Ainsley learned her place

This story pays homage to a classic story remembered from many years ago.

It was a quiet Thursday evening at the Woodbine Beauty Parlor.  Claire had just about finished cleaning up the shop after a busy day.  Taking a break she sat and watched more and more people walk by the shops windows, heading for the strip for the evening.  She had just decided that the chances of another customer were getting slim, so was just thinking about closing up for the night when she sees a pair of young girls on the sidewalk heading her way.  She didn’t think either of them would want their hair done in such an old fashioned place, but something about they way they were walking made Claire sit and take notice.

The girls looked to be just out of high school.  The taller of the two stood about 5’8″, with auburn red hair to her shoulders.  The other girl was shorter, standing about 5’2″, but had beautiful brunette hair, with natural highlights, that went far down her back.The two held hands as they walked, with the taller girl smiling as they walked,almost seemingly pulling the other girl along.  The shorter of the two looked almost pale as she followed behind.  Claire continued to watch the pair as they neared the door.  Figuring they were just 2 more people headed towards the strip for a night out she looked away for just one second.  Claire couldn’t believe it when she saw the taller girl reach for the door handle and the two of them stepped inside.

Claire rose from the salon chair to great the girls…”Hello girls.  What can I do for you this evening?”  Claire immediately saw the smaller of the two tense up, but then the other one spoke…”We’re here for a perm.  Do you do those here?”  Claire was caught off guard by the question.  While she was looking forward to an evening on the town, she was really interested on seeing just why the two were here….”Of course we do a lot of traditional perms here, but because of the time they take you usually need to make an appointment.”  The smaller girl now seems completely at ease, pulling at her friends arm to get out of the shop as soon as she could.  Claire sensed there was something going on between the two of them, possibly some kind of bet or something that she would have no part of.  She decided to play along for a bit to see what would happen next…”  I was going to close up early because there were no more appointments, so since I have the whole evening open I would be happy to give the two of you perms.”

The taller of the girls made herself clear…”Oh, not for me.  My friend here wants a perm.  I’m just here to make sure she goes thru with it.”  The comment struck Claire the wrong way.  Looking at the smaller girl…”Sweaty, do you want your hair permed?”  The girl stood speechless for a second before her friend snapped her out of it…”Ainsley, tell the nice lady you want your hair permed.”  Claire looked back to the smaller girl…”Is that what you want?  A head full of curls?”  The girl looked to her friend first before answering Claire in a quiet voice…”Umm, yes.  I guess so.”  Claire knew that there was definitely something going on, but the girl said she wanted her hair permed, so that’s what she was going to get.

Claire directed the girl to her chair and was somewhat surprised when her friend came with her instead of sitting in the waiting area.  She wrapped the girl in a heavy vinyl cape and then introduced herself…”I’m Claire, by the way, and your name is Ainsley, correct?”  Before the girl could answer, her friend spoke out…”That’s right, Ainsley, and I’m Shannon.”  Claire looked back at Ainsley…”Lets get you washed.”

As Claire worked the lather thru Ainsley’s hair she was surprised at how thick and in perfect shape it was.  Wrapping her head in a towel, she sat the seat back up, drying the hair until it was damp.  Setting the towel on the counter, Claire starts to comb thru her long hair, noticing just how beautiful it is…”Ainsley, your hair is in beautiful condition for being this long.”  She can see the girls eyes have began to water as she sets the comb down…”So, this is going to be a big change for you.  What did you want me to do?”

Before she could answer, Shannon spoke out…”We’d like you to take the length off and give her some nice curls.”  Claire can see Ainsley’s face in the mirror as Shannon spoke, clearly seeing the girls mouthing to her friend…”Shannon, Please.”  Claire wasn’t about to ruin her reputation over some girls prank, stepping between the pair, she looks Ainslley in the face…”Is that what you want Ainsley, a head of short curls?”  Ainsley closes her eyes and nods, signaling to Claire that she is a willing participant in  whatever is going on between her and Shannon.

“Well then, lets take you shorter, then we can decide how curly you want to be.”  Again Shannon was there with the answer.  Holding her hand high on her neck…”Definitely something quite short with a regular curls is what she wants.”  Ainsley again mouths ‘Shannon, please’ to her friend.  Claire, scissors in hand gives the young girl one more opportunity to back out…”You’re completely sure this is what you want?”  She sees Shannon shaking her head as she waits for Ainsley to respond.  Ainsley stares hard at her friend before closing her eyes and letting out a meek “Yes”

With that Claire wastes no time as the razor sharp shears make their first cut.  As the 20″ piece of hair slides down the cape she can hear Shannon quietly saying “Yes”, along with a whimper from Ainsley.  Claire wasted no time taking off more and more of her long hair, deciding to leave it a little longer than she normally would for a short perm.  Ainsley sat quiet, holding on to a small handful of the long hair she took such great care of for years.

