Exciting and amazing.

I was a bit early for my bi-monthly hair appointment when I stepped into the salon. “Hey, I’m running a bit late but take a seat in the waiting area and I’ll be ready for you soon!” said Caro, the stylist working today. “Sure, no rush” I answered before I sat down in the waiting chairs. In Caro’s chair was a teenage gal and in the waiting area next to me were a mother and two more teenage daughters. Each of the daughters had mid-back length brown hair that looked very thick, a trait they seem to have gotten from their mother who had a healthy head of hair as well.

“The same as last time?” Caro asked the girl in the chair, while she was combing her long hair. The girl nodded, and Caro looked over at mum, who nodded too. To my surprise, Caro then picked up the clippers and turned them on. I watched awestruck as clippers ran over the comb, held horizontally in her hair. Everything below the comb dropped away, leaving the girls long hair only just brushing her shoulders. With the clippers bare teeth Caro quickly cleaned up some uneven ends after which the girl was uncaped. Her sister helped her off the chair and quickly took her place. “The same for me, please”, she asked while Caro put the cape around her.

Only minutes later I watched the pile on the floor double in size. Even watching it a second time was strange to see, so much beautiful hair being removed mercilessly. The girl left the chair, lobbed as well, and Caro turned the chair towards the third gal who seemed a bit reluctant to step in. After a small nudge from her mother, she walked towards the chair and sat down in it. Caro put the cape around her and turned her towards the mirror. “I have a feeling you want it a bit longer this time?” The girl shakes her head. “Shorter”, she says, putting her hand next to her face to indicate the length.

Caro nods and starts combing the hair around her shoulders, meanwhile looking at mum if it’s allright with her. To my surprise I see that mum gives a small nod to Caro. I then hear the clippers turning on and I cannot believe my eyes as I then see that Caro is running the clippers over the comb right next to her face, a waterfall of thick brown hair quickly covering most of the white cape. Caro works from the left side to the back and then to the front on the right side, quickly reducing the girls hair to a short lip length bob. She then cleans up the nape with the bare clippers over her neck.

As the girl is uncaped, scattering the masses of hair around the chair, I realise this girl is the oldest of the 3 and I just witnessed a big step from girl to young woman. The girl steps out of the chair looking more certain of herself, a complete change from the reluctant gal that entered the chair just minutes earlier. All 4 now stand up. The mother pays for all 3 gals and they leave the salon. I just sit there in the waiting area, looking at the massive amounts of hair surrounding the chair. Then I realise Caro is watching me. “What just happened?” I ask her.

Caro laughs. “You wanna know what you just happened to see?” I can only nod in reply. “That family isn’t that well off, and is often having trouble having the ends meet. And haircuts can get expensive with three girls.” I nod again, thinking about my trim and layers every 2 months. “So years ago I made an arrangement with their mother, that at the start of summer, every year, I’d cut their hair in a way that it takes me less time then one regular client for the cost of just one regular client”, Caro explains.

“That doesn’t seem like that a good deal for you?” I ask. “Well, there is one other reason I do this: big cuts like this are quite exciting!” I look at her with wide eyes, realising it was amazing to watch for me, so maybe it’s fun to get to cut that much hair too. “So what’s it like for the one in the chair? It must be both scary and exciting to get so much hair cut off?” I ask. “I’m curious too, but I never dared asking”, Caro replied. “But I’m curious too, Wanna help me find out?” she asks me, as she turns the chair my way. I find myself walking towards the chair, still surrounded by long brown strands.

As the cape hides my clothes from the view in the mirror and my waist length blonde hair is combed around my shoulders, I start to realise that without saying anything, I just condemned my blonde hair to end up on the floor of the salon. I close my eyes as the clippers are started up and I feel Caro hold the comb against my cheek. The sound of the clippers comes closer to my ear until I hear the sound change. I feel hair slide over the cape, the weight disappearing from my shoulder and chest and landing in my lap. “No way back!” I say as the clippers pass my ear and I feel all hair leaving my left shoulder. Caro doesn’t reply as the clippers keep going on their way around my head.

I open my eyes as I feel the clippers going around the back. an unfamiliar image stares back in the mirror. On the right side, the image I’m used to is still intact, the longest layers still tickling my lap while I’m sitting. On the left though, my hair just barely covers the bottom of my ear, cut off in a blunt line. My neck looks bare and vulnerable, no hair anywhere close to touching it on the left.

This strange image does not last long though, as I see the black comb going trough the back of my hair on the right. I hear the clippers come closer to my right ear now, seconds before I can see the result of their hard work as the hair in the back drops away. In the mirror I can now see an window between my hair and my neck, showing me the waiting area where I was sitting just minutes ago. My back is further bared and the window widened until more hair starts crashing into my lap as the clippers pass under my right ear. Caro then pauses for a moment before pushing the clippers over the comb one last time, the last remnants of my long hair dropping away.

She then steps back behind me and slowly runs the clippers up my neck. The vibrating cold steel removes all hair off that, I now realise, quite sensitive area. Caro turns off the clippers and she unbuttons the cape in the back. She slowly shakes it out, dropping my hair to the floor. She then takes off the cape and lays it over the next chair. The silence returns, and we are both looking at my new appearance in the mirror. Caro looks nervous, I realise, while my own face did so far not betray any emotion.

“So how did it feel?” asks Caro, her face betraying she isn’t sure what I am going to say. I wait a few more moments before answering. I take a look around at my hair blonde locks on the floor which is almost completely hiding the brown hair underneath. “Exciting and amazing!” I then reply, a smile finally appearing on my face.

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