cut felt masculine. As did the next one, and the next.

Three months later and she had a decent little pixie cut, but the sides were still shaved down to the skin. She had gotten far more comfortable with a razor touching her head than she ever thought possible.

Then, the next month, Sierra was back. The hairstylist had hugged her, ruffled her new hair growth, and had actually bleached her hair back to pale blonde and simply edged it up a little. Just the slightest presence of hair on the sides changed Courtney’s mood. And for the color, they had even given her an extra $500.

So time went on, every month a trim to shape up the bottom part of her hair as the top grew in. Every other month, they touched up her roots. Once, at six months of growing her hair out, they had dyed her hair pink for an extra $250. She had still been jobless throughout her six months since the headshave so pink hair had not gotten in the way of anything. She had nearly given up entirely by that point.

Then, after over a year of regrowth, the money stopped. They had grown her hair out into a neat, blunt bob. But when her bob passed her chin, Hal had shrugged.

”Alright,” he had said after the last trim. “I think we’ve hit the point where we have taken this for as long as we can. We’ve got all of the educational content we can out of your hair without starting over again.”

Courtney was admiring her hair in the mirror, it having finally reached a point that she was truly happy with when she snapped her head to look at him. Her bobbed hair twirled around her head and came to a rest.

”What do you mean? We’ve been doing this for over a year now,” she said.

”Exactly. And now your hair is in a place that it can grow out and look good without us doing anything to it. And we have enough content of doing your roots. Now it’s either part ways, or shave your head again and start over. But we’ll grow it back out different if we do it again. More content for all of the hair schools we provide this stuff for,” Hal said, handing her the $1000 she had gotten every time she had gotten her cut and color.

”Oh, okay. Well, I’ll let you know soon,” she said, putting the cash away and touching her freshly cut, colored, and styled hair.

She had left that day and gone two months when the money started to get tight again around the home. They had come to rely on the extra cash. And now it had dried up.

Courtney had not told Dan that Hal had offered to continue. She didn’t want to burden him with that. But as she looked at their bank statement like she had over a year before, back when she had long hair, she knew what she had to do. She pulled out her phone and opened her ongoing message with Hal, one that had always been just arranging modeling days. She typed out a quick message and hit send.

In the little blue bubble, it read, “I want back in.”

She watched the screen and saw the bubble that notified Hal was typing out a response. Locking the phone, she looked at herself in the mirror and saw the bobbed young woman with grown in roots looking back. But how long would she get to see that?

If you liked this story, be sure to check out my last stand-alone:

From Russia with Hair

And if you want another story about selling hair for money, check this one out:

The Innkeeper’s Daughter