Claire then wheeled over the trolley of perm rods then held up one of the blue rods, standard for a curly look….”So, you want it curly Ainsley?”  Ainsley couldn’t believe how small the rod was, but before she could speak out Shannon was  standing by the trolley, picking up a yellow rod…”I think she would rather have the smaller ones.”  Ainsley sat speechless at what her friend was saying.  Claire knew all along she would be using the yellow rods, but wanted to see if Ainsley would pick them…”Those are the ones that I get for my perm.  Is that what you wanted?”  Ainsley looked at the tight head of curls on Claire’s head and just looked at Shannon.

Shannon now talked to Ainsley like she was a little girl…”Oh sweety, you’re going to have the cutest head of curls.”  She then looked up at Claire…”Those will be perfect..”  Claire knew that’s what she would pick…”I’ll use some smaller ones at the bottom so it keeps it nice and tight for a while longer.  That’s how I used to have mine before Mrs Woodbine shaved it off.”  Ainsley could only stare at the bare skin on the back of Claire’s head, hoping that hers wouldn’t end up the same.

Much to Ainsley’s surprise, Claire was back at her head with her scissors.  She sat nervously as Claire was now dropping another 2″ of hair into her lap.  Claire, trying to keep her client calm…”Don’t worry.  You’re going to look just fine.”  Ainsley could only stare at Shannon, now sitting on the edge of her seat smiling at what Claire was doing.  Minutes later, the long haired girl was no more, as she barely had 2″ of hair on her head.

Claire handed Ainsley a box of wrapping papers…”Here honey, if you hand me one when I need it this will go a lot quicker.”  The young girl loosely held onto the box not believing that she was going to help in any way in what was about to happen.  The hair sectioned off, Claire began to roll her hair, reaching her hand out for Ainsley to do her part.  Every time the rod was cinched tight against her head Ainsley would close her eyes as the band pulled the tod even tighter.  Shannon was as far forward on her seat as she could go watching Claire rolling each rod closer and tighter than she imagined was possible.

All of her experience of giving the old ladies perms had meant that Claire managed to fit over 120 rods on Ainsley’s head.  She had switched to the even smaller red rods for the bottom half of the back, almost guaranteeing her neck would stay hair-free for several months.  After a quick tidying up of the edges with her trimming clipper, Claire excused herself to get the perm kit she would need to use.  The beauty parlor stocked several options for her to pick from, but for Claire the only choices were the standard kits for some good strong curls, or the ‘Hard to Wave’ one that Mrs Woodbine always uses on her hair.  Thinking about it for just a second, there was only really one she was going to use.  Box in hand, she walked back to her chair ready to go.

Ainsley’s eyes focused on the box in Claire’s hand as she walked towards her.  Although she wasn’t real familiar with how they worked, she knew that what was in that box was going to be a huge change to her young life.  Snipping the tip off the bottle of waving lotion Claire gives Ainsley a pat on the shoulder…”Okay sweaty, this will feel a little cold, but when we’re done I’ll put you under a nice warm dryer.”  Knowing what was about to happen didn’t help as Ainsley still jumped a little as the liquid hit her scalp.  Sitting still she stared at Shannon now herself having watery eyes as they both knew there was no changing their minds anymore.

The hair now fully soaked, Claire replaced the line of cotton cord along the edges of her hair before covering the girls head with a plastic bag.  She then helped her to her feet, directing her towards the nearest dryer chair.  Shannon then had an idea…”Can you put in in the one close to the window so she can watch all the people walking by?  I think she would enjoy that.”  The chair was right by the big plate-glass window which meant Ainsley would be on full display to the continous crowd of people that had began walking by the shop.  As she sat down Ainsley gave her friend a nasty look knowing that Shannon was doing this just to further embarrass her.  It didn’t take long before she saw people starting to laugh at her as they walked by, so Ainsley just closed her eyes tight hoping the time went by quick.

Claire the swept up the pile of long hair that she had only pushed aside before.  As she picked it up to place it in the trash she made the comment…”It will be a long time before she sees hair this long again.”  Claire then excuses herself to take out the trash from the day.  As she does this Shannon asks if it would be okay for go out back with her so she could use her vape.   Claire didn’t mind, especially when Shannon took one of the trash bags from her.  Once the job was done, the two stood behind the shop and Claire decided to get the whole story about the two of them.

