Mistress Cathrine

Note that this is a long story that reads a bit like an anthology, so I am adding jump links, so if you are reading in parts, it will take you to the place you left off (or at least closer to it if you don’t leave off where I expect.)

1_Playmates     2_A Thrall and her Lady    3_A Reluctant Model   4_Mistress Cathrine Faces Consequences   5_A Very Mean Prank

******************* Prologue ********************
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2015 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I’m sorry Cath,” Nicky said as she kept putting her clothing on, “this just isn’t me. I’m just not poly. I know I’m being uptight and old fashioned, but I just can’t handle you talking about other people you are dating while we’re about to have sex.”

“Have you been dating? Did you go out with that girl I set you up with?” I asked her, thinking that maybe she just was feeling an imbalance.

“Yeah, I went on the date.” Nicky said as she ran her fingers through her floppy mohawk. “I felt weird. It just didn’t feel comfortable being with someone else while we have an intimate relationship.”

“Why?” I asked as I sat up and started stroking Nicky’s scrumptiously muscular shoulders.

“Cath,” Nicky pulled away. “This is hard enough. I really like you. I’m starting to really fall for you. But this just isn’t me. I don’t want to date other people, I just think I’m a monogamist.”

I sighed. I’d had a feeling this might be how it was going to go. I had a feeling that Nicky had only agreed to trying out polyamory because she didn’t want to seem like she was morally against it and not sex positive. I probably shouldn’t have started things, pushing her to try dating others had been a bad idea too. I certainly shouldn’t have let things get this far, because both Nicky and I were going to be more than just a bit broken-hearted.

I knew it was for the best as I started putting on my robe to follow as Nicky headed towards my bedroom door, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t sad. Nicky was so delightfully feminine even though she put on a huge butch-andro front, she also was one of the very very few people I had been with who didn’t just always default to being a sub around me. She called herself a switch, but even when she played the sub, it was on her terms and she was very much in control.

“It’s ok to be a monogamist.” I told her. “Just because you don’t think polyamory is morally wrong, doesn’t mean that it’s for you.”

“I am sorry though,” Nicky repeated as she stroked my long blonde hair and looked just a bit forlorn. “I wish I could have made this work.”

The stroke made me remember one of the more practical aspects of Nicky breaking up with me. “Will it bother you if I still come by the shop? I’ve been trusting Rachel to do my hair for years. I followed her from Hair We Art, to Krystal’s Palace, to Nicklas & Nichole’s.”

“I’m happy to still be friends.” Nicky assured me as she got to the door of my condo and started putting on her boots. “I’m not angry, and the hurt is from me thinking I could do this when I couldn’t. You were completely upfront when we started, it’s not like you lied and cheated. I just should have known myself well enough to have realized I’m not up for being part of a polycule.”

“Thank you, for being so reasonable.” I said with relief that I wouldn’t have to go searching for a new stylist I could trust not to be scissor happy. “I guess I’ll have to come up with a different punishment for James, than having you tonsore him.”

It was asking Nicky if she would be willing to help me punish one of my boyfriends that had triggered her to decide she didn’t want to have sex like we were planning to and then just end the relationship. “It would have been so perfect dragging him to a barbershop and having you give him the humiliating haircut of a medieval monk.”

“Yeah, that would have been fun.” Nicky admitted as she slipped her arms into her leather jacket.

I just nodded, “Hmmm.”

She was reaching for her motorcycle helmet, when she paused and turned. “You know what, let’s do it. Just because we’re breaking up, doesn’t mean we can’t still play a little, just so long as there’s no actual sex.”

“Really?!”

“Yeah sure.” Nicky chuckled. “It has to be after hours for obvious reasons, say tomorrow at 7:30. Oh, but I can’t have him leaving the shop looking like a medieval monk, so when you are done humiliating him, I’ll be shaving the ring of hair off.”

“I can work that into the scene.” I nodded thinking I could have him perform some act of contrition and letting him get his head shaved could be his reward, since fully shaved bald was definitely preferable to a monk’s tonsure.

————————————- 2023 ————————————

“Hi Mike?” I said into the phone, trying to not sound like I was on the verge of sobbing. “It’s Mistress Cathrine, I need to talk to Nicky. It’s an emergency.”

I listened as Mike handed the phone over to Nicky, relieved Mike was still answering the phone so close to closing time.

**What’s up, Cath?**

I swallowed, embarrassed to tell her, but I needed her help so badly, and I didn’t think she was actually going to be judging me. “I’ve been arrested.”

**WHAT?!** Nicky sounded just as worried as I expected her to.

“I’ve been arrested for,” I took a deep breath, fear and anger waging back and forth inside me, “prostitution, I didn’t…”

**Ok, Cath.** Nicky said a bit more calmly, her rational mind seemed to have taken over as the initial shock wore off. **I’ll be there as soon as I can, but I’m going to make a couple of phone calls first. I’m on it ok.**

“OK” I squeeked, looking over at the impatient looking police officer who was obviously paying attention.

**Now listen carefully Cath.** Nicky emphasized. **Do NOT say anything to anyone. Do not try to convince them you are innocent. Till I get you a lawyer, just stay silent. Understand. Ok?**

“Ok.” I agreed, it wasn’t like I hadn’t known that on a rational level already, but in panic I had tried talking my way out of it when they were cuffing me, and I was worried I had said things that were mistakes now. “If I’m not out in a few hours, I need you to take care of Lizzy and Fido. Fido needs to be walked again before eleven.”

“Is that some kind of code lady?” The officer growled at me.

“No, those are the names of my bearded dragon and papillon.” I told him, suddenly thinking maybe naming the adorable pupper the doggy equivalent of John Doe had been a mistake. “He will pee on the floor if he isn’t walked by eleven.”

**Cath, don’t explain.** Nicky reminded me. **I’ll make sure someone takes care of it. Now give me the location where you are, and I’ll start working on getting you out.**

——————————————————————————————-

It took me a minute to recognize the lady in a business suit with a rather conservative looking pixie cut as Lisa, the lawyer Nicky had dated for six or seven months about a year after we broke up. Last time I’d seen Lisa was at a party. The short hair had been slicked back, she’d been strapped to a saint andrew’s cross wearing nothing but lace panties and a garter belt, and had clothespins on her nipples.

I watched them both talk to someone at the front desk, then Lisa was led to a side room while Nicky was pointed towards a waiting bench.

——————————————————————————————————

“Hey Cath, are you ok?” Lisa asked when I was led into the little room she was in.

“Not really,” I admitted as I felt the tears I’d been holding back begin to flow. “This is just so ridiculous. I’m not a prostitute, he set me up.”

“Don’t worry about that right now Cath, we aren’t getting to that right away.” Lisa said in a soothing voice. “I’m just here to make sure you are ok, and work on getting you released. Unfortunately I’m not a criminal lawyer. If you needed help with breach of contract, I’m your gal, but for this I’m barely more qualified than someone who watches too much Law and Order. I put in a call to my law school girlfriend though, she went into criminal law. I’m hoping to hear back from her soon.”

“Thank you Lisa,” I said, though I was mildly disappointed that she wasn’t here to prove my innocence and get all charges dropped with an apology. “Did you guys bring bail so I can go home?”

“Sorry. Bad timing on that Cath. You were arrested too late in the day.” She told me. “Your bail won’t be set till tomorrow.”

“I have to spend the night here!?” My stomach fell at the idea of it.

“Actually, they’re going to be taking you to the county jail in about a half an hour.” Lisa told me apologetically. “But don’t worry about Lizzy and Fido. Nicky called Heather from your polycule, and she and the rest of your polycule are taking care of everything.”

“Thank you.” It was only a little bit of a comfort, but it was good to know that my people were taking care of things. “I suppose I should have called someone from my polycule instead of Nicky. I just was worried they’d all panic and not really know what to do. Nicky is just kind of…”

“You don’t have to explain.” Lisa assured me. “If I got arrested, I would call Jen my paralegal, not my wife Becky. Don’t get me wrong, I love Becky, but Jen is the one who would know what to do. And if I didn’t have Jen, or the other people who work at my firm, Nicky would be pretty high on my list of friends to call.”

“I’m just scared,” I admitted to her.

“I know.” She assured me again. “You’re going to be going soon. I need you to remember not to talk to anyone, ok. And is there anything you need?”

”I can talk to you though right? Since you’re sort of my lawyer?” I asked Lisa who nodded. “On our previous date, he said he had a fantasy about being with a prostitute, but didn’t want to actually do that. So I said we could pretend, and then we were pretending at a hotel, and as soon as he handed me the money, and I took it, he arrested me. That’s not breaking the law right? I mean sure I took the money, I figured I’d just donate it to the local food pantry or something, I was planning to have sex with him because I liked him, not because of the money. They recorded us pretending though, I don’t think they recorded the other date though, the date where he told me about his fantasy. That doesn’t sound illegal does it?”

”As I said, I’m not a criminal lawyer.” Lisa reminded me ”It probably comes down to all kinds of little things like the exact words he said when he told you his fantasy. It sounds like the evidence they have is going to make it look bad. I don’t want you to tell that story to anyone at the county jail, in case it was technically illegal. Hopefully you’ll have an easier time with that now that you’ve gotten it off your chest. Is there anything else I can do?”

“I don’t suppose they would let you bring me real clothing.” I said as I pulled the stupid little sheer robe that didn’t really cover the teddy I had on under it about myself. “I feel so vulnerable in this.”

“Sorry, but I don’t think that’s possible.” Lisa told me. “I’ll try, but I doubt I will succeed. I’ll make sure we have real clothing for you to wear when they set your bail and we can get you out.”

——————————————-

The next day as I walked out of the county jail, my whole polycule was waiting for me in the parking lot. I looked around at them, a mix of concern, love, relief, anxiety, happiness looked back at me. Sue, James, Rick, Heather, Jennifer, Eric, Russel, Vivian, and Ellen.

“Are you ok, sweet heart?” Heather asked as she gathered me into her arms.

I smiled at Heather, returning the hug, and assured her, “I’m ok now. Thank you so much for being here, and taking care of Lizz and Fido.”

Heather kept her arm around me protectively, as she walked me towards her minivan. Heather had a tendency to be the mom of the family, even though it was Ellen and Vivian who actually had children. Heather was the one who always had tissues in her purse, and would check to make sure nobody forgot a sweater if we were going anywhere chilly.

“Is the trench coat we brought you warm enough?” Heather checked.

“Yes my Darling,” I said. “I’m not sure who I have to thank for it.”

“I found it in your closet Ma’am.” Sue said, “I’m sorry I went through your things, Ma’am.”

“It’s fine my darling.” I smiled at her, and stroked my hand over her head, feeling the ends of her shoulder length hair. “I asked for someone to, you weren’t being a bad girl. Thank you for doing as I asked, you were a very good girl. Thank you, all of you, you’ve all been amazing. Let’s all go home.”

Sue’s hair, was longer these days than it had been after the pageboy haircut I had taken her for. It had been the second time I had talked Nicky into letting me bring someone to the barber shop after hours for a special private service. I had taken Sue and a friend of hers. Though Sue participating had been a surprise.

******************* Playmates *************************
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2015 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nicky had been a bit uncomfortable with the idea of age play at first, but after being extremely clear that it was just a different way for consenting adults to play and that we followed pretty much the same rules as CNC, she accepted it. After all, Sue was in her late 30s and has an MBA and Sue’s playmate Ben was 40 and an electrical engineer. I don’t think Nicky found it as fun as tonsoring James had been. Of course with James, on top of the fun, I had made it financially rewarding for her too, making James first pay Nicky for the humiliating haircut, and then making him pay her double her usual haircut price to shave him completely bald.

This time, payment for the service was more awkward, since Nicky felt a little weird about taking money directly from me, and kids, even one’s who are actually adults, don’t pay for their own haircuts, they must be bribed into sitting still, Nicky’d given me an odd look when I said we would need lollipops for treats after. I’d just ended up offering to barter her an expensive corset she’d admired a week earlier in the shop, she’d said she thought would look pretty on the woman she’d just started dating.

“Susie and Benny, say hello to Miss Nichole.” I had told Sue and her playmate when we arrived at the closed little 4 chair barber shop.

“Hello Miss Nichole.” Sue and Ben had said to her.

Sue wore a pink and lacy little girl dress, Ben wore denim overalls and a striped shirt. Sue’s long chestnut hair was done in slightly sloppy pigtails, Ben’s was just a bit messy and hung in his eyes.

“Now Benny, be a good little boy and go climb into the barber chair, while Susie and I sit in the waiting chairs.” I said to Ben.

“I’m scared.” Ben complained. “I don’t want a haircut.”

“That’s not being a good boy Benny.” I scolded him. “If you are good and sit still, Miss Nichole will give you a nice lollipop. You want a lollipop don’t you?”

Ben nodded putting on a not completely believable shy face. “Yes Ma’am.”

“So will you be good and sit still for Miss Nichole?”

“Yes Ma’am.”

Ben sat in the barber chair and tried to swing his legs like a little kid, even though since he was 5’11” it was a bit awkward. I gave Nicky instructions for giving him a crewcut for summer, throwing in a little of the scolding I knew he needed, and then took Sue to sit in the waiting area to watch and color in her coloring book.

Nicky really just treated it like a pretty regular haircut, wrapping him in the extra big cape and running the clippers over his head, his slightly graying brown hair tumbling to the floor. When he was done and hopped down eager for his lollipop, I reminded him he had to say please and thank you.

”Can I have a lollipop too for being good while waiting?!” Sue asked enthusiastically.

I was about to just tell her no because she’d been so difficult and wiggly while we were getting ready before picking up Ben from his apartment, when a new idea struck me. Normally, I wouldn’t make a major change to a scene part way through, in my safety classes it was certainly something I would absolutely advise against, but I thought I knew Sue well enough that I could judge if a surprise, even a huge one, was a good idea or a bad one.

Sue had definity expressed that she wished she could look more like a little girl even when she wasn’t playing. And I knew that watching Sue would be fun for Ben who had a variety of fantasies around barbershops.

“Now Benny, be a good little boy and sit in the waiting chair while Susie get’s her haircut.” I told him. “Susie, if you are good while you get a haircut, then you can have a lollipop after Susie.”

“No!” Sue said with surprise. “I thought I just came because I’m too little to stay home alone. I don’t want a haircut!”

“Susie, what did I tell you earlier about how if you didn’t sit still when I was braiding your pigtails that there would be consequences.” I scolded her, though at the time I had only been thinking of the spanking she had gotten.

“You didn’t say I had to get a haircut if I didn’t sit still.” Sue pointed out in her bratty tone. Then switched to pleading. “I promise I will be good next time and sit still while you braid my hair.”

“It’s too late for promises Susie,” I informed her. “You promised the same thing after I spanked you, but then you were wiggly and impatient again, and look at how messy and crooked your pigtails are. Also all that long hair is not at all age appropriate. You need something more suited for the little girl you are than for a grown woman. Something that will stay neat and tidy when you play.”

“Please Ma’am,” Sue begged, with real fear in her eyes. “Please, I like my hair long.”

“Susie,” I warned her. “If you aren’t a good little girl, you will be getting a spanking after your haircut instead of a lollipop.”

Sue looked at the mirror then looked at me. I thought maybe she was going to use her safeword,

“I don’t want short hair.” Sue pleaded, crying, staying in the little headspace. “I will look like a boy with short hair.”

“Susie I am going to count to ten and if you aren’t in that barber chair by the time I get there, you are getting a spanking instead of a lollipop.” I scolded her. “See how good Benny was, he sat nice and still and got a nice summer haircut and a lollipop, if you are good you get one too.”

Ben licked at the small treat as he sat in the waiting chair, swinging his feet as much as was possible. Sue looked torn.

“But Benny is a boy and I’m a girl.” Sue whined. “Boys get short haircuts at barbers, not girls.”

“I’m counting,” I warned her. “One, two,”

Sue looked at Nicky who had a rather evil smile. I think Nicky found the idea of getting her hands on Sue’s long locks a bit more interesting than shearing Ben had been.

“Three, four.”

Sue stood up and slowly started walking.

“Five, six.”

Sue sped up slightly, but paused at the side of the chair.

“Seven, eight”

“Ma’am please.” She pleaded one more time.

I just shook my head at her. “NINE!”

Sue sat down, looking very genuinely worried. Nicky took out a fresh strip of tissue, and wrapped it tightly around Sue’s neck, then Nicky shook out the oversized blue and white striped cape I had gotten for her to use. She made the fabric snap with obvious deliberate theatrics. She swung the cape up and over Sue’s frilly skirt, letting the billowing fabric settle, then pulled it up covering the puffy pink sleeves. Finally, she fastened it rather tightly, pulled Sue’s chestnut braids free, and then refastened it even more tightly. The cape chosen to make Sue and her playmate look small reached Sue’s feet, covering her patent leather maryjanes.

“How short do you want it Mistress Catherine?” Nicky asked me,

“A pageboy cut.” I ordered. “A good short one, right up into the hairline in the back, bangs at eyebrow level.”

“Here?” Nicky asked, pressing the comb into the spot where Sue’s head met her neck.

“Yes, that will do.” I said.

“No Ma’am please not that short, please.” Sue begged with tears in her eyes. “I promise I will be good when you braid my hair.”

I paused just for a moment giving her room to use her safeword if she needed to, but hoping she wouldn’t.

“Susie, you aren’t being good.” I scolded her. “Do you want a spanking?”

“No Ma’am.” Sue said and then just quietly sat there crying as Nicky untied the ribbon bows from her long soft hair and started to unbraid the uneven pigtails.

Nicky began to comb through the long layered locks that reached the bottom of Sue’s ribcage. It didn’t take long, since the pigtails had prevented tangles from forming. Nicky spread the beautifully rippled hair over Sue’s shoulders. Then Nicky picked up her spray bottle and began to dampen the richly colored length.

I had a twinge of regret. Sue had absolutely gorgeous hair. But that was kind of the problem with it, it was gorgeous grown woman hair, not cute little girl hair. Getting it cut into a pageboy was definitely going to take away most of its sophistication. The long locks had to be styled to look younger, but didn’t really make it, once it was cut into a pageboy, it would be the opposite, Sue would have to style it carefully to look like an adult. Childish would be the default.

With Sue’s hair a bit damp all over, Nicky began to section it, combing down a halo of hair about an inch in from Sue’s hairline all the way around Sue’s head. Nicky twisted the bulk of the long locks up, and secured them to the very top of Sue’s head, before giving the loose hair another mist and combing it once again so it lay straight down, obscuring Sue’s face and ears.

Nicky finally looked ready to start cutting, she paused slightly, looking between me sitting in the waiting area, and Sue who sat crying but stoic. Nicky raised the scissors to just a little below Sue’s eyebrows right at the very center.

Shnup

A thin lock fell into Sue’s cape covered lap, where it looked like a piece of ribbon. A truly pained sob escaped from Sue. Even if she used her safeword at this point, she was going to at least have to get bangs since Nicky had started in such a visible spot. Sue didn’t say anything though, just sobbed a little harder. Nicky ignored the sobs and snipped again at the gorgeous hair.

Shhhnup, shnip, shnip, schnip, shhnip.

Nicky progressed slowly across the right side of Sue’s face, cutting away the pretty curtain and revealing Sue’s teary right eye. When Nicky got to just above the middle of Sue’s right eyebrow, she began to angle her scissors down following the browline. When she got to the end of Sue’s eyebrow, Nicky used her comb as a straight edge to create a line from the end of the brow down to Sue’s earlobe. As Nicky passed Sue’s ear, she started to cut a softly rounded corner. The long damp locks slid down the back of the cape and landed on the floor with a slight plop. Nicky finally cut across Sue’s nape, in a shallow arch with the lowest point right where Sue’s hairline hit her spine.

Nicky returned to Sue’s new bangs then, snipping them across Sue’s forehead in the opposite direction. Sue’s red and puffy left eye was revealed as more of the glamorous waves fell into her lap. Then as Nicky worked down the side, the locks draped over Sue’s shoulder, the puffy sleeve providing extra support to keep the long lock from sliding down the cape.

I had a slight pang of regret. When Sue wasn’t being Susie, and had worn the long hair down, I had absolutely loved how it looked on her. She really was an amazingly attractive woman. I knew that this was something that would let her see little Susie in the mirror instead of grown up Sue who had a job and responsibilities when she just woke up on the weekends.

Nicky had just snipped the hair across Sue’s nape to meet up with the curve she’d cut when she’d been working from the other side. She was carefully snipping it into a perfect curve, just very slightly above Sue’s natural hairline, on the side, but hitting right on it at the very center. Finally satisfied with the shape, Nicky walked over to the counter, and picked up her trimmer.

“Now be a very good girl and sit very still, Susie.” Nicky warned. “If you wiggle, I might shave the hairline too high and have to cut your hair into a shorter style instead of a pageboy. Do you understand Susie?”

“Yes Miss Nichole,” Sue said with a quivering lip.

Nicky turned on the humming trimmer, and began stroking it down Sue’s neck, shaving away the wispy little points that came down below the line Nicky had cut the bulk of Sue’s hair off at. Nicky then turned over the trimmer, and stroked up in the other direction, using her comb to lift Sue’s lovely hair up slightly and take Sue’s hairline up slightly under the weight line.

Nicky then released the clip that held the still long bulk of Sue’s hair up on the top of her head. Nicky combed down a layer of the long richly colored hair, then refastened the bulk back up to the top of Sue’s head. Nicky misted the silky locks, combed them down, and once again raised the silver blades to them.

Shhhhnup, shhhhhnup.

More hair slid down the oversized cape and landed on the growing pile that was being tread upon by Nicky’s favorite boots. Every now and then as the pile started to become a tripping or slipping hazard, she would push it in towards the wide chrome base of the barber chair. Scattered and tangled on the floor, the tresses lacked the vibrant luster they’d had while hanging in smooth ripples from Sue’s head.

Nicky finished snipping off the new curtain of hair that hung around Sue’s head quickly. Nicky had simply followed the line she’d carefully created at the start. Then she let down more of what was left of the long chestnut locks, misted them lightly with water, and again swiftly snipped along following the same line. More long locks swiftly fell covering Sue’s lap and shoulders again.

Nicky let down the last of Sue’s long hair, attaching the clip that had been holding the beautiful mane that was now mostly a damp pile of trash on the floor up and out of the way to the hem of her shirt. She once again misted the locks with water. Then she sliced through the last curtain of long hair, leaving Sue with nothing but a brown helmet of locks on top of her head. Then Nicky began to comb the short hair up, and snip even more off the very ends, layering the cap of hair into a rounder shape.

When Nicky began drying Sue’s hair, using a round brush to force the hair to lay smoothly, it sprung up even more, making it look even shorter as the turned under ends brushed against the high shaved hair line, and a good way above Sue’s eyebrows.

I was beginning to think, maybe I shouldn’t have asked for it quite so short, when Nicky picked up her thinning shears, and started cutting away even more of what had previously been an envy inducing hairstyle. I didn’t want to say anything that would disrupt the mood though, as Sue sat there staring at her reflection looking shocked, and Benny was so obviously enjoying being an audience to the scene. Possibly even more than he had enjoyed his own shearing.

I just sat watching the dry fluff that Nicky shook from the blades of her thinning shears or comb from the smooth cap of hair. It fluttered down, tumbling appart on the cape, creating a brown carpet on the peel and stick vinyl floor.

When Nicky finally finished, the cap of hair seemed even rounder, with so much weight removed from the bottom. It was very much a perfect copy of the pageboy haircut so many little girls had been reluctantly subjected to in the seventies. It was both very juvenile and very anachronistic. It was everything I had asked for, and Sue looked completely miserable staring at the mirror as Nicky handed her the lollipop.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning, Sue had called Heather, who had spent the night at my condo. She’d been sobbing at that point, explaining to Heather what had happened the night before. Heather had made me go along as she took charge of the situation. She’d yelled at me about how irresponsible it had been to make such a drastic change part way through a scene the whole way to Sue’s house.

I’d argued back that Sue could have used her safe word if it had really been too much of a surprise. When we had gotten to Sue’s though, I started to realize I had gone too far. Heather tried to help her find a way to style the short pageboy cut that wasn’t ridiculous, while I waited in her living room staring at the photo of Sue as a bridesmaid and her sister, the bride, at her sister’s wedding 7 years earlier. In the photo the long beautiful hair I’d had Nicky cut off, flowed down over Sue’s shoulders to the pink chiffon dress below.

Heather made me sit in the backseat as we drove Sue 45 minutes to the next city so that she could get a more mature and not anachronistic haircut from someone who didn’t know her, and would not question it when Sue would claim she’d asked for a normal bob at a salon yesterday. Heather had kept saying to Sue that it was fixable, and it would be ok, while giving me very very dirty looks in the rearview mirror.

When we got to the salon the stylist had looked very confused by the situation. He understandably found it perplexing that a stylist who somehow was incompetent enough to think a pageboy and classic bob were the same thing, was also capable of executing the pageboy quite so well. He looked at us doubtfully as Heather, Sue, and I stuck to the confusing story, trying not to contradict each other, but occasionally failing and having to back pedal. In the end I don’t think the stylist believed our bad improv routine, but simply figured that how it happened didn’t change that Sue was a paying customer with a problem he could fix.

Of course the hairstylist then informed Sue that a normal bob was not possible with what was left on her head, and Sue cried even harder when the stylist said “pixie.” He explained it was the best way to break up the hard line the pageboy bangs created, and that the angled sides made a more normal bob shape impossible. Sue reluctantly agreed to a pixie haircut, and was taken away to be shampooed.

When Heather and I sat in the waiting area, Heather informed me in hushed tones that not only was I going to be paying for this haircut, but that I was going to be treating Sue to an entire spa day with anything she wanted.

When Sue got back to the stylist’s chair, I watched her red rimmed eyes staring at the mirror as her short wet hair was vigorously rubbed with a towel. Then the stylist combed through it, dividing out a small section at Sue nape. He lightly pushed Sue’s head down, pressing her chin to her chest. Then he combed the already short hair into his fingers and cut away even more of it, so that all Sue was left with lay right up against her scalp.

He worked his way up the back of Sue’s head, cropping the hair into a very very short pelt. At the top, he combed the hair up, and layered it to the same length the bangs were, blending the bangs that had rested against Sue’s forehead into the top, and softening the line they formed.

I felt the guilt nibbling at my gut as I watched so much more of the chestnut locks fall. At the end of it, Sue had a reasonably mature, and not terrible anachronistic hairstyle. It was severe though, Sue looked miserable as the stylist apologized for the drastic cropping, explaining again that he had to go that short to blend in with the very short bangs.

************************ The Thrall and her Lady *********************

——————————- 2023 ————————————-

The shop had been unusually empty all week, this wasn’t a small town, it was nominally a city, but it was a small city in a rural county with a bit of a small town feel to it. Word had spread fast. My arrest had hit the local paper, and of course they’d printed the polices’ side of the story as though it had been true. Sure they said “alleged” so I couldn’t sue them, but that was the only change from the story the police had given them, the only acknowledgement that the story the police had given might not be completely accurate. The police and prosecutor had made it sound like I was the head of a huge prostitution ring.

On a typical day, I had a wide variety of customers. Groups of giggling twenty something women in for their first vibrators. A married couple or two trying to spice things up. Adults from all walks of life who would sneak in slightly embarrassed, then try to leave unnoticed after I put their purchase into a discrete and opaque plain brown paper bag. They’d stopped coming.

My classes were mostly empty too. A few students cancelled, most were just no shows, so at least I got to keep deposits. But no one was signing up for future classes.

This week, I just had a few of my more regular customers. The ones who were unabashedly kinky anyway. Most of them seemed to be mostly stopping by as a sign of support, Of course, they usually made a token purchase, but it wasn’t enough to make up for the overall drop in business.

I heard the bell above the door jingle. I looked up and saw Mistress Sandra and her thrall Dawn come in. They were dressed as they usually were, Sandra in her leather vest, black jeans, and fancy cowboy boots, her dark brown hair bouncing at her shoulders in layers. Dawn, with her natural sandy blonde hair closely cropped, was in utilitarian coveralls and cheap sneakers that denoted her lowly status.

“Hello Mistress Catherine,” Sandra said as she approached the counter, Dawn following behind her meekly with her head bowed. “How have you been holding up?”

”It’s been a little rough.” I admitted without getting into details, just as I had with everyone else who had asked. “I’m sure people will forget once this all blows over.”

“Of course they will,” Sandra agreed, though her acting ability wasn’t quite good enough to make me think she believed it. “We just stopped in to get a new harness for Dawn‘s strap-on. Do you have any that fasten in the back so they are harder for her to take off herself? Maybe one that I can put a lock on the closure? She took our current one off without permission last night just because she was having trouble sleeping in it.”

“Certainly“ I said as I lead them to the rack where I kept the strap-on harnesses above the selection of dildos that went with them. “I’m sure I have something that will keep Dawn from removing her phallus without permission.”

As I talked straps with Sandra, I held a few of the straps up so that Sandra could see how they matched Dawn’s collar, and the little lock that held it closed. Sandra wore the key to it around her own neck.

The whole thing reminded me of years back, when Dawn was in trouble for taking the collar off without permission.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2015 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had just finished doing a quick inventory of nipple clamp sizes, and was sitting behind the counter placing a wholesale order to fill out the stock, when the bell above my door jingled, and in walked a vaguely familiar looking couple. One woman was dressed like a biker chick with layered dark brown hair, the other one was wearing a plain white t-shirt and cheap basic blue jeans, with long unstyled blonde hair with rough ends that looked like they’d never been trimmed. The blonde most notably was wearing a discrete tanned leather collar with a little lock holding it closed.

“I don’t suppose you have a lock that I could open remotely in an emergency, that my thrall couldn’t open just because her mom was making a fuss?” The brunette asked me as she approached the counter.

I wrinkled my brow in confusion, since I only half understood the question. “Thrall?”

”It’s an Old English term, originally from Old Norse. It’s kind of like ‘slave’ or ‘servitude.’”

“Oh right,” I said as I remembered it from a steamy Viking romance I had recently read.

”We prefer it over sub and stuff, because Dawn is enthralled with me.” The brunette smiled, “Isn’t that correct Dawn?”

”Yes, m’lady. I am completely enthralled to you.” The blonde confirmed, looking up for the first time.

“Unfortunately, when she went home to visit her family,” the brunette continued in a more disappointed tone, “she proved that though she’s enthralled to me, she is more afraid of her mother’s scrutiny than my punishment. Her mother made a fuss about her not wearing her collar out to dinner, so she took it off. She didn’t even call and ask for my permission. I know it needs to be removable for emergencies, since I am fond of my thrall, but I would like that to be a bit more difficult.”

”Please let me apologize again, Lady Sandra.” Dawn begged the brunette.

”You may polish my boots when we get home.” Sandra offered.

”Thank you M’lady.”

“So I would like her to have something she can’t remove just at her mother’s behest without my express permission, but that I could grant that permission from miles away if really needed.” Sandra went into detail. “I had been letting her keep an emergency key with her in a sealed envelope. I’d like something that I could actually control.”

”I don’t think I have anything like that.” I informed them. “You could get something like a combination lock from the hardware store, and just keep the combination a secret from your thrall, but in a real emergency, it’s not the same as having a key available. Calling you takes time, and there might not be cell phone reception or something. I don’t think it would be terribly safe.”

”I just wish I had a safe way to mark her lowly status that she couldn’t just discard on a whim.” Sandra sighed.

”Hmm,” I nodded agreement.

I looked over at Dawn as she bowed her head lower with shame. A few strands of the long blonde hair escaped from where it was tucked behind her ear, and fell in front of the thrall’s face. Suddenly I remembered a detail from the Viking romance, the Viking lady running her hand over the handsome muscular thralls bald head as they were making love. I wasn’t sure exactly how historically accurate the book had been, but according to it, male thralls were shaved.

”There is one way you could safely mark her status that she could not take off.” I said to Sandra. “She could cover it up sort of, just like she can tuck her collar in under her clothing, but it would always be there.”

”Oh?” Sandra inquired as she perked up.

”How do you feel about your thrall’s hair?” I asked.

Dawn’s eyes went wide as Sandra just shrugged and said to me, “I don’t have particularly strong feelings about it one way or the other.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nicky had insisted I come along and supervise, since she’d never done anything like this for anyone other than me. So I once again found myself sitting in the waiting chairs of the little closed barbershop, with its curtains drawn.

I had arrived just as the shop had been closing. Rachel had looked a bit confused and concerned for a moment, but I’d assured her I was just there because Nicky and I had plans. When Klaus had left, he did so just a little nervously telling Nicky to just be sure she didn’t do anything that would result in them being sued. As soon as it was just me and Nicky, she took off her plaid flannel shirt, and changed into a leather vest with just her bra underneath. She obviously was really into this one and up for truly getting into character.

Nicky was telling me about how they were planning to move Nicklas & Nichole’s to a larger space, and how they wanted to have room for eight chairs, and probably be bringing on two new people, and maybe even hiring a manicurist and receptionist. She said that Rachel was even planning to get an assistant again, which Rachel had already mentioned to me, but I just sat listening, because Nicky was so excited.

The part she thought I might find most relevant, was that one of the shops they had looked at had an “extra” backroom. Nicky’d been arguing with Klaus about whether they should turn it into a private room where they could do less public hair appointments, like Nicky wanted, or if they should use it as a staff lounge, instead of having that connected to the office.

I was just telling Nicky, that sometimes I had people who were reluctant to be seen coming to my shop for classes, but might be less concerned about what the neighbors would say if they were spotted entering a salon, so maybe I could hold classes in the backroom, and share the fees, when Sandra and Dawn arrived.

”Hi, Nichole?” Sandra said as she walked in the door, Dawn followed behind her with a bowed head, the long blonde hair hanging limply. “I have an appointment for my thrall Dawn. Mistress Cathrine set it up.”

“I’m here,” I chimed in with a little wave when Sandra and Dawn turned towards me.

”Ah, perfect.” Sandra said as she pushed her thrall forward slightly.

”Yes,” Nicky said much more confidently than she’d been when I’d called her to make the appointment. “So what are we doing today?”

”My thrall needs a haircut more appropriate to her very lowly status.” Dawn explained.

”Indeed.” Nicky agreed, with a terrifying enthusiasm. “That long blonde hair is way way too pretty for a thrall in servitude. Impractical too. Did you just want her shorn down to something neat and tidy, or cleanly shaved?”

”I have heard that shaved is traditional, but I think I would prefer her with enough left that it’s obvious it was cut and didn’t fall out which might garner her more sympathy than ridicule and scorn like she deserves.”

“Wise choice,” Nicky agreed with a nod. “any particular style?”

”I don’t have anything in particular in mind. Definitely short enough that it makes a statement that she isn’t worthy of having much hair. Shorter than a pixie she might get just for fashion.” Sandra said casually while Dawn visibly cringed. “Can you just start shearing her, and we’ll stop when she looks sufficiently cowed?”

”Of course.” Nicky smiled. “Do you have plans for the hair? Such lovely hair belongs on a more worthy head.”

“No plans, do whatever you want with it.”

“Thank you. Please order your thrall into the chair, and we’ll begin.”

”Dawn, go climb into the chair.” Sandra happily ordered, and came over to sit in the waiting chair next to me.

“Yes m’lady.” Dawn answered meekly and walked just a bit hesitantly over to the big old barberchair.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-

Dawn looked very small and meak even though she was actually the tallest of us as she sat in the chair staring at her curtain of hair in the mirror. Nicky stepped up behind her, with a blue and white striped cape hung over one arm.

“Mmmmmmm,” Nicky purred as she began to stroke Dawn’s long locks, and tease the woman. “This is sooooo soft, and long. It must have taken forever to grow it this long, or has it just always been like this? It’s got to go though doesn’t it?”

”Ump” Dawn just whimpered, as Nicky smoothed one of the locks over her shoulder.

”Do you think your mistress will ever let you grow all this lovely hair back? Or do you think she will just keep bringing you back to me to get sheared over and over?” Nicky continued the torture as she arranged the long hair around Dawn, showing her how flattering the hair she was losing in just moments could be. “Do you think she will ever let you be this pretty again?”

Dawn wriggled slightly letting out just a tiny squeak. Nicky seemed to be satisfied that she’d gotten Dawn to truly appreciate exactly what she was about to lose, so finally got a big claw clip from the counter in front of Dawn, twisted the long bundle of tresses up, and clipped it up out of the way.

Nicky then began shaking out the cape, giving it an extra dramatic snap before letting the cloth billow over Dawn’s lap. “We’ve got to make sure all this dirty messy hair stays off your clothing and you aren’t getting it all over your mistresses bed.”

”ummgh” Dawn whimpered again.

Nicky then wrapped a strip of tissue around Dawn’s neck, and fastened the collar of the cape. “This will keep the hair off your collar. I heard you were a bad thrall and took your collar off without permission. You won’t be able to just grow your hair back without permission though can you? Once I get you all neatly sheared like an obedient sheep, you’re just going to have nothing but short hair everyday won’t you?”

Nicky then released the clip, letting the long blonde hair tumble down over the cape. Nicky began combing her fingers through the straight locks, and looked at the ends.

“My, you are terribly careless with this aren’t you.” Nicky chastised as she held up one of the feathery ends. “This has an awful lot of split ends. I’m going to have to take care of that before I try harvesting these locks you so obviously don’t deserve. Up on your feet, and stand still.”

Nicky picked up a comb and shears from the counter, then positioned the obedient woman just in front of the barberchair, and sat down herself in the vinyl seat. Nicky smoothed out the long hair that rested against Dawn’s back, just about eye level to seated Nicky, and began to snip a slight dusting of hair off the ragged ends. She didn’t seem to care much about the shape she was carving, so much as just getting rid of the thinnest and dullest parts of the ends.

When it was done, the golden hair looked even nicer, healthier, shinier and bouncier. Nicky obviously wanted to just show off the results for a few moments before cutting it all off. Nicky ordered Dawn back into the chair, then pulled the long hair up out from between Dawn and the chair’s back. Nicky fluffed out the locks, letting them drape in front of Dawn’s shoulders, and frame the clipper company’s logo that was centered on Dawn’s chest.

”See just a few moments in my care and it already looks so much nicer than it did after years and years in your care.” Nicky pointed out. ”It looks nicer than it has in years doesn’t it? You look nice don’t you?”

“My hair does look nice ma’am.” The thrall said with a tinge of hope, possibly thinking that her mistress would settle for her just getting a trim, she spoke up to Sandra. “Have I been sufficiently shorn m’lady?”

“Don’t be ridiculous thrall. You’ve hardly been shorn at all, in fact the neatly trimmed ends are even less in keeping with your lowly status than when we just ignore your hair.” Sandra scoffed. “You heard Nicky say she was just getting rid of the split ends before harvesting the length. She has my blessing to harvest as much as she wants. Especially now that it’s been trimmed, that is way too pretty hair for a lowly thrall. Do you think you deserve such pretty hair?”

”No m’lady.” Dawn admitted with disappointment.

”Say bye bye to the pretty hair.” Nicky continued her teasing as she picked up a particularly large pair of shears, and snapped them.

“errmph” Dawn let out an extra pained sounding whimper.

Nicky lifted one of Dawn’s long locks up, from just above her forehead and ran a comb through it a few times, holding the smoothed hair straight up. She then readied her long shears. The silver blades opened, as Nicky positioned them around the lock a just inches above Dawn’s scalp.

Dawn’s eyes were wide, and her face pale as she stared at the spot where the blades crossed her hair. She looked like she might start begging for Sandra to not make her do this, but she instead sucked in her lips and sat quietly like the good thrall she was.

Shhhhnip.

Nicky cut the long blonde lock off, it dangled from her fingers. Nicky turned, and carefully laid out the long lock she had harvested on the counter directly in front of Dawn.

Dawn frowned at the short tuft of hair that rested on her forehead, just brushing against her eyebrows.

”We’ll just give this pretty hair to someone more worthy of it.” Nicky emphasized as she made sure the hair was laid straight.

”erhmm” Dawn moaned slightly, and began to worm her hand out from under the cape, and started raising it toward the shortened tuft.

”No one has given you permission to touch your hair thrall.” Sandra chastised Dawn, who immediately pulled her arm back under the cape.

Nicky simply began preparing the next long blonde lock of Dawn’s hair to be cut, combing it up away from Dawn’s head and smoothing it out. When it was fully combed out, Nicky trapped the lock a few inches from the scalp, with the long strands draped loosely over her hand. Nicky raised her shear to the slight gap between Dawn’s scalp and where she held the bright strands firmly, and sliced.

Shhhhnip

The second short tuft of hair fell to Dawn’s forehead, right next to the first, resting just above her eyebrows. Dawn stared at it stiffly as Nicky carefully laid the second lock on top of the first. Nicky then selected another lock, this one from the side of Dawn’s head. She somewhat roughly pushed Dawn’s head to the side as she did, pulling the long lock taut before raising her shears to it.

Shnap

Nicky swiftly severed the long lock, again carefully arranging it on the counter. Nicky showed off a flair for the theatrical as she worked, She would roughly move Dawn’s head around, before snapping off one of the long blonde locks with what appeared a haphazard lack of care. Then she would gently lay the lock out, showing it much more reverence than she was showing to the person who had grown the lovely locks.

Ssshnip, shnap, snap

When Nicky snapped off and smoothed out the last long lock, she gave Dawn’s hair a quick ruffle, revealing that even though she had hacked at it with what seemed like little care, the hair was actually pretty much all the same length. Dawn just looked meak as she looked at her drastically reduced mane in the mirror, and the neat bundle of golden locks under it.

”There. No more of that pretty pretty hair.” Nicky announced, then asked Sandra. “Do you wish me to just neaten up this shearing so that it looks professional, or do you want this thrall more drastically shorn?”

”Simply neatened up might not be the height of fashion,” Sandra said, “but it would hardly be something that stood out markedly. What could you do that wasn’t just a shorter than usual basic pixie cut? Can you suggest something less conventional, and drastically shorter?”

”Well I could do a simple buzz cut or crew cut, but those are actually begining to trend with some of the very young lesbians.” Nicky began offering. “I could do line work, carve ‘thrall’ into it, but that also is a trend, and it’s not going to show up well with such light colored hair.”

“We definitely need something that is not becoming trendy.” Sandra insisted. “I don’t even think something that’s just neat and simple marks her lowly status sufficiently. Maybe something a bit more distinctly dated. Something obviously a choice, a statement, not something that looks like it was done out of necessity, for the same reason I don’t want her just shaved. I want something that makes it clear it was a chosen style, but also stands out as a peculiar choice. Something that really marks her.”

“You know what I haven’t gotten to do in ages?” Nicky gleefully rose to the challenge. “A really sharp flattop. There’s no mistaking it for a basic necessity or convenience, it’s decades out of fashion, it’s very severe and dramatic. I would certainly enjoy it, since it will show off my skills.”

”That’s a thought.” Sandra said. “How will you feel with a flattop thrall?”

”Humiliated m’lady” Dawn answered in a miserable tone.

“Perfect!” Sandra smiled. “A flattop it is.”

“How severe do you want it?” Nicky asked. “Should I shave the sides? If you want the sides shaved. how high?”

”Very, severe,” Sandra emphasized. “And making my thrall feel a razor against her scalp will remind her of the way thralls were simply shaved bald in the past. Shave her up as high as you can while keeping it a flattop.“

“Ermp,” Dawn whimpered.

”Very good,” Nicky smiled.

Nicky started combing through the short tufts of hair and separating the top from the bottom. She used the corner of her comb to part the hair about two inches above Dawn’s ears. She combed the hair below the parting down, but fastened the hair above it to Dawn’s scalp with clips. When she was done, most of Dawn’s already pretty short hair hung down, below the U shaped parting.

Nicky reached under the counter where she had a line of hooks that clippers hung from, Rachel kept a little rolling cart in the same spot under her section of the counter. Nicky selected the largest set which were black and substantial looking. She spent a much longer moment adjusting them rather theatrically, much more theatrically than she had with James or Ben. Dawn’s eyes were wide as she watched Nicky readying the intimidating machine.

Clunk-buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Nicky turned them on making Dawn startle slightly with a whimper. Nicky turned the barberchair so Dawn was facing me and Sandra with her back to Nicky and the mirror. I think mostly because it made it easier not to get tangled in the eletric cord that hung from the clippers. Nicky pressed Dawn’s head down with her free hand so Dawn was forced to look down at her cape covered lap.

Then Nicky began. to slowly push the clippers up the back of Dawn’s head. In the mirror, the path Nicky mowed through Dawn’s hair with the clippers already pretty much looked bald, even though I knew there must be some stubble left. It was just too pale to be visible from several feet away in the waiting area.

When Nicky reached the spot where she’d sectioned off the hair for the top, instead of simply flicking off the hair that had gathered on top of the clippers, she carefully lifted it up and dumped the shorn locks forward, so they would land in Dawn’s lap where she would have to stare at them. Dawn whimpered again.

Nicky brought the clippers back down to Dawn’s exposed neck, and started buzzing off another strip of the blonde locks. Nicky worked methodically, being sure to dump as much of the hair into Dawn’s lap as possible. After stripping away all the visible hair from the back of Dawn’s head, Nicky began slowly turning the chair, so she could start shearing away the hair from the side of Dawn’s head. She roughly folded Dawn’s ear down, leaving no hair around it.

Then Nicky pushed Dawn’s head to the side, pressing the other side of her head to her shoulder. As Nicky pressed the blades of the clippers forward through the hair on Dawn’s temple, she let the shorn blonde strand of hair simply spill onto dawn’s face, forcing the thrall to close her eyes tightly. Nicky then spun the chair swiftly, so that she could buzz off all the hair from the opposite side of Dawn’s head.

”My, you have shaved that very high.” Sandra observed happily.

”This isn’t fully shaved.” Nicky explained, “It just looks that way because the eighth of an inch of hair here is so pale it blends in. Come feel.”

Sandra got up accepting the invitation to experience the feel of the stubble the clippers had left behind. She stood next to the chair her thrall sat in meekly, letting her fingers glide over the stubble. When Dawn’s tried to also feel the stubble, Sandra simply slapped her hand down, giving her a disapproving look.

”Mistress Catherine, would you like to feel this?” Sandra invited me. “It is rather delightful.”

Though I’d experienced the sensation of a freshly buzzed head many times on the various lovers I’d had over the years, I took Sandra up on the offer. I didn’t want to make Sandra seem less experienced than me in front of her thrall by acting blasé, besides, it was always a delightful sensation indeed, so playing along was a joy. I walked over to the chair, and let my fingertips skim of the barely there stubble.

”Mmmmhhm,” I agreed with Sandra as she once again slapped down Dawn’s hand that she was trying to discreetly raise to her sideburn. “This is quite delightful. Just like the softest velvet.”

“Would you prefer I leave the sides like this, or take them down to the skin?” Nicky asked Sandra, as she joined in petting the velvety stubble. “I had planned to razor shave it, so it will be smooth instead of velvety. Though it will grow out back to the velvet texture swiftly. You had said you wanted her to feel the lick of a razor.”

”Can you shave most of it and just leave me a little bit to pet when I want to?”

”Of course,” Nicky assured her, “I can give her a nice high fade and the top will be pretty short and velvety too, especially right in the middle.”

”Perfect.” Sandra said cheerfully as she once again slapped Dawn’s hand down so she couldn’t join in with us enjoying the sensation of the barely visible velvety stubble beneath our fingers.

Sandra took one last feel of the velvet that Nicky was about to shave off, and then went to sit. I followed Sandra, leaving Nicky to get back to work.

Nicky took out a smaller set of clippers, and just a bit above a whisper purred into Dawn’s ear, “we call these balding clippers.”

Nicky began pressing them against Dawn’s scalp carving a sharp line just a couple of inches below the parting, around level to Dawn’s fairly straight pale eyebrows. Then Nicky pulled the clippers down, a faint dust of the stubble falling away. The eighth of an inch of hair above the line that had seemed practically invisible moments earlier, suddenly was much more obvious with the contrast of the even shorter stubble below.

“That distinct line looks quite ridiculous.” Sandra observed.

”I will blend it out in a few minutes.” Nicky assured her, and kept working.

“Oh don’t worry about that,” Sandra said. “A thrall is hardly worth your effort,”

“Uhhh“ Nicky looked at me, clearly nervous about what to say.

I had a feeling I knew what Nicky was thinking. As much as she was completely happy to give an “unwanted” completely out of fashion very severe haircut, she was not willing to give a sloppy and poorly executed one. Out of fashion and severe were on the client, poorly executed or sloppy were on her. She was very proud of her reputation for precision. But of course she also didn’t want to contradict a mistress in front of her thrall.

”Though your thrall isn’t worth such effort,” I explained to Sandra, “Nicky is a very professional barber and as such must work to the standards of the profession, even on those who in no way are worth it.”

“Of course,” Sandra accepted the explanation. “My apologies for ever suggesting that you would do substandard work Nicky. Thrall, you will be very appreciative of how much more effort Nicky is putting into your shearing than you actually deserve.”

“Yes m’lady.” Dawn obediently accepted. “Thank you Nichole for making sure my humiliating hairstyle will be well done even though I am just a lowly thrall who is not even worthy of sitting in this chair or having hair. When you have finished, if you and my lady wish, I can perform acts of appreciation.”

”I shall discuss it with your mistress when I have finished.” Nicky said, and went back to using the smaller clippers to remove the faint hint of stubble from below the line she’d set.

Nicky once again roughly pushed Dawn’s head around, as she removed the stubble from the bottom, cleaning up and down Dawn’s neck, and behind Dawn’s ears. Then she felt all around the hairless sides of Dawn’s head with her finger tips, just twice finding something she went over again with the whining clippers.

After Nicky had set down the smaller clippers, she came back with what looked like an electric shaver, though it was a bit different from the ones men typically use to shave their faces and women use on their legs, a little squarer, and with only a single cylinder.

Nicky turned on the little shaver, and began in the middle, around halfway between the hard line she’d carved and where Dawn’s hairline used to be, truly shaving the hair there down to the skin. It surprised me a little, that with the shaver, Nicky didn’t bother to work downward, only up towards the line she’d carved, though as she worked up, she didn’t quite go all the way to the line.

When Nicky was finished with the little shaver, I was surprised she’d left Dawn’s neck untouched, but then she walked over to her towel warmer, and got out a truly steaming clean white towel with tongues. Dawn inhaled sharply, making clear that the towel was painfully hot, when Nicky placed it on the back of the girl’s head. Then Nicky pressed the towel against Dawn’s scalp for several moments.

Dawn’s scalp was quite pink when Nick allowed the damp towel to drop down to Dawn’s caped shoulders. Nicky then started spreading gel over the pink scalp, working it in with her fingertips, which she then wiped off on the towel.

”Time to feel the lick of the razor thrall.” Nicky said right into Dawn’s fully exposed ear, making Dawn swallow nervously.

Nicky pulled the terrifying implement out of her top drawer, it was a true cut throat razor, not a feathering or safety razor with a guard to limit how much damage could be done with it.

Dawn’s head was once again pressed down, her chin tucked to her chest, this time Nicky held the skin taut, stretching out any wrinkles. Nicky guided the terrifyingly sharp blade over the pink neck, removing the shaving gel and any hint of hair that had been left with it. Nicky took little strokes, wiping the silver blade off on the towel frequently. She worked her way up the back of Dawn’s head, going over most of the area she had already shaved with the electric razor, stopping at what I thought was less than an inch below where she’d stopped using the electric razor. When Nicky glided the blade down the side of Dawn’s face in front of her ear, making sure the hairline was fully removed, Dawn’s eye were like saucers.

Just as Nicky had after she’s used the little whiny clippers, she used her finger tips to feel for any pale stubble that may have escaped the blade. Three times, she applied a little more gel, and stoked the blade over a spot again. Then she wiped away any leftover gel with the damp towel.

As Nicky dropped the razor carefully into a jar of antiseptic that was sitting on her counter, she picked up a bottle that looked bit like it was for salad dressing, and poured a little of the liquid into her hands. She then slapped her hands against Dawn’s red and irritated looking freshly shaved scalp, and patted it in. Dawn again drew her breath in sharply, making it clear that the liquid stung, or maybe it was just the way Nicky was applying it, but it obviously was not a fun moment for Dawn. As she did, a familiar scent filled the air.

”Ah,” I let out. ”I love the smell of witchhazel.”

”Hmmm,” Sandra agreed, ”me too.”

Nicky smiied and kept applying the astringent to the smoothly shaved scalp as Dawn cringed. When Nicky was finished, she wiped her hand off on another towel, and got out yet another clipper. This set was cordless like the balding one had been, was about half way between the big black ones and the balding ones in size, and had a bright chrome finish. Nicky turned them on first, and then started adjusting the blades of the already humming clippers.

Bzzzzzzzzzz

Nicky began blending out the line the way she said she would after she had created it. Swapping out the head of the clippers a few times as she did. Once the line was invisible, Nicky paused to let down the hair she’d clipped to the top of Dawn’s head. Nicky somewhat carelessly combed through the short locks, and then lifted several locks up with her comb.

Bzzzzwoop

Nicky ran the blades over the teeth of the comb, sending a chunk of the pale hair tumbling into Dawn’s lap. Dawn had a worried frown as she watched what little hair she had left being swiftly reduced.

Bzzzzzwooop, bzzwoop, bbbzzzzzzwoooop

A steady rain of the golden locks tumbled down covering Dawn’s lap and shoulders, leaving her with just a short thatch covering only the top of her head above the very nude sides. Though it was short, and beginning to stand up, it wasn’t really a flattop yet when Nicky put down the comb and clippers.

Nicky sprayed the short pelt with water, and then rubbed some product through it, pulled out the hairdryer, and spent several minutes styling the little hairs so they stood straight up, making the pelt look more like a scrub brush.

Then Nicky picked the clippers up again and began leveling off the thicket of strands.

Bzzzzwooooop…bzzzwooop….bzzzzzwooop

This time, the short hair sprinkled down more gradually, as Nicky worked with slow precision. For most of the top, Nicky used her comb like a straight edge, using it to set the height she mowed the stiffened strands off at, but in the very center of Dawns head at the pinnacle, it seemed the thickness of the combs teeth were too long, and Nicky just very carefully grazed the bare blades of the clippers over Dawns visible scalp.

When she turned off the clippers, the effect was strikingly flat. As far as I could tell, it was all completely perfect, but Nicky didn’t seem quite satisfied. She came back with shears, bent down so the top of Dawn’s head was exactly at eye level, and began to snip.

Snip, snip….snip-snip….snip

It amused me watching Nicky making the tiny imperceptible corrections on what was in some many ways a completely terrible hair cut on the unhappy looking girl. Out of fashion, gender nonconforming on a person who gave zero indication of not wanting to be gender conforming, it made her rather long face look even longer. The haircut was being done to absolute perfection though.

Finally satisfied, Nicky began dusting off Dawn with a fluffy brush. Then she whisked off the cape, and sent the pile of gold locks to the floor.

“There you go,” Nicky announced, spinning the chair to face Sandra, “One thoroughly shorn thrall.”

”Oh my, that’s not at all feminine or flattering is it?” Sandra proclaimed with delight.

”No, not really.” Nicky agreed with a smile, slowly turning the chair, so Sandra could admire how much her thrall had been transformed. “She’s definitely not a pretty girl anymore is she.”

“Indeed,” Sandra agreed, and got up. “How does it feel?”

“I left a bit up here on the sides the eighth of an inch that feels like velvet,” Nicky showed Sandra where to rub Dawn’s very bare head to experience the tactile sensation. “As you move your fingers down, you should enjoy a nice variety of stubble levels. Though your thrall isn’t worth the effort of having a fade, you as her mistress should have the pleasure of getting to experience that.”

”Mmmmm,” Sandra purred, as she felt up and down the sides of Dawn’s scalp, “This is good. I love how it goes from velvet to sand papery to just completely smooth. It’s an amazingly close shave.”

”And up here at the apex,” Nicky tapped the spot on the top of Dawn‘s head where she had let the clipper blades glide directly over Dawn’s scalp, “it’s stiff now from the product, but will be velvety when you wash it.”

”I do like the feel of all these stiff hairs standing up too.” Sandra observed as she let her whole hand brush over the stiff bristles.

“As a barber,” Nicky explained, “I do find it a pity that the flattop is so out of fashion at the moment. It is both a great way to show off my skills, but also just a joy of tactile variety. Of course, it being so out of style did mean it was a good choice for a thrall who doesn’t deserve a fashionable or flattering haircut.”

“How do you feel about it, thrall?” Sandra asked.

”Embarrassed to be seen in public m’lady.” Dawn stated. “I will feel much shame when I run your errands, and I expect many will stare and laugh at me m’lady. And I feel the lose of my long beautiful hair deeply.”

“Perfect,” Sandra beamed. “Now what do you say to Nicky?”

”Thank you Nichole for shearing away my beautiful blonde hair I have always been much too proud of and that was much admired, so my lowly status as a thrall is clearer. Being complimented for having pretty longhair was not good for my over inflated ego. Thank you for harvesting the locks I do not deserve so they can be used by someone more worthy of them. Thank you for putting in much more effort than I, a mere servant, deserve to make the haircut so precise and perfect so my lady can enjoy petting it.” Dawn clearly stated, her voice occasionally catching betraying that even though she was thanking Nicky she was also rather sad about the lovely hair she’d lost. “Should I now perform acts of appreciation?”

”I’m sure you have some menial tasks that need to be done around here,” Sandra suggested to Nicky.

”Well all this dirty hair that your thrall got all over my floor needs to be cleaned up.” Nicky emphasized the statement by kicking a particularly large pile of the blonde refuse with the toe of her boot. “There’s a broom and dustpan just behind that door.”

”Very good,” Sandra smiled and ordered her thrall. “You heard her thrall, start cleaning up this mess you made.”

”Yes, m’lady.” Dawn hopped up to go get the broom and dust pan.

Sandra and Nicky settled into the waiting area to watch the show. As the woman swept up the hair she’d freely admitted she had been very proud of, Sandra and Nicky teased her. At some point, Dawn got caught feeling her naked scalp, and was told as punishment she also had to wipe down all the barber chairs and wash the mirrors.

”Come here thrall.” Sandra ordered after Dawn put the bottle of Windex away.

Dawn stood straight and at attention, directly in front of Sandra. She was careful to not react when Sandra tugged the waistband of her pants down enough to reveal the granny panties inside. Sandra then causally reached down into the top of the granny panties, and spent a moment feeling around. Sandra’s hand reemerged, covered in glistening cum.

”Perfect.” Sandra stated as she wiped her fingers off on the outside of the cotton granny panties. “It seems it’s time for me to take my thrall home. Pay Nicky for your haircut Dawn, and give her an extra large tip for allowing you to perform so many acts of appreciation.”

”Yes, m’lady.” Dawn obeyed, taking out her wallet and handing over a substantial wad of cash.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“That was fun,” Nicky said as she started dividing the wad of cash Dawn had handed her in half, and then holding out half to me, “I think I’d be willing to do this even if it wasn’t so profitable.”

”You did all the work,” I said, waving off the portion Nicky was offering me. “I just sat here and enjoyed the show.”

”Take it,” Nicky insisted, “I needed you when Sandra said I could skip blending out the lines. And even only keeping half, this is more than I get for 2 regular haircuts, Dawn did the clean up for me, and you should know what Klaus spends on hair for extensions.”

”Hmmm,” I admitted and took the fold of bills. “You don’t really need me though, you just need to make sure you set up and communicate clear ground rules before clients show up, to avoid situations like the Dom suggesting you give a bad haircut. Like how you warned me you couldn’t let James leave here with a monk’s tonsure. We could work on that tomorrow, write a check list for you to go over ahead of time. Tonight… I wish I had a date. Heather is on one with Russel tonight. Jennifer is on a road trip with Ellen, Jame is with Vivian, Rick is on a business trip… nevermind, I’ll stop listing, point is I’m dateless tonight. I guess I should just go home and try out that new vibrator the shop just got in. Getting to watch that has left me a bit steamy.”

”Yeah,” Nicky agreed. “I wish I hadn’t broken up with my girlfriend last week. I’m in a bit of a state myself.”

I stared at Nicky, she stared at me…

”Y’know we could…” I ventured.

Nicky swallowed, I could see she was torn, we both knew it wasn’t a good idea. We kept staring into each other’s eyes. Nicky swallowed again.

”Just this once,” she emphasized, “and no kissing on the lips, that’s too emotional. I don’t want to get attached again and go through the whole breakup heartache again.”

“Agreed,” I nodded and got up to check that the curtains were fully closed.

Within minutes, I was on my knees in front of Nicky’s barber chair. Nicky sat in it, leaning back with her pelvis tilted up, her legs spread wide, and her hand clutched in my long hair. I sucked hard on her swollen clitorus till she convused with pleasure.

Then she had me pushed up against the counter, staring in the mirror, as she fingered me from behind, saying filthy things right into my ear. One hand stroking my wetness, the other pinching my nipple.

************************* A Reluctant Model************************
——————————- 2023 —————————————-

“All rise” The bailiff ordered. “Court is now in session. The Honorable Judge Deborah Weaver presiding.”

I stood up from my seat in the rows of benches behind the divider that separates the audience area of the courtroom from the area with the people who worked for the court. With me was my whole polycule and several friends. My lawyer was over at another bench where she’d been talking to a different one of her client’s till the bailiff had ordered everyone to stand.

As the baileff recited, I watched the woman in the long black robe cross the courtroom carrying a stack of folders. As she took her seat and the bailiff announced we could take ours, I couldn’t help but feel there was something mildly familiar about her.

As I sat watching, she called the first hearing, then threatened the first defendants lawyer that if that defendant really wasn’t just stuck in traffic and available by lunch time she would be issuing a bench warrant. Then moved on to the next hearing where a shoplifter was pleading guilty and had reached a deal with the prosecutor. Most of the hearings were just people pleading guilty, most were for shoplifting or possession.

When my turn came up, I wouldn’t simply be pleading guilty and get to move on with my life. Of course actual prostitutes would just plead to a misdemeanor and pay a fine, but my lawyer and the prosecutor hadn’t been able to come to any such agreement. The prosecutor was aiming to use asset forfeiture to close my shop. So, we had to fight the charges, no matter how much faster and easier it would be to take a plea and pay a fine.

It was after she’d simply agreed to rubberstamping the deal that let a guy who had committed what sounded to me like a rather serious crime off with a lighter sentence than the kid who’d just plead guilty to possession of a little heroine, that I placed where I knew her from. She’d come to a couple of my classes with her husband.

My habit was to never acknowledge knowing class attendees, unless they brought it up first. I knew most of my students would be embarrassed if their taking my classes was made public. Having figured out where I knew Judge Deborah from, I simply continued to sit and listen to the proceedings while waiting for my hearing.

”State versus Cathrine Caminski.” The clerk called, and my lawyer and I walked through the little gate and into the main section of the courtroom.

At first the judge was just looking at papers, and proceeding as she had with other hearings, and then she looked at me, and the color drained from her face. “… Mistress Catherine!?”

“Mistress?” The prosecutor asked with a slight smirk.

”I meant Miss, just Miss Cathrine.” Judge Deborah said, trying to convince everyone it was just a slip of the tongue, still sounding slightly flustered. “I am going to have to recuse myself, and reschedule this hearing with another judge. I know Cathrine socially, well sort of professionally, but from outside the court, along with my husband. Sorry, I didn’t recognize the name earlier, but I now must recuse myself.”

“Socially and professionally aren’t the same thing.” The prosecutor pushed the issue.

”My husband and I took a….. CRAFTING….class from Cathrine.” The judge admitted.

”Crafting? Really?” The prosecutor continued to smirk, obviously enjoying that he’d found a vulnerability.

”Yes!” Judge Deborah answered firmly, I suspect if she hadn’t been flustered, she would have probably just told the prosecutor it was none of his business and to move on. “Shibari, decorative rope tying. It’s like macrame, but Japanese. It’s definitely a craft.”

”So if I google that, I will see what exactly?”

”please don’t google it.” Judge Deborah muttered, with embarrassment, then seemed to remember, it was her courtroom, and she was in charge. “The details of the class my husband and I took are irrelevant. Now can we please just get on with rescheduling this hearing with another judge.”

————————————————————-

“So what happens now?” Jennifer asked my lawyer as she took off the scarf she’d been wearing to partially obscure her electric blue pixie cut hair.

“We come back on the new date for the next hearing.” My lawyer simply stated.

“I took off work for this,” Jennifer complained, “I can only do that so many times.”

“Though I’m sure Cathrine appreciates the support, if you can’t make the next one, it’s ok. Even when the judge doesn’t recuse themself, it’s common for there to be multiple hearings. Obviously Cath and I have to make all of them, but I understand the rest of you have jobs and responsibilities.” I knew my lawyer didn’t actually love that half the people who came to sit with me till it was our turn, were very far from conventional looking. “Though Cathrine if you want to just take the plea deal when we do have the next, it can be the last one, if you don’t, we’ll probably have several more.”

“I know the fine is minor,” I sighed, because this whole thing dragging out was definitely costing me in various ways, “but my business is never going to recover if my reputation stays tarnished, and if it’s on my record the city will use it to try to shut the shop completely. And I know I could move and open the shop somewhere else, but this….this is where my family is.”

I reached out and pulled Jennfer close to me, since she was the member of the polycule standing closest to me at that moment. We just stood there for a moment embracing, as I felt the soft blue hair brushing against my face, and getting caught in the tears I suddenly was shedding, before I felt the arms and bodies of other members of the polycule join into a group hug around me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2016 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Nicky,” Klaus complained. “You can’t go too over the top. You promised to make it comfortable for my clients who just wanted a little extra privacy. They are not going to be comfortable with ropes and restraints hanging from hooks.”

The three of us stood in the dreary mostly empty backroom Nicky was hoping to turn into her dungeon. It had three plain dirty white drywall walls, and one painted brick one, unforgiving fluorescent light fixtures in a drop ceiling that was missing a couple of accustice tiles, a couple of doors but zero windows, and an unfinished concrete floor. I would never have imagined the room could be anything nice, but Nicky was describing tile and chandeliers she’d found being left out for garbage.

”I’ll find a way to hide them when you have clients back here.” Nicky blew off Klaus’
concern. “I’ll get a curtain or something. That can fit with the Victorian theme I was planning.”

”A curtain that can be easily lifted up. No Nicky.” Klaus insisted with determination.

”Oooouh.” I interrupted the argument. “Russel from my polycule, has a late nineteenth early twentieth century wardrobe he needs to let go of. It’s a rich walnut. It’s got hanging space behind the door on one side, and shelves on the other. He was going to list it on facebook, but I’m sure he’ll be happy to give you a good deal if he can skip that nuisance.”

”I guess that would work,” Klaus conceded. “As long as it is in the budget we agreed to. Talking about which, did you see the quote from the plumber to put in a wash station?”

“No,” Nicky said. “How bad was it?”

“Very.” Klaus groaned. “We’d be tripling the cost of fixing up this room.”

“It’s up to you.” Nicky sighed. ”I mean I don’t care enough to make it worth it, I rarely bother to shampoo my clients, that’s something you use much more. What do you want to do?”

”I don’t think I’m going to use back here often enough to be worth it, especially since I’m less likely to need to wash the client’s I expect to bring back here, since I think they are mostly going to be ones who wear wigs full time.”

”So we’ll skip it, and just have the wash stations in the main salon.” Nicky agreed.

Nicky seemed to think things were settled, and began to turn like she planned to walk back to the main part of the shop.

”Uh…” Klaus nervously began, “Can we talk about that kid I was talking to on the stoop when you arrived? The one I asked to wait out front.”

”Yeah?”

”I kind of hired him as our new receptionist.”

”You WHAT?!’

”I know I should have talked to you first, but…” Klaus shifted a little. “He offered me a blow job for twenty bucks, he offered me other things for only a bit more. Obviously I said no to that, but… He’s homeless, and I’m kind of worried he’s sick.”

”We’re not a charity.” Nicky complained not too convincingly.

”It’s a job we need done. Angel triple booked me again last week.” Klaus defended his decision. “Listen, he seems like a good kid. Probably needs a good meal and will be fine. In case it’s something more serious, I want to get him on the employee insurance plan as quickly as possible. Fortunately, because of Obama care, at least if he has got something, it’s not a preexisting condition.”

”He’s going to need a place to stay.” Nicky pointed out.

”I told him he could have the couch at my apartment,” Klaus shared. “I’m a little worried he thinks it means he is going to be paying rent the old fashioned way, which I am not even vaguely considering. He’s definitely way too young for me to consider having a relationship with, even if Bill and I weren’t talking about making it exclusive.”

”How old is he?” Nicky asked.

”I think he’s a teenager.” Klaus said. “I’m kind of uncomfortable with him staying at my place, but I can’t just let him keep sleeping out on the street.”

”You could get in trouble for harboring a runaway…” Nicky worried.

”He’s not a runaway,” Klaus dispelled her concern, sounding a bit demoralized. “His parents kicked him out a couple of years ago.”

”He doesn’t need a couch, he needs a bedroom.” Nicky stated. “He needs a parent, and you’re not old enough for him to see you that way, he’s going to think of you as a roommate. I’ll call my mom.”

”Nicky, I don’t want to burden her…” Klaus hesitated.

”She’s got plenty of room, I’m the only one of us kids living with her right now, and that’s only because I moved back in because I gave up my apartment when I bought the bungalow. I’ll be there a few more months, since I’m DIYing the renovations I need to make my house habitable, but not forever. She has room for a teenager. This isn’t just better for you, it’s better for him.”

“Thank you.” Klaus said in a rather relieved tone.

“I need you to take him to mom’s though, and get him settled in.” Nicky said. “Cath and I are meeting up with a friend of hers who agreed to be my model and let me practice restraining her in the barber chair and stuff, a bit of a refresher on basic safety, plus any specifics for the chair. So I’m not heading home after this, I’m heading back to the shop, it will probably be really late by the time I get home. And I don’t have the extra helmet for my bike.”

”OK,” Klaus nodded. “I’ll just have to let Bill know I can’t make it to his place tonight like I planned. I’ll stay till your mom is comfortable.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jennifer was already waiting in her car outside the closed barbershop, when Nicky and I got back from planning Nicky’s dungeon. I’d asked Jennifer to do this for Nicky, because she really enjoyed just giving over control and being tied up.

Besides, she really needed a professional haircut anyway, she’d been changing colors way too often, bleaching the hell out of it, and trimming her own layers with a rather cheap pair of thinning shears she’d gotten from Walmart. Her split ends had split ends. Most of the fried cotton candy pink hair needed to go.

I was hoping that the fact that I’d be instructing Nicky wouldn’t take Jennifer too much out of the moment. I had kept the style that Nicky and I had discussed as a surprise, so Jennifer could have some genuine anticipation. I was hoping that this evening would get Jennifer into a good mood, and was planning to take her home with me after her radical makeover.

“What a good obedient girl you are,” I praised the pretty pink haired sub. “You followed my orders perfectly and showed up right on time. Are you wearing what I told you to under that coat?”

”Yes Mistress.” our waif-like model opened her long over coat, revealing the sheer chiffon empire waist dress I had told her to wear.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Ok,” I said as we untied Jennifer, being cautious not to damage the light weight dress that I’d asked her to wear to force Nicky to be careful. “Now let’s try it in the chair. Nicky, obviously be careful as you pull Jennifer over to the chair, and push her down into it, just like you are when you do this in the bedroom. The same principles apply, but there’s more stuff to be aware of your sub tripping on, like the foot rest.”

”Ok,” Nicky said, as she grabbed Jennifer’s slender arm, and forced her over to the big barber chair, then ordered her. “STEP UP and SIT DOWN.”

”Now that you have her in the chair,” I instructed, “Start tying her down. Remember what I showed you earlier about how to make sure the knot can’t slip and become tighter, especially around the neck. Oh, and you have safety shears available right? Not just the pointy ones you use for haircutting?”

”Yeah,” Nicky assured me and patted a discreet pocket. “I got another pair of trauma shears, just like the ones I keep in the bedroom. Well did keep in the bedroom, right now they’re in a box in a storage unit, since I’m not taking that stuff to my mom’s house“

“Great,” I nodded, “go ahead and tie Jennifer down. Psst, Jennifer, make it a little more realistic, not Hollywood realistic, kink play realistic”

Jennifer began to put up a not terribly serious level of resistance, and a coy begging for Nicky to let her go, as Nicky looped the rope around her.

”Make sure as you tie her up, you don’t make it harder for you to work.” I reminded Nicky. “Don’t tie her so tightly to the backrest that it’s hard for you to move her head, or get the cape on her.”

”I think I’m mostly going to want to restrain people at the wrists.” Nicky said. “Maybe ankles. That way they can’t kick or hit, or try to cover their heads with their hands so I can’t cut their hair.”

”Many people really enjoy the feeling of being bound tightly around the torso though.” I explained. “Remember, this is more about making people feel like they are restrained, than actually restraining a genuinely unwilling participant. If anyone is truly unwilling, that’s not CNC, that’s just assault.”

“So think more about making the sub feel trapped and restrained, and don’t worry about them actually being very well secured.” Nicky paraphrased back to me.

“Basically.” I nodded as I observed the knot Nicky was tying. “Don’t mix up granny knots and square knots, they look the same, but granny knots will slip, only the square knot is secure when it really gets strained.”

”You just said it doesn’t need to be secure.” Nicky complained about the contradiction.

”I meant secure so it can’t slip and become tighter.” I reminded her. “I just avoid square knots where slipping too tight is a possibility.”

”Right.” Nicky acknowledged the difference. “Ok, I think I’ve got Jennifer well tied to the chair, what do you think?”

I checked the ties carefully, making sure that none of the knots could slide like I had warned Nicky could be dangerous. “How does it feel, Jennifer?”

“Pretty good.” She said, giving the restraints a slight test. “It’s not cutting off circulation, or chaffing. It’s definitely not too tight, I might like it a bit tighter, around the chest, but of course too tight is worse than a little loose.”

“Ok, Nicky, why don’t you start the haircut.” I suggested,

”You know,” Jennifer hedged, “Nicky already knows how to cut hair, she doesn’t really need to practice that part…I could just trim off the really damaged bits myself. I could take an inch or two off the length instead of just using the thinning shears on the layers.”

”Nicky hasn’t done it on someone restrained before.” I reminded Jennifer why I had ordered her to be our model. “And you, my darling, need a real haircut from a professional. This hair is fried, and way more than an inch or two has to go, a few inches need to go. Just be glad you’re getting a free one. Plus, I know how much you enjoy surprises, and giving over control. I’m hoping we can have a little private fun after this.”

I stroked down Jennifer’s pretty face. She nodded, admitting it was true. I stroked down her cheek again, lifted up her chin, and gave her a quick loving kiss. Nicky was standing next to the chair with the cape ready to put on our slightly hesitant model. Nicky gave the cape a dramatic shake, and let the fabric catch plenty of air, so it billowed down over Jennifer slowly.

“If I hadn’t tied her shoulders back quite so far,” Nicky observed as she wrapped a strip of paper around Jennifer’s neck, “this might be a bit easier. I’ll keep that in mind in the future.”

“While you’re putting the cape on,” I instructed Nicky, “is a good time to be aware of how the sub is doing. If their breathing seems too fast, if their pulse is pounding too hard. You don’t need exact measurements, just be aware if they seem to be in too much distress, in which case slow down and ease off. Or if the opposite, if they seem bored, take things up a notch.”

”Jennifer seems pretty calm,” Nicky observed as she fastened the cape.

“Now when the haircut you’re doing is a surprise, like this one is, it would be best to take the length in stages,” I suggested, it was something Sue had suggested would have probably helped her get out of the kink headspace long enough to use our safe word, since the first snip had been so front and center, she’d kind of felt like there’d been no going back. “Give the sub a few chances to use their safeword before you just cut it all off.”

“Yellow light,” Jennifer said.

”Thank you for demonstrating Jennifer,” I said, just a little annoyed by the distraction. “Now…”

”ORANGE LIGHT!” Jennifer stated firmly. “I’m not demonstrating, I’m using the safeword because I am uncomfortable with how things are going! What do you mean ’cutting it all off’?”

”I was talking in generalities Darling,” I assured Jennifer. “Now stop fussing, or you’ll ruin the surprise. I know how much you like surprises.”

”I like being surprised about whether you’re going to use the flogger or the paddle, or which other member of the polycule you invited to join us,” Jennifer grumbled. “I have to go around with whatever hairstyle you picked out for months.”

“Just trust me my darling,” I assured her again. “I picked out a very cute haircut for you, and it will look much better than this mess. Now Nicky…”

“RED LIGHT!!” Jennifer stated, and started wiggling against the ropes, proving Nicky had tied them rather securely. “If you don’t tell me exactly what you have planned, I want to be untied right now.”

”It’s just going to be a bob,” I informed Jennifer of the style I’d chosen that had been supposed to be a surprise with exasperation. “Now can you settle down and pretend you didn’t ruin the surprise.”

”Micro-bob, with baby bangs.” Nicky added, giving away more of the details.

“I didn’t think we were going above the shoulders,” Jennifer complained. “You said a few inches.”

“It needs to be above the shoulders, because you have absolutely fried that hair.” I told Jennifer. “Last time you slept over, my bed was filled with bits of broken off pink hair. Now Nicky…”

”I’m not continuing, till we pause, discuss this in detail, and I get Jennifer’s explicit consent to keep going.” Nicky said, casually leaning against the counter and folding her arms.

I wanted to just tell both of them to stop making things harder, this wasn’t an actual kink scene, it was a private class, and Jennifer’s haircut wasn’t to humiliate her, it was a necessity because the damned pink hair was breaking off. Then I remembered, they were right.

Even though it was a class, Jennifer’s participation had to be consensual, and Nicky was not supposed to just take the Dom’s word for the sub’s consent, if she felt things seemed off or heard the safeword. Stopping and making sure all parties knew what they were consenting to was completely necessary. And it wasn’t like unhealthy hair was going to affect Jennifer’s life span or anything, it just looked bad, felt terrible, and was leaving bits of broken hair everywhere that was annoying to clean up after, but it wasn’t a true absolute necessity.

“You’re right.” I took a deep breath and conceded. “Talk to Jennifer about what she is willing to let you do.”

”I thought Cath just meant up to maybe my shoulders at worst when she asked me to model. She said that you would cut off the damaged ends, not most of the length.” I listened to Jennifer tell Nicky as I went over to the waiting area. “I know my hair’s in bad shape, but it’s never been short.”

”I can absolutely just cut it shoulder length if that’s what you want,” Nicky promised Jennifer, but then added, “but maybe you might want to consider what Cath planned. She’s right about the damage from the bleach being really bad. You’re still going to have a lot of breakage at shoulder length, and this is still going to look really dull and dead. If I take it really short, it’s going to look a lot healthier. Let me grab a picture…”

Nicky came over to the waiting area, and picked up the magazine we’d looked at while choosing the style before we’d gone to the location the salon would be moving to.

”See we were thinking something like this.” Nicky placed the open magazine in Jennifer’s lap. “I know it’s very short, but it’s also really feminine. And when Cath showed me a picture of you, I thought it was a good shape for your face. And with the baby bangs, your eyebrow ring will be much more visible. It’s not going to look really good at shoulder length.”

”I don’t know,” Jennifer said hesitantly. “It’s cute, but so short. It’s not even like I really want a shoulder length haircut, it’s just Cath is right about the breakage and damage, so it kind of seemed like a good idea.”

”Can I cut one lock to shoulder length, since you seem comfortable going at least that short, to show you how much damage that’s going to leave?” Nicky gently asked permission.

”Yeah I guess,” Jennifer agreed, still just a little hesitant.

Nicky got her shears and comb from the counter. She combed a lock from the side of Jennifer’s head, just far enough forward on her head that it would be easy for her to look at. Nicky smoothed it down, clamped it between her fingers just at Jennifer’s collar bone.

”Here ok?”

“mhm”

Nicky cut the lock, the dry pink hair soiled the front of the cape draped over Jennifer.

”Here,” Nicky held the cut end’s in front of Jennifer for her to see. “You can see, it’s better, but not great. It’s still dry and dull. And watch how it still breaks a bit when I put a tiny bit of pressure on it. So we can do this, but you’ll still have a lot of damage.”

Nicky was rather gently pinching the slightly shortened lock, and running her fingers down it. Then she showed Jennifer how much of the pink hair had broken off.

”Yeah,” Jennifer sighed. “I guess even shoulder length a bunch of it is still going to break off every time I brush it.”

Nicky nodded as she dusted off her hands.

”How short do you want me to go?” Nicky asked. “Shoulder length? I can do it even though you’ll still have damage and breakage. A little above the shoulders? Classic bob length, chin or jaw? Or are you up for the micro-bob with baby bangs Cath picked out for you? Or going even shorter?”

”What would you recommend?” Jennifer asked Nicky, who had obviously gained the woman’s trust.

”Honestly,” Nicky said, running her hand over the brittle hair, “with this amount of damage, I’d usually recommend a buzzcut or pixie. The shorter you’re willing to go, the better it will look. Getting a pixie or crop would take off a lot more of the damage, though you would have to get a buzzcut to really get back to healthy. But I know Cath thinks you want something pretty feminine, so micro-bob feels like a good compromise, it’s something more clearly femme though it will be leaving behind some damage. It’ll be cute, I can give it a slight angle for an anime feel.”

”Where exactly would the micro-bob come to?”

“Cath and I talked about bringing it up to here.” Nicky held her hand flat at the spot right at the very top of Jennifer’s cheek bone. “She thought it would show off your tragus piercing nicely.“

”That’s very short…. it’s more like a bowl cut than bob.”

“If you are uncomfortable going quite that short, I can just take it up to around your earlobes. I tend to think earlobe is a rather flattering length on most women, it looks nice when the ends of the hair brush the cheek.” Nicky lowered her hand to the alternative slightly longer length.

”Ok,” Jennifer sighed deeply. “You can do the earlobe length micro-bob and I’ll pretend to be surprised. I’m very good at pretending.”

”Bangs?”

“You could keep that part an actual surprise,” Jennifer offered.

”Green light?” Nicky checked.

”Green light,” Jennifer confirmed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Ok,” Nicky said, as she went behind Jennifer, “I’m ready to continue the lesson.”

“Well, you obviously understand the importance of listening to safewords, and taking them seriously.” I told Nicky, feeling mildly embarrassed that I had been dismissive when Jennifer had used ours. “I need to remember to practice what I preach.”

”Yes you do.” Jennifer emphasized.

“I am still your mistress,” I reminded her. “Is that an appropriate way for a sub to address her mistress?”

”No Mistress Cathrine,” Jennifer returned to being contrite, and hopefully into a better head space to enjoy her current predicament.

“So,” I tried to recapture my train of thought from earlier, “I was saying make sure you leave the sub space to use their safe word as you go, if the details of the haircut are a surprise, like Jennifer is going to pretend. Just do it in a way that enhances the mood. Like teasing the sub, ”

“I can manage that.” Nicky nodded, “Like the way I usually lightly brush the flogger over my sub before I start to actually whip them with it. It draws it out, often the anticipation is where most of the fun is.”

“Yes, drawing out the anticipation is good, like foreplay. Some may come in, not really getting that even though the tying up and stuff is a game,” I pointed out, “That the haircut will be very real, so you need to find a way to make that clear.”

“I can start just by snipping off little bits that won’t even show, so that the sub has a chance to backout after they realize I am actually cutting their hair, but before it’s too late to not have to take significant length fixing things.”

“Pretend I’m a customer who made the appointment as a surprise for my sub. We’ll pretend that earlobe length is what I originally requested.” I instructed Nicky. “Talk to me like you would a customer. Show me how you would start if I had brought Jennifer in and maybe I was making this part of a whole prearranged day of surprise humiliation, and Jennifer didn’t even suspect she was about to be properly shorn till we walked into a barbershop…”

Nicky nodded, and began.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“What a naughty girl you are,” Nicky teased Jennifer, pushing the fried pink hair forward. “Good girls take care of their hair, but you haven’t have you? Well, it’s good thing your mistress brought you in so that I can fix the mess you made, and you know how I’m going to fix this don’t you?….Snip… snip… snip.”

“Please not too much ma’am…” Jennifer pleaded.

“Your mistress gets to decide how much is enough.” Nicky reminded her. “Now lets start cutting off this mess.”

Nicky picked up her sharp shears, and rather deliberately held the blades out in front of Jennifer, tilting them so they caught the light. She then lifted a small lock of Jennifer’s hair up, and started to snip just a bit off the ends. I watched the soft maybe half inch strands fluttering down to Jennifer’s lap.

“Do you think your mistress will think that’s enough?” Nicky asked as she pretended to examine the end of the lock she’d only just barely trimmed. “You still have many split ends. I think we’ll need to cut off so much more before we even begin to get it healthy.”

Then Nicky gave the scissors a snap right next to Jennifer’s ear, causing her to startle. Nicky moved her fingers up, and started snipping again, this time sending a few more inches of the split ends to Jennifer’s lap.

Snip, snip, snip

“Well that’s a little more like it,” Nicky said looking at the end, then dropping the lock. “Let’s even things out and see what your mistress thinks.”

Nicky started snipping along the bottom of the pink strands, not really professionally. Just snipping upward slightly, leaving a soft edge as she took off about three or four inches of the split ends. Nicky was doing it all in front where Jennifer had to watch, not concerned that she was over directing the hair, since this wouldn’t be the final length.

”That’s a very slight improvement,” Nicky said putting on a speculative tone. “What do you think Mistress Catherine? Is that good enough, or should I try to make it a bit neater?”

”It’s only a very slight improvement,” I agreed, playing the part of a Dom not an instructor. “It’s still very messy. Please cut it shorter.”

”No, no. Please Mistress.” Jennifer pleaded again, pulling a bit against the ropes that bound her into the barberchair. “Please don’t make her cut more.”

“Just cut.” I told Nicky.

”Please no,” Jennifer begged Nicky.

Nicky ignored Jennifer’s pleas and begging, and picked up the silver scissors again. Jennifer closed her eyes as Nicky opened the menacing shears, ready to cut.

”If you close your eyes, I will cut it even shorter than your mistress requested,” Nicky warned Jennifer, who immediately opened them back up. “Good girl.”

Nicky simply placed the sharp blades at Jennifer’s collar bone and began to slice off all the hair below.

Shhhhrunch, srrrrunch

The blades fought through the dry locks as they spilled down Jennifer’s chest, tumbling into her lap. This still was not professional work, the hair was still over directed forward. It didn’t matter much, at this length Jennifer’s hair was still brittle and visibly damaged. Nicky kept sawing through it, until all of the pink hair below Jennifer’s collar bone was now resting in Jennifer’s lap.

”That’s gotten rid of more of the damage you did being a naughty girl who took such bad care of it, bleaching it over and over again.” Nicky remarked. “It’s still not really healthy though.”

”Please, it’s enough. I’ll be more careful next time I color it.” Jennifer begged. “Please tell her it’s healthy enough Mistress.”

I walked over to the chair, and stroked through the dry hair. Not at all surprisingly, it still felt like straw.

“This is still going to be breaking off in my bed,” I told Jennifer, then turned to Nicky. “Keep cutting.”

”Very good,” Nicky agreed with an evil smile, while snapping her shears.

”No, no, please no more.” Jennifer almost sobbed, though her eyes were dry.

Nicky ignored Jennifer’s appeal. This time Nicky lifted the locks up one at a time, holding them by the end, and emphatically snapped off the inch or two she was holding.

SHNAP! SNAP!

Then she tossed the dry pink hair forward, almost aggressively towards Jennifer, but not so perfectly as to disrupt the illusion of carelessness. The hair fell all around Jennifer, the bulk of it in front of the chair. Nicky kept snapping the locks shorter and shorter, and tossing the hair aside bit by bit.

Snap, snap, snap

As careless as Nicky appeared as she did it, Jennifer’s hair was pretty even when Nicky paused her brutal snipping. Jennifer’s hair was in a rather blunt long bob, it looked just barely long enough for a ponytail.

”My, this hair really is very very unhealthy…” Nicky stated, fluffing around the pink locks that now swung freely above Jennifer’s shoulders. “What do you think your mistress wishes?”

”Please tell her it’s enough Mistress.” Jennifer implored. “The little bit of damage left isn’t that bad, please Mistress Catherine.”

I figured we were just about at the point that Nicky could only take length one more time and still have enough left to trim it into the planned style, so I made my next order put control fully into Nicky’s hands. “Take it as short as you need to make it healthy.”

”Thank you,” Nicky said in a delightfully evil tone.

Nicky pushed Jennifer’s head down, and gathered what she could of the already bobbed hair back into a tiny ponytail at the base of Jennifer’s head. The bits at the front managed to elude Nicky’s grasp, hanging to either side of Jennifer’s face. Nicky actually cackled a little as she started sawing through the bundle she held tight.

Crunch, shhhhhhrunch, shrunch, shhhhhnap

Jennifer’s head popped up and her hair fell forward, now in an aline bob just barely longer than the earlobe length bob that was the goal. Nicky held the little bundle of hair in her fist up high, in front of Jennifer’s face, and sprinkled it into her lap.

”Now that’s a much healthier length.” Nicky announced. “Let’s just neaten it up, so your mistress isn’t too embarrassed being seen in public with you.”

At that point the way Nicky was working shifted very slightly. Though she was still being a bit rough and brusk, she started seeming a bit more focused on the actual haircutting than torturing Jennifer.

Nicky stood at her counter, adjusting clippers. When she seemed done, she picked up her comb and a couple of hair clips. Nicky carefully combed the hair in the back, and parted it. She frowned slightly at the amount of broken hair in her comb, but just shook it out and continued working. Then she divided out the hair on Jennifer’s nape into a large slightly arched section that hit just about at Jennifer’s earlobes on the sides, and up to about two inches above her hairline at the back, and used the clips to hold the rest of the hair forward.

Nicky turned on the clippers, which began to hum angrily.

Buzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

She pushed Jennifer’s head forward, and inserted the comb. She then ran the blades of clippers over the teeth of the comb.

Bzzzzzzzzzzwhooop

Soft pink hair clippings rained down, landing on Jennifer’s bent neck and shoulders. Left behind was a pelt of short tapered hair. On most of Jennifer’s nape, the pink made up only about half the about quarter inch length with her darker roots which were only just beginning to grow in making up the half nearer her scalp. Towards the bottom though, it gradually shifted, the pink only at the very tips, giving the hair a slightly frosted appearance, and at the very bottom, was a velvety stubble that was pure brown.

Nicky swapped the clippers with their low hum, for a smaller trimmer, that had a whiny higher pitch buzz. Nicky carefully scribed a high neckline that curved around the base of Jennifer’s skull, following the natural shape.

It was obviously time to work on the top. Nicky took the clips that had been holding most of Jennifer’s hair up and forward, keeping it out of the way as Nicky had buzzed off the hair of Jennifer’s nape. The roughly chin length hair temporarily obscured the velvety taper Nicky had created, before Nicky began to wet it with mist from her spray bottle. Combing it as she got the hair wet,

”Look at how much is breaking off in my comb,” Nicky chastised Jennifer as she shook the damp strands out. “Is it any wonder that your mistress was fed up with all this and sent you here to get it all cut off.”

“Please no more,” Jennifer begged yet again.

”Oh I’m going to cut more,” Nicky warned her as she exchanged the spray bottle for her scissors, giving them a dramatic snap.

Nicky ran her comb down through the wet hair that covered Jennifer’s ear. She stopped the comb just at the bottom of Jennifer’s ear, I thought slightly longer than was the planned final length, and carefully adjusted the angle. Nicky raised the blades to just under the comb, and began to slice.

Ssssssssssshhlick, ssssssssshhhlick, snip, snip.

Nicky pulled the comb down and out of the freshly cut hair, revealing the sharp line that angled from the hollow of Jennifer’s cheek up towards the top of where Nicky had cut the hair on Jennifer’s nape truly short at a shallow angle. Not an overly dramatic aline, which would look dated, but enough of an aline that it was very flattering and meant that the hair on the back of Jennifer’s head wasn’t too long.

Sssssssshhlick, sssssshhhlick, sssssssnip, snip.

Nicky continued back behind Jennifer’s head, continuing the line she’d started, till she reached that apex she’d been aiming for just below Jennifer’s occipital bone. Nicky then went to the other side of Jennifer, and began to repeat the process, carefully matching the length.

Ssssssssssssssshhlick, ssssssssnip, sssshhhlick, shnip.

Nicky spent a little bit, combing and snipping at the earlobe length bob, catching any bits that weren’t perfectly perfect. Then she combed the front of Jennifer’s hair down over her face.

”My look at this mess, that’s just falling in your eyes.” Nicky scolded. “We’ll have to do something about this won’t we.”

”No please, please don’t cut anymore.” Jennifer pleaded. “Please mistress, tell her to stop.”

”I quite agree with Nichole,” I told Jennifer. “Cut all that mess off.”

“As you wish.” Nicky agreed eagerly, and snapped the scissors again.

Nicky then parted the hair above Jennifer’s hair line into a deep wide triangle. She obviously had decided to include as much of the damaged hair into the bangs as possible before them becoming comical. It seemed like a good plan to remove more of the damage. She combed what was about to be the bangs forward, and clipped the rest of the hair back from the sides of Jennifer’s head.

Nicky began to snip the bangs short, though again not as short as I had thought she’d planned. The wet hair still brushed Jennifer’s dark arching eyebrows, still mostly obscuring the little titanium ring she had in one.

Shnip, snip, shnip.

Nicky took small deliberate snips all the way across Jennifer’s forehead. Three or four inch long wet locks fell to Jennifer’s lap, weighing down the fluffy strands already there. Jennifer’s eyes followed the locks.

Nicky combed through the thick new bangs. When she started snipping again, Jennifer closed her eyes against the little splinters. When Nicky was done, she took the big fluffy brush from the counter in front of her, and dusted the little snippets from Jennifer’s nose and eyelashes.

After Nicky took out the clips, she poured some product into her hands, then started working it into the short pink hair, that finally looked a bit less brittle than when we walked in. When she was done, she got out the hair dryer. She used a round brush as she smoother the hair down into a surprisingly healthy looking glossy cap. I could see that dry the hair looked a bit shorter than it had wet.

”Is it over?” Jennfier asked.

”Not quite.” Nicky purred by her ear. “I’m going to take it a little bit shorter.”

“Mmmph” Jennifer let out, “Yellow light…”

”I’m just going to give you a tiny bit of layering. Make sure there are no bits that are a little longer. On the main length.” Nicky explained switching to her normal tone. “I was going to bring the bangs up a little bit, just to about here.”

Nicky waited for a moment, as she kept her finger pointing to the spot about halfway up Jennifer’s forehead, a little above where the thick bangs currently rested not quite touching her eyebrows. Jennifer gave a slight barely perceptable nod.

Nicky combed the hair out away from Jennifer’s head, and began that slight layering she mentioned. The dry strand few through the air, catching the light now that Nicky had made it smooth and healthy. When she snipped the dry bangs up to the short length we discussed the snippets looked almost like pink freckles till Nicky once again dusted off Jennifer’s face with the fluffy brush.

”Shall I shave her neck all nice and smooth, Mistress Cathrine?” Nicky asked me.

”ORANGE LIGHT!” Jennifer interjected before I could answer. “No shaving!”

”Ok, we’ll just leave you stubbly,” Nicky chuckled, then picked up the trimmer, and briefly ran it down Jennifer’s neck, as she unfastened the cape and tossed the paper aside. “There you go Mistress Cathrine, that should reduce how much broken off hair there is in your bed.”

”Thank you Nicky,” I smiled and got up to feel Jennifer’s cute new earlobe length bob. “This feels better than I expected.”

I stroked down the smooth cap of hair to where the velvety short hair on Jennifer’s nape took over.

“I’ll give you a bottle of the product I used,” Nicky offered as she undid Jennifer’s wrist.

Jennifer took the opportunity of having her hand free, to also begin stroking her new
little bob. “Oh, this does feel healthy. I bet I can get away with a bleach bath so I can get this light enough to switch to opal hair.”

Nicky snorted out a laugh then advised her, “If you try bleaching again, even a bleach bath, you’re going to get that buzzcut length, no clippers required. The only hair that will survive is the quarter inch or so of virgin roots. It’s not even going to be a choice like this haircut was where I told you I could cut it to shoulder length, but shorter would be better. Bleach it again and it’ll just break off when you try to comb it.”

”But it feels pretty healthy…”Jennfer claimed as Nicky untied the last knot, fully releasing our model sub.

”It’s an illusion from the product. It may feel smoother and look shiny, but it’s still damaged under the silicone.” Nicky informed as she began winding the rope we’d used into a neat coil.

”Oh well.” Jennifer sighed as she got up and turned her head, admiring the new style. “I guess it’s cute in pink. And I suppose I can go darker if I get really bored.”

”Purple would help blend in the roots till the damage has grown out enough for you to be happy cutting it off. After that you bleach again, but not the same hair over and over. If you really want to change colors so frequently,” Nicky said as she put the coiled rope down and handed Jennifer a hand mirror so she could see the back, “you should consider going shorter. That way most of the length can just grow out between bleachings.”

”Hmmm. Maybe…” Jennifer conceded slightly, the small sound making it clear that even though she knew it was true she didn’t like it. Jennifer ran her fingers through the abbreviated length a few times, then spent several moments petting up and down the truly short tapered nape. She took a last look at the back of the short bob, and handed the small mirror back to Nicky. “I don’t hate this as much as I thought I would.“

”You don’t sound like you hate it at all, and it is very pretty.” I chuckled, then reminded the adorable woman in her diaphanous dress that we had plans, as I slipped my arm inside hers, encouraging her to come towards the door with me. “Let’s go home my darling, I have some very nice aftercare planned for you. Nicky’s had a long day.”

”Did you invite anyone to join us tonight?” Jennifer whisper softly in my ear.

”No, it’s just us.” I whispered back.

”Want to invite Nicky?”

I looked back at Nicky, who was heading over to door the broom was behind. On the one hand, I would love to, she was amazing in bed. On the other hand, I knew that last time we’d hooked up, it had left Nicky a little bit confused, a little bit heartbroken. Ultimately though, Nicky was an adult, it was up to her.

”Hey Nicky,” I called out. “Want to join us?”

Nicky looked surprised, then confused, then torn, and then finally, “Fuck it. I’ll come in early to deal with the clean up.”

When we all got back to my condo, the evening was amazing. The contrast of Nicky’s muscular body and Jennifer’s delicate one. The joy of both giving and recieving pleasure at the same time, The feel of both Nicky and Jennifer tending to me at the same time, the wonder of watching Nicky exploring Jennifer’s body for the first time. The amusingly similar feel of Nicky’s mullet-hawk and Jennifer’s micro-bob, which both were a combo of very short and longer sections.

It was two weeks later that Nicky and I sat down and talked about how she couldn’t keep doing things like this. She’d had fun in the moment but been left heartbroken again. I promised her I wouldn’t ask her again. I loved her and cared about our friendship too much to risk it.

********************* Consequences for Mistress Cathrine **********************

—————————— 2024 ———————————————

Heather and I sat in the little office as my lawyer went over details about showing up for my trial.

”It seems that Judge Weaver isn’t the only judge who needed to recuse themselves because they have taken one of your classes, or slept with you.” My lawyer, Brenda, explained with a touch of a smirk. “In fact every single judge except one in the county has either taken one of your classes or had an intimate relationship with you. And that’s unfortunately Judge Fitzgerald.”

”Oh, why is that unfortunate?” I asked.

”He has a reputation for being rather stodgy and old fashioned.” Brenda simply stated. “It’s nothing serious enough to disqualify him, but it’s best if we go in expecting to be scrutinized. I’m going to be asking that you do things that I wouldn’t for any of the other judges.”

”Ok…” I felt my forehead wrinkle.

“You need to wear a dress, not pants.” Brenda specified. “One that is conservative and fairly covered. The fabric needs to not be clingy or see through, and not an overly loud color. Neutrals or pastel, a floral would be great.”

“I don’t think I have anything like that…”

”I’ll get her something appropriate.” Heather volunteered.

“Sensible shoes, like pumps that only have a one or two inch heel, flats are ok. Not sneakers, not stilettos, ” Brenda went on, as Heather nodded along. “I need you to tone the make-up way way down. If you just want to skip it, that’s fine.”

I frowned slightly, hating the idea that I was basically going to be wearing what amounted to a costume. I didn’t like it, it felt mildly dishonest really, but it was only for a few days. I would put up with the costume because I knew it was worth it. I nodded.

”Now the hair…” Brenda broached in a slightly more cautious tone.

“I know, pulled back in a bun or low ponytail.” I agreed unenthusiastically.

”Actually….” Brenda said slightly apologetically. “I’d like you to get it cut. Something fairly short and matronly. Something that isn’t as conspicuously sexy and done up. And tone down the contrast between the roots and the bleached ends.”

”I don’t think I can do that.” I said.

”Yes you can.” Heather contradicted me. “We’ll get that taken care of.”

”I’ve always had long hair.” I complained.

”It will grow back.” Heather reminded me in her most impatient mom tone.

”It will take years.”

”I know how long it takes, but it will happen.” Heather stated. “If you lose the shop, it won’t just grow back.”

I stroked the loose bundle of blonde locks that hung in front of my shoulder. I frowned at Heather, wanting to argue. I looked over at Brenda hoping she might tell Heather it wasn’t really a big deal and to let me just keep my hair and wear it up. Brenda just nodded though.

“Considering how bad business has been lately…” I started.

”That is temporary.Your hair will grow back and business will pick up once this is over.” Heather claimed, then added a little dig. ”You can ask Sue for tips on growing out bad haircuts.”

————————————————————————————

I waited nervously for Rachel, watching her chat with her previous client. The client had slightly wavy dark brown hair that hung all about her with soft layers, it had that voluminous bounce that comes from a good blow out. On the floor around Rachel’s chair was just a small volume of scattered short clippings of the dark brown hair, just the amount that comes from a light trim to get rid of split ends. The client sat casually facing the mirror and nodding as Rachel lightly arranged the full locks with the no longer needed cape over one arm. Rachel was unhurried and relaxed as she smiled and seemed to answer questions.

Nicky was leaning against the counter next to her barber chair, talking on her phone. Klaus was at the reception desk explaining something about the computer to the friendly young lady with very short hair that was a completely unnatural shade of scarlet, who seemed to be a new employee of the shop. I watched Nicky put her phone back in her pocket, sigh deeply, and walked over to the reception desk, waving at me as she passed with a quick “Hi Cath.”

“Sorry to interrupt Ally,” Nicky said, “but I need you to go to my house and grab the package that is on the front porch, take it inside, and go to the bedroom and help Emma unwrap it. Then just make sure she’s calm and happy.”

”Ally is the shop’s employee, not yours.” Klaus complained to Nicky. “She isn’t here to run personal errands for your wife. The package will be fine on your porch till you get home.”

”Fine,” Nicky said in a tone that clearly meant it wasn’t fine. “Ally, please cancel my next three appointments and reschedule them so I can run home and deal with the package.”

“Nicky, you can’t cancel appointments unless it’s an emergency.” Klaus grumbled. “Getting a package off the porch isn’t an emergency. You have a covered porch, it’s not going to get that wet. What’s in it anyway?”

“It’s a stuffed animal Emma ordered.” Nicky explained. “It’s for the ba….”

”That’s definitely not an emergency.” Klaus insisted interrupting Nicky.

“The stuffed animal isn’t the emergency,” Nicky explained angrily. “The emergency is that Emma is hormonal and crying about it because she can’t just go get it since she’s on bedrest.”

”You’re telling me Emma, who is a rational adult, is crying about a stuffed animal?” Klaus asked doubtfully.

”She’s pregnant,” Nicky stated. “And trapped in bed.”

”So?”

”Have you ever been pregnant? Has Bill ever been pregnant? Have you ever been stuck in bed for weeks?” Nicky challenged. “She’s scared and feeling useless. Someone needs to go get the package and calm my wife down, so unless you know someone else who’s available and able to sooth Emma, either Ally or I have to go do it.”

Klaus just scowelled at Nicky. That’s when it occurred to me that I could have an excuse for not staying for my haircut. I could just tell Heather that Emma needed me, Heather liked Emma, everyone liked Emma. Heather would think Emma’s well being was more important than my haircut.

”I can go!” I volunteered. “It will make Rachel’s day easier too, since she had to squeeze me in at the last minute.”

”Nope, you aren’t getting out of this haircut that easily,” I heard Rachel’s voice say, and looked up and saw she was just within earshot. “You have a last minute appointment because this is important. Come on back.”

I sighed deeply, reluctantly got up and started walking back towards Rachel’s chair, saying a quick “sorry” as I passed Nicky.

”Klaus, just let Ally go make sure Emma is ok. Ally’s job is to keep Nicky working and Nicky can’t work if Emma isn’t ok.” Rachel ordered before she turned to follow me. “And Nicky, if this becomes a regular issue, hire a kid from the college to be Emma’s assistant. They might even be someone you can then keep on as a nanny.

“It’s like having a whole second set of children,” Rachel complained under her breath as she caught up to me, then I felt her arm on my back, steering me away from her chair, and towards the sinks instead. “We need to be fast, so straight to the wash station and I will get right to toning.”

”But we haven’t consulted and you haven’t lightened my roots” I pointed out as I slowed my pace feeling even more reluctant.

”I already consulted with Heather last night.” Rachel informed me as she increased the pressure on my back guiding me to the sinks. “I’m not going to be lightening your roots, I’m going to use toner to darken it overall and bring your hair closer to the color of your roots and cover the gray of your roots.”

”I’ve been blonde for 30 years,” I complained. “I don’t want to go back to mousy brown.”

”It’ll be more of a darker shade of ash blonde than brown.” Rachel said as though that would change my feelings about it.

”But I like the color it is.”

”It’s just toner, it will fade out in a couple of months,” Rachel’s tone became impatient. “It’s both a lot faster than lightening, which since I just barely squeezed you into my schedule is necessary, and it fits much better with what Heather told me you needed, which was to tone down the bimbo factor.”

“Don’t slut shame me!” I complained.

”I’m not slut shaming,” Rachel grumbled. “I’m just being realistic. Now I need to darken it for now, but we can go back to honey and platinum in a couple of months. Ok?”

”I guess,” I conceded reluctantly as I sat in the shampoo chair she’d steered me towards.

As soon as I was seated, Rachel started wrapping a fluffy towel around my shoulder, then pulled out a plasticy chemical resistant waterproof cape. I began to lean back, but instead of Rachel’s hand cradling my head the way I expected. I felt her hand on my back pushing me back up to a sitting position.

”Hold on,” Rachel ordered, as I watched her take a large pair of shears and a comb from her pocket. “I’m going to deal with the length first. Toning and washing will be easier on short hair.”
.
“But we haven’t discussed the length yet.” I said feeling suddenly a little panicky. “How much are you going to cut. I don’t want it too short.”

“I told you I consulted with Heather.” Rachel reminded me impatiently. ”For right now, I’m going to take it up to about half way up your neck and a few rough layers. But once you’re shampooed, I’m going to be taking the back up to around the hairline with a little bit of a taper, I’ll leave the top long enough to cover the top of your ears, I know how you feel about them.”

”Oh no,” I practically moaned. “I can’t go that short. I was thinking more like shoulder length.”

”Can we please just stick to the plan I discussed with Heather,” Rachel complained. “She came up with it for very good reasons, and she sent me pictures.”

“But it’s my hair, it’s my decision.” I insisted.

Rachel sighed deeply, looked at her watch, and said, “Yes, it’s your hair and your decision, so if you say ‘no’ I will just cut it to shoulder length. I think it’s a bad decision though. A good decision would be to trust Heather, your lawyer, and me. We all care about you and are trying to help you out of the mess you got yourself into.”

”I didn’t get myself into this mess!” I complained, feeling down right offended. “I was set up, I’m not a prostitute! Not that I feel like prostitution should be illegal, and I know I’m lucky to not be in a position where that’s something I need to do, but…”

”I know what happened.” Rachel met my offended tone with an even one. “I know you aren’t a prostitute, I know you were deliberately set up and why, but that doesn’t mean that you didn’t use incredibly poor judgment. How many dates had you been on with this guy before you agreed to fulfill what he claimed was a fantasy?”

”just one..”

”Why did you agree to use real money instead of play money?”

”he said that play money made it seem fake…”

“It was SUPPOSED to be fake, because you used real money it was real.”

“I know, I should have kept it more pretend, but he was so eager to do it with real money.”

”And you are a people pleaser.”

”uhm” the tiny confirmation left my throat as a squeak.

“Cath,” Rachel pressed, “if a person came up to you at one of your BDSM safety classes and told you they wanted to do a complex scene like that with a person they barely knew, what would you say to them?”

”I’d tell them that dominance and submission are based on trust, and you need to get to know a person to build that trust.” I admitted. “So you think I should be fined, go to jail, have a criminal record, and lose the shop because I used a little poor judgment?”

”No Cath,” Rachel assured me as she put a comforting hand on my shoulder. “I wouldn’t even think those were right if you actually were a prostitute, as long as you weren’t an unscrupulous pimp who took advantage of vulnerable women, which would be less of a problem if prostitution wasn’t illegal, but instead was regulated for health and safety. But maybe you should accept that there are going to be a few consequences for your lapse in judgment, and that one of those consequences is a haircut you aren’t exactly thrilled to get.”

I pulled a lock of the beautiful long blonde hair forward and stroked it, feeling the softness under my fingers. I felt a tear begin to form in the corner of my eye, as I looked up at Rachel.

”Cath?”

”You can do what you and Heather discussed.” I granted my consent with resignation, as I released the soft lock for the last time.

”It will grow back.” Rachel assured me with a pat on my shoulder, before she started gathering my hair into a bundle behind me.

I felt Rachel hold the bundle of my hair taught. Then the cold steel blades of the scissors were against my neck.

SHHrunch, SHHhhhrunch,

I sat there as the tears began to run down my cheeks, listening to the sound of the blades biting through my beautiful hair. I felt the steady pressure of Rachel holding the hair taught slowly give way with slight tugs then a release as the locks were cut.

Shruh-shruh-shrunch, shrunch, shnap.

I swallowed down the mournful moan I wanted to release as Rachel brought the wavy blonde ponytail from behind my back. She held it out in front of me, then simply dropped the hair I had so reluctantly given up to the floor a few inches from my feet. It hadn’t been theatrical, she’d kept the bundle low, not holding it up and showing it off to me like Nicky would have, just a quick discarding of refuse. I stared down at the pile of my hair on the floor. I hadn’t seen a pile of my own hair like that ever.

Rachel began combing out hair from the side of my head, working faster than she usually did. Then I felt her hold the hair taught once again. I wished I knew how much she was about to cut, so I might have a little say in the matter, but since I was seated in front of the sinks instead of facing a mirror like usual, I had little clue.

Hisssssnip

Rachel had a couple of inches of blonde tufts trapped between her manicured fingers as she held her hand out. She simply opened her fingers and the light tufts drifted to the floor, where they added to the pile my ponytail had made. Very quickly, without the care and deliberateness I was used to from Rachel, she repeated the process, cutting in the rough layers she had said she was going to.

Hiss-snip, snip, snip

”There you go,” Rachel said as she slipped the comb and shears back into her apron pocket. “The worst part is over.”

I reached up from under the cape, and felt the shortened tufts that rested on my neck. My stomach churned a little, as I also realized I was frustratingly, a bit turned on by the terror of feeling the sharp ends.

”Can I see it?” I asked, my voice breaking just a little, as I watched Rachel put on a pair of rubber gloves.

”Sorry,” Rachel stated as she began leaning me back into the sink. “I need to get the toner on before my scheduled client is complaining. Remember, I’m squeezing this in between my regular appointments. There’s not really much to see anyway.”

I tried not to think about what Rachel meant by “There’s not much to see” as I felt the wetness spreading over my scalp.

——————————————————————————————-

“Jay,” Rachel called over to her assistant as she helped me up. “When the timer goes off, I need you to rinse Cath. I’m going to be taking my next client, so after she’s rinsed just make sure she’s comfortable and let her wait here. Ok, Jay? Ok, Cath?”

Then just like that, Rachel was gone. I sat in front of the sink with my chemical saturated hair of a not clearly known short length wrapped in plastic and a towel feeling mildly abandoned. When Jay came back for a brief moment I hoped the young man was going to keep me company, but then I noticed he was carrying the broom.

I watched Jay use the dirty bristles of the broom to push my beautiful blonde hair across the floor towards the trash, tangling it. I watch as the dirty tangled mess was swept into a dust pan and dumped into the garbage pail.

I looked up and away from Jay treating my beloved hair as garbage, and over to Rachel consulting with her next client. I watch as they both smiled chatting happily. Occasionally Rachel ran her fingers through her clients long locks, and said something as she arranged some of the golden hair with dark brown roots forward over her client’s shoulder.

It was exactly how most of my appointments with Rachel started. After a quick catch up about life, we would discuss my hair. We would go over the very slight and subtle changes we were contemplating. It was funny how so many times we’d talked at length about whether the layering should be slightly heavier or not, if it was time to go maybe one shade of blonde lighter since I was getting older, if the back should be more U shaped or straighter, or whatever barely noticable subtle change we were considering in great detail. Today, when we were actually really drastically changing things, there had been practically no discussion. She’d simply chopped off more than half my hair to save time, and picked out a new color for me without showing me a single swatch. I watched Rachel’s client chuckle and nod. I felt the warm tear roll down my cheek, reached up and wiped it away with the back of my hand.

_______________________

Bing the timer went off. I looked around nervously, anxious for Jay to come and rinse my hair, scared that leaving the toner on longer meant my hair would come out darker. I finally spotted Jay getting a couple of bottles of sparkling water from the fridge.

”Jay… Jay…” I called to him as he walked within ear shot carrying the cold water. “My timer went off…”

”Ok, hang on.” He simply said as he kept walking. “I’ll be right back.”

I watched as he took the bottle to Rachel’s scheduled client, who was sitting comfortably as Rachel applied lightener to her roots. Jay didn’t hurry, chatting to her in a friendly manner as he opened the bottle for her, and then smiling as she thanked him.

”Your timer went off?” he asked me, when he finally came back.

”Several minutes ago.” I informed him anxiously.

“Ok, let’s get you rinsed then.” He said in a relaxed manner and started coming around to the side of the chair I had been left in. “Hang on, we’re out of my size of gloves. I’ll be right back.”

”Does it really matter?” I asked desperately as he began to walk away, leaving me with the toner still darkening my hair.

“It’ll just take a second,” he claimed as he continued walking towards the back of the shop.

It was definitely more than a second before Jay came back with a fresh box of size large gloves. It felt like an hour, even though according to my phone, it was approximately 3 minutes. Of course then Jay fussed with putting the box into the cover that hid it and throwing out the empty.

”Ok, lean back,” Jay finally invited me as he cradled my head.

—————————————————————————————

When I was finally sitting up with nothing but water and a bit of leave in conditioner in the hair that I hadn’t actually seen yet, I was only mildly less unhappy. I knew it was shorter and darker than it had been before, but it didn’t know what the hair that was wrapped up in a towel looked like.

”Are you warm enough?” Jay asked politely as he took the chemical resistant cape off of me. “I could get you a hot tea.”

“I’m ok.” I said, referring only to my physical state, and not my emotional one.

”Would you like a bottle of water?”

Sparkling mineral water was what the shop typically kept the drink fridge stocked with. Both Nicky and Klaus favored it, and there was a certain neutralness to it, so most salon customers were happy with it. I knew I was in the minority for disliking it as much as I did. Occasionally, I got lucky and there was a can or two of the soda prefered, When there wasn’t Jay or Mike would usually offer to run out and get it for me. Most of the time I declined the offer, only taking him up on it if I was particularly thirsty and even then always with the stipulation of only if it’s not too much trouble. Today, if there weren’t any in the fridge, I would take him up on the offer, I needed the comfort.

“Do you happen to have a diet Coke?”

””Sorry, not right now.” Jay stated without offering to go get me one.

”Could you possibly go get me one?” I requested.

”Sorry, but Rachel is over booked today.” Jay apologized, “Plus Sarah and I are taking turns at the reception desk, Ally was supposed to watch it since Mike is off today, but she had to go run some errand. I really can’t leave the shop. Do you want that water or tea?”

”No thank you,” I sighed to Jay, who took that as permission to go.

Rachel was applying lightener and folding foils on her scheduled client’s hair still, so I had to keep just sitting at the wash station in front of the sinks. Of course as I waited, I felt in the way every time anyone brought someone else over to the sinks for something. I smiled apologetically at Sarah when she brought over one of Klaus’ clients to be washed, then at Tom who needed to rinse one of his clients.

As I sat there feeling small, Rachel’s words ate at me. I thought of all the times I had gone against my own better judgment. All the times I’d skip safety measures I talked about at length in my classes. About how I had never actually used a dental dam even though I taught women how to make them. How many times had I shared toys without putting them in condoms?

“Cath,” Rachel interrupted my thoughts. “Go head on over to my chair. I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

I got up quietly and walked by myself across the shop wrapped in towels while Rachel stayed with her scheduled client and gave Jay instructions. When I got to Rachel’s station, I sat myself in her barber chair, and looked at the mirror. I’d seen myself sitting in this same chair many times, but this was the first time I hadn’t been walked over by Rachel or Jay, or one of her previous assistants, who got me settled and chatted with me. This was the first time it was just me and the mirror. Me and the mirror and not knowing what was under the towel.

I hadn’t been told I couldn’t take off the towel and look, but I also hadn’t been told I could. As a Dom, I would punish a sub for doing something like that without permission, but of course that was a game, and this was reality. Rachel wasn’t going to punish me for looking, she probably wasn’t even going to chastise me. The real question was whether or not I wanted to take off the towel.

I looked over at Rachel, she was taking her time, getting her scheduled client settled.

—————————————————————————————-

“Ok,” Rachel said as she came over and pulled the towel off my head. “Let’s get to this, quickly. I only have as long as my scheduled client takes to process, then I need to get right back to that. It’ll be bad if it over-processes.”

“You didn’t seem to be worried I might over process.” I reminded her as I reached up to touch the shorter darker locks that hung around my head instead of the long golden locks I had walked in with.

”It was just toner.” Rachel huffed, and pushed my hand down as she started pulling a comb through the roughly cut hair. “It’s not the same level of risk. Especially on short hair.”

I knew it was true that short hair could handle more damage, but of course I hadn’t wanted short hair. I knew Rachel wasn’t trying to rub it in, but the statement felt that way. I pursed my lips and bit my tongue, not saying anything.

“I’m sorry,” Rachel paused, “that was insensitive. Don’t worry, you’ll look nice, just in a more conservative way.”

I gave a slight nod of acknowledgement, but continued to frown as Rachel finished combing out my hair and began to swiftly section it. She parted it into a variety of little triangles and trapazoids, and twisted the hair in each before putting a little clip on each to hold them in place.

With my hair sectioned, and just a little left hanging down in back, Rachel tilted my head down. She’d never tilted it down before, every other time she’d trimmed my longhair, she had instead made sure my head was straight up. As I stared at my lap, I felt Rachel’s combing the already too short hair against my neck. Then I felt the cold metal of the blades.

Shhhhlick, shlick, shhhhlick

Rachel combed over my neck, brushing away the cut off hairs. Then I felt the points of the scissors begin to nibble at the ends that were too high up my neck.

Snip, shnip, shnip, snip

When the incessant snipping and poking stopped, I felt Rachel comb the hair on the back of my head up, and trap it between her fingers. Then she started slicing it.

Shhhhhlick

I felt the clump of short wet hairs land on my shoulder. Then she repeated the process, over and over, slicing all the hair from my nape off to what felt very short. I sat there listening, unable to see what was happening on the back of my head, as Rachel snipped away more and more of my already too short hair.

I felt her release one of the clips, letting the lock untwist on its own for just a moment, before forcing it to fully untwist with her comb. She combed the hairs up into her fingers, and sliced at them, the way she had the hair below.

Shhhhhlick, shhhhlick, shhhhlick….

Bing

“Cath,” Rachel said as she put down her shears, and comb. “I need to go check, and maybe rinse and tone my scheduled client.“

Then she just walked off towards the sinks where her scheduled client was playing on her phone. I watched Rachel carefully unfold a foil, poke at the hair inside it, and then fold it back up. I figured the client needed at least five more minutes, Rachel did the same for me usually, checking that the bleach wasn’t going more quickly than expected. She typically started rinsing me on my third check, though every now and then, she’d done it after the second. I couldn’t remember her ever doing it after the first.

”Five more minutes,” Rachel announced as she came back to me, picked up her scissors and comb, and went back to slicing off hair from the back of my head.

Shhhlick, shhhhlick, shhhhlick……..

Bing

“This time I probably will need to rinse,” Rachel told me. “It looked like it was going pretty fast last time I checked. So just wait here.”

And then she once again left me, sitting there, alone in the middle of the busy salon. I probably should have gotten out my phone, but I just didn’t feel like it. I watched Rachel open the foil, then start leaning her client back into the wash basin. It was going to be a while. I looked over at Klaus, he was trimming just a slight dusting from the bottom of hair that reached nearly to the bottom of the backrest of his chair. Nicky, was doing a fade on the hair that stuck out from under the weight line of a very short micro-bob. Angel was carving an intricate design into an undercut. Tom was showing a client color swatches. Pat was shaving a client’s neck. Lisa was doing a manicure. Nothing super interesting.

I looked back at the mirror, all the hair within my line of sight, was still pin against my scalp in little sections. I raised my hand and started feeling the back of my head. The damp locks felt like they were about the same length as Eric’s basic business men’s haircut, just above the collar.

I sat, imagining what I was going to look like with Eric’s haircut, but trying to convince myself that wasn’t what Rachel would do to me. I knew though, that Rachel was thoroughly convinced that making me look like a person who never gets laid was in my best interest, no matter how I felt about it.

”Rachel asked me to move you over to Sean’s station since he’s off today,” Jay announced, coming up behind me.

“Could I go to the backroom?” I requested. “It would be more private.”

”I don’t think that would really work well,” Jay explained with apologetic hesitation. “She said ‘Sean’s chair,’ I think if you were in the back room, she’d have more trouble going back to you when she has time if you’re all the way in the back.”

”I understand,” I said with a disappointed sigh.

Jay gathered up the fabric of the cape I had around me, lifting it so I could get up more easily. As I stepped away from Rachel’s chair, I looked down at the hair scattered around the chair. It had started to dry showing off the dull color, definitely closer to mousey brown than dirty blonde, really almost gray.

———————————————————-

“Ok, Cath. Sorry about the wait.” Rachel said, as she arrived looking rushed as she picked up the comb and scissors from the line of tools Jay had placed on the counter, after he’d seated me in front of the mirror that had pictures of Sean’s husband, their kids, and their cat stuck along the edge. “Let’s see If I can finish this before Jay is finished washing my next client. She hasn’t arrived yet, so it’s hard to say how much time we’ll get.”

Rachel barely spent a moment combing through the short hair, muttered under her breath “I should have sent Jay over to rewet this,” grabbed the sprayer from the counter, and started rewetting the hair that had dried while I was waiting for her. She then, without pausing, went back to cutting.

Shhhlick, shhhhnip, ssshhlick.

I sat as Rachel made me over into the vision of respectability that Heather and her thought would be convincing to Judge Fiztgerald that I wasn’t the kind of woman who took money for sex. Of course I kind of had my doubts about how much that actually mattered, since my defense was I was the kind of woman who just enthusiastically wanted to have sex and fulfill a fantasy of someone I was on a second date with.

Rachel took out the clip that was holding the hair above my left ear up. I watched her comb the hair up into her fingers, and begin to snip it off. She’d promised me she was going to leave enough to cover my ears, when she released the hair, I could see she’d meant it in a very minimal way. The hair that rested over the top of my ear didn’t reach my tragus.

“Urrm,” the mournful sound escaped before I could quell it.

”I know Cath,” Rachel tried to sooth me, though she just kept cutting. “I know this isn’t your style. You can grow it out when this is over.”

“My ears are going to look so big.” I complained about how little Rachel had left me to cover my worst feature. “You promised you’d leave them covered.”

”It’s covering the tops.”

“I thought you meant enough to really hide the size.” I was ready to start crying again. “This doesn’t hide my hideously big ears at all.”

“Your ears are fine Cath, you’re just overly self conscious about them.” Rachel claimed as she snipped the side burn in front of the left one to nothing but light wisps. “They would look fine even if I hadn’t left it long enough to cover the top.”

“They used to call me ‘satellite dishes’ in school,” I admitted.

“Oh Cath,” Rachel finally paused, just holding the clip that had been holding the hair above my ginormous right ear twisted. “I don’t know if you had proportionally big ears when you were little, but grew into them, or if the other kids found a vulnerability and just picked at it, but your ears are a pretty average size now. You don’t have to hide them.”

I stared at my reflection as Rachel squeezed my shoulder and the lock of hair she’d released from its clip before pausing to try to convince me my ears weren’t actually hideous started to slowly untwist itself. I raised my hand to my exposed left ear, and brushed my fingers through the hair that only covered less than a quarter of it. I tried to pull the hair down over my left ear and failed

”The point of this isn’t to make you look bad,” Rachel promised. “I’m just aiming for a little more conservative. I need to make this side match.”

I looked at Rachel through the mirror. She was still just looking at the lock above my ear, not continuing to cut. I think she realized she’d messed up communicating when she’d promised to leave me enough to cover the tops of my ears. I could tell she felt a need to get permission to continue. There wasn’t really any point in not granting it. It was too late to go back and make her leave me enough to cover the left ear to a point I was comfortable, so there wasn’t much point in insisting she leave it on the right. I swallowed.

”i know…” I told her, “it’s ok…”

Shhhhnip, shhhlick, ssssssnip, ssshhlick.

“Don’t worry,” Rachel assured me again. “You will look great.”

Shhhnup, ssssnip, ssshhip.

Rachel kept working swiftly, up the side of my head. Then she let down the section at the top of my head, and combed all the hair up into her hand. Starting at the crown she sliced forward through the whole bundle.

Shhh-sssshh-sshh-sshhruch.

The hair flopped down. Rachel then began to snip just a little off, leaving it longer than she’d left the sides she seemed to be blending it into. I was relieved to see that she seemed to be leaving the bangs long enough that they could be swept to the side instead of resting on my forehead and bringing attention to the creases that had begun to form there.

Ssshnip, ssnip, snip.

“You’re next client is washed and waiting for you.” Jay came over to get Rachel.

”Ok,” Rachel sighed, and finally stopped snipping, instead giving the hair at the front a little shake, then announced “I can finish this dry. Jay, please dry Cath while I go work on my next client.”

I wanted to object to the way Rachel obviously was skipping ahead and hadn’t really finished, but looking in the mirror, I realized I didn’t care. How much did it matter if this short mousy brown hair was cut perfectly.

I just frowned as Jay picked up a much smaller round brush than usual and turned on the hair drier.

—————————————————————————————-

“OK,” Rachel said when she finally came back to me, Jay had finished blow drying me at least a half hour earlier, “Let’s get you finished.”

Rachel started running her fingers through the short locks, looking at the way the hair moved and fell as she did. I’d been staring at it for the last 30 minutes or so since Jay had finished drying it using the little round brush to create a voluminous wave. We both stared at my reflection, Rachel thoughtfully, me just unhappy.

”Finish making me look like a grandma,” I complained quietly.

”Nothing wrong with being a grandma,” Rachel stated as she began to take little snips. “I’m loving it. Get to have fun with the five year old for a couple of hours then when the five year old is tired, over-stimulated, and getting cranky back to mom they go.”

”Being one and looking like one aren’t the same thing.” I grumbled.

”We can do something younger when you don’t need to present a certain image.”

Rachel sliced through the dry locks, loose strands fluttered through the air around me. She was really only making slight adjustments. Adding a little movement , taking out a little volume here and there.

Snip, snip, snip, snip

I mostly just sat watching, but then when she started snippng at the hair that only barely covered my ear, I let out a little pained sound.

”I’m just softening the line,” Rachel claimed, “Not taking off length. You don’t want an obvious blunt line halfway down your ear.”

Softening the line was making the minimal covering more transparent and begin to bend up and back. I pursed my lips trying to not whimper. But then she picked up her trimmer, and I couldn’t help it.

“eeermph. Do you have to?”

”It will just look cleaner.” Rachel insisted as she turned the whiny little machine on and started stroking it down my neck. “There, all over. Do you want to see the back?”

“Not really.” I grumbled. “The color is so dull. Ellen is supposed to come over tonight to comfort me, but I doubt she’ll find me attractive anymore.”

“You’re being melodramatic, Ellen will still find you attractive. Long blonde hair wasn’t your only asset. I know it’s a little bland,” Rachel admitted, as she took the cape off me. “But it’s what you need for now. After the trial, if you want, we can do something less bland.”

”That would mean going even shorter.” I pointed out.

”That would be the logical way to go,” Rachel said, “but not the only possibility. I could just punch up the color, maybe go red. You could talk to Klaus about extensions.”

”I’ll consider it.” I sighed and got up.

“Obviously no rush, since I’m sure the trial will take a bit.” Even though Rachel was in a rush, she did take a moment to offer me a hug, which helped a bit. “I’ll see you at the barbeque next month?”

”I don’t know, I feel a little weird going since it’s really a salon thing.” I hedged. “I’m not even sure why Nicky invited me.”

”Nicky invited you, because you’re part of this place. Even if you don’t work directly for the shop, you work here when you rent the back room for classes. You mean a lot to Nicky. And you’ve been my client for years, you’ve followed me through three different salons. Including the grand opening of this one and putting up with housecalls while we were working out of Nicky’s mom’s basement, which not too many of my clients did.”

I chuckled thinking how if I’d known at the time how yummy Nicky was, I’d have gone there instead of opting for house calls. Even though Nicky and I had long since grown past hooking up, I could still admit that I found her very attractive.

“You belong at this celebration just as much as any of the people who’ve been invited.” Rachel continued “It’s not just going to be those of us who work here, Nicky is insisting we all bring our families. And here chosen family counting as real family is a given. Come, bring the polycule, it will be good. OK?”

”I’ll see if I can make it work.” I promised, then went to tuck my hair behind my ear, and remembered most of it was missing when my fingers encountered the short tufts.

”It’ll grow back.” Rachel assured me again with a sympathetic half frown half smile.

************ A very Mean Prank, or how to start a polycule **********
—————10 years after the founding of Nicholas & Nichole’s Barbershop ————-

We arrived at Nicky’s mom’s house as we always arrived at such events, a slightly awkward feeling too big family. We’d brought 3 dishes, because we felt like too many people to just bring one. Even though we were just a single group, we were ten adults, four children, and 2 dogs.

Fido started wiggling excitedly to be let down, as soon as he saw Klaus and Bill’s goldendoodle Sunny. I let Fido down, so he could go sniff her butt, not that he could actually reach it, but he would try. Eric let Biscuit, his corgi, off her leash to join Sunny and Fido’s sniff-fest, along with a couple of other dogs I didn’t know. While I watched to make sure Fido was ok even though he was the smallest of the 5 pups, I listened to Ellen go over the rules about being polite and not running too close to where the adults were cooking with the kids, before sending them off to play with the couple of dozen kids congregated around a bouncy castle, more than half of whom I assumed were Nicky’s nieces and nephews, since they kept calling her mom “grandma.”

Heather and I spent a couple of minutes convincing the other adults of the polycule to spread out and mingle, then I went to get a little food and a diet coke. I sat down in a shaded spot, and just people watched.

Some were people I didn’t know, all enjoying the party. And I’d lost track of some of the polycule in the crowd. Many were people I did know or at least half knew from the salon.

I watched Nicky comforting Emma, as Emma nervously handed over the tiny infant, who’d been born about a week earlier just slightly premature, for Nicky’s grandmother to hold. Nicky‘s hand stroked up and under Emma’s sharp bob revealing the velvety undercut, that would have been impossible for a new mom to maintain if she didn’t happen to be married to a barber. Nicky was whispering in Emma’s ear, I assumed, reassuring her that the delighted ancient matriarch had never dropped any of the great-grand-babies, as Emma hovered.

I watched Klaus