“You are getting to that age”,Helena’s mom said,”It’s about time you join the workforce”
”Nah”,Helena declined,”I don’t want to”
”Listen, young lady”, her mother snapped, ”You are to find a job or you won’t be living here anymore”
Helena thought her mother was bluffing so she just kept eating her snack for the day, “I’ll pass”
Her mother’s face turned red. She snatched the chips from her daughter and before Helena could protest, she marched her daughter out the door.”Find a job”,ordered her mother,”Don’t come home til you do”
Helena was shocked at this and tried to get back in. Her mother’s face in all the entry ways forced her to go find the allusive “job”. She hated every second of the search.
The sun was out and she had to walk almost til four o’ clock to find a job. Minimum wage jobs she detested and physical work made her sick. Then she found a place that looked promising: New Style Salon. The name of the was cliché but she entered it anyway.
A single woman stood behind the counter, she had a very short haircut and was doing cross-word puzzles in a magazine. She didn’t even look at the girl, she just said,”You have an appointment?”
”No…”replied Helena,”My idiot mom wants me to get a job and-“
”Fill this form out”,the lady cut the girl off, handing her the form and pen,”You can do it over there”
Helena was silent and walked over to the sofa that the lady had pointed out. The questions were basic: name, address, etc.She was at the bottom of the page and a requirement confused her. All employees will have their hair done by Lady Sally: no exemptions.
Helena thought that meant a wash and trim so she wasn’t bothered by the requirement. She finished the form and walked back to the counter.Handed the form, Lady Sally looked it over with a quick glance and said,”Alright, come on back”
Helena was starting now? She was confused but followed the lady back to the black chairs.Lady Sally told her to sit in one of the chairs and Helena thought she was getting a trim, curtesy of her new boss. In the chair,Lady Sally pumped up the chair and swung a striped cape over the girl’s body.
Helena’s red hair was molded into a bun atop her head, the typical style for her.Lady Sally undid the bun and had the elastic band about her wrist. She let the hair tumble down its length and rest down Helena’s back. The girl smiled, anticipating a light change.
Lady Sally went to the drawers below the mirror and opened one, from it she pulled out clippers and comb. Helena’s grew ten fold, she was frozen in her seat at the sight of them.That only gave leeway to Lady Sally to do as she liked.
The lady came to girl with the clippers in hand, she lightly brushed aside the hair from Helena’s temple and switched on the device.A hum got louder and louder to Helena’s ear as the blades vibrated up the side of her head. What it left behind was invisible to the naked eye; for all Helena knew, she was bald.
Lady Sally went round the chair, going up Helena’s head with the clippers. She stopped for a while and Helena saw what she had left: a micro bob.It was ugly and she regretted even coming in.But still, she was at the mercy of this psychotic beautician.
She went round the girl’s crown with a comb and secured it to the top of her head. Then, the clippers came live.Lady Sally continued to mow down Helena’s sides til all was nonexistent on her head.When the clippers died, she used a brush to dust the red hair off the cape and chair.
The clippers were put away: thankfully.Lady Sally pulled some scissors out of their compartment on top of the drawers. She took out the clips that held the crown hair in place.
All the girl could do was watch as the beautician chopped off much of the remaining length.It was horrible, she looked like a boy.Lady Sally tidied the top and gave Helena a short top.
Helena wanted to cry but there was no use, the hair was on the floor.Her stylist looked over the cut, tilting her head this way and that. She seemed satisfied.
”Hmm… I don’t want to start you this long”,Lady Sally told the caped girl,”No, you a novice, you’ll start fresh”
Helena wanted to run out of there but where would she go, she couldn’t go home with a job.So she stayed put and watched as Lady Sally went opened the drawer back up and got her tool. She got behind the chair, aimed the clippers at the girl’s hairline, and flicked the switch. The vibration entered Helena’s crown as Lady Sally pushed her head into it.It came round and moved another strip to the back of her head til it fell to the cold floor.
She made sure no hair was on Helena’s scalp before switching the device off for good. The clippers back in their drawer, Lady Sally dusted her again. The beautician got into a cabinet and pulled out a towel, her hands tucked the fabric into the cape.
Lady Sally opened a small box on a trolley she rolled to the chair.Before she took it out, she sprayed some shaving cream into her hands and massaged it onto Helena’s scalp.Washing her hands in a nearby sink, she dried her hands and took from the small box: a straight razor.
The shaver scraped the cream off the girl’s head.When all of Helena’s scalp was shaved, she wiped the excess off with the towel.Still not done, she powdered the girl’s head with a good-smelling mixture.”Now, this is will keep you bald and smooth for about three months”,Lady Sally said.
Helena couldn’t believe it.Bald for three months! It was a nightmare, she thought. She looked at herself, she had no hair on her head. She looked normal but with no hair up top but to herself, she was ugly.
Helena feared that the lady would do more to her but she was done.Lady Sally removed the cape from Helena and gave her a broom, “Alright, you can start sweeping”
With nothing else to do, Helena swept up her own hair and tossed them in the bin.When she was done with that, she stalked the shelves of hair product as Lady Sally did her puzzles.
At the end of a long dead, Helena was told her schedule and she left: employed and bald. She didn’t want to go home but she got the job.Her mother looked at her when she got home, surprised at her daughter’s new look.
”I got a job at a salon”,Helena said,”This is one of the requirements to work there”
”Oh! Down at Lady Sally’s place?”her mom guessed.
”Yeah”,replied the confused Helena,”How did you know?”
”I worked there when I was young”,her mother replied,”She gave me the same style. The look on mother’s face when I got home from my first shift”