“So, Ainsley must trust you a lot to let you pick out her hairstyles.  Have you been friends for a long time?”  Shannon was only the slightest bit embarrassed as Claire became one of the first ones to know the truth about the pair…”We’ve been best friends since elementary school, but we’ve been dating since high school.”  Claire had guessed, all along that they were more than friends, so her admittance was really not a surprise. Shannon than made another admittance…”As for her hair, well that’s another story that you might not want to hear.”  Claire, thinking about her two ‘kids’ back at the apartment was actually intrigued by what Shannon had to say…”No, go on.  I want to hear about it.”

Shannon went on to say that the two of them were both interested in expanding their relationship to another level and that it was originally Ainsley’s idea to explore a dominant-submissive lifestyle.  It was only after a few months that they both realized that Shannon was actually the more dominant of the two as Ainsley’s submissive side was more and more exposed.  She then explained to Claire that this was first act in totally submitting herself to Shannon…”I told her that she had to agree to whatever I decided.  When she saw the clothes that I laid out for her in our room, I think she knew I wasn’t going to let her off easy.”  Shannon then had a bit of a laugh…”I think she originally thought I was going to take her to the barbershop at the other end of town to have her head shaved, but I like girly-girls.  Who know’s, maybe when it grows out I’ll make her my butch girlfriend.”

It was then Claire turn as she went on to tell Shannon about how Sammie had evolved from a bright young college student to her new life. The addition of Hunter into the household had only strengthened Claire’s position as the head of the household…”I’ll keep the two of them in their cute little bowlcuts for summer, but I think they both know their going to have a tight head of curls by this fall.”

Ainsley looked at the pair as they made their way back into the shop, unhappy at seeing the smiles on both their faces knowing that she was the topic of their conversation.  Claire comes over to the chair, turning off the hot air that has been streaming over her head for the past 35 minutes…”Okay dear, your fully cooked.”  She then lead Ainsley back to the chair and leaned her head back into the sink again…”This will cool you off a little bit.”   The slightly warm water felt incredible on her head as just for one minute Ainsley forgot about what was happening to her.

After 5 minutes of her head being soaked, Ainsley was more than happy when Claire lifted the seat back to its upright position.  After blotting each one of the rods dry Ainsley thought she was done, but Claire turned towards her with another bottle of liquid…”Alright young lady, lets get those curls locked into place.”  Again she felt her head being soaked with liquid. All she hoped for now was that it would take as long as the first part.  Thankfully to Ainsley, five minutes later she was again being leaned back to the sink, looking up at Claire who gave her a knowing smile…”Last time, I promise.”  Another five minutes of rinsing and she was sat up for the last time.

Claire again blotted each rod dry, the after she tossed the towel on the counter…”Lets get these rods off your head.”  Ainsley sat still as Claire quickly unwound each of the rods, because of the strong perm Clair had chosen the smell was quite strong as well.  All Ainsley could think of was being able to wash her hair with the herbal shampoo she always used.   As more and more of the rods were unwound Shannon sat on the edge of her seat, amazed at what had become of her friend.  Every time one of the rods was removed the hair would pull back tight against Ainsley’s head, even more than what Shannon had ever expected.

Claire then used a pick to fluff up the curls, separating them into a uniform mass of curls.  A few snips with her scissors left the look perfect, and Claire announced her done.  Not wanting to miss out on the fun just a little, Claire hands Ainsley a package that has a plastic shower cap in it…”Okay, no washing your hair for at least a week.”  Ainsley couldn’t believe it as she looked up at Claire.  She then looked towards Shannon, hoping her friend would save her, but Claire then dropped the final bomb on her…”Shannon will tell you when it’s okay to wash it.”

Claire pulled the cape off the young girl and, as she always did asked…”Are you ready to see the new you?”  Ainsley really didn’t want to see what she looked like now, fearing the worst had happened to her.  Just then Shannon made it clear to Claire…”There’s no need to show her.  That decision is not hers to make anymore.”  Ainsley felt even smaller now as she had been put completely in her place.  There would never again be any doubts about who made every decision in her life.

As they all made there way to the front counter, Claire handed Shannon an appointment card…”Every four weeks to keep her looking good and I’ll put her down for her next perm in four months.”  Shannon told Claire that AInsley would being coming to her for years to come as the pair walked out the door and headed towards the strip.  Shannon just couldn’t wait to show off Ainsley’s new look.

This story was based largely off the classic story “The Perm Eve Wanted”, by Cutie Stylist.

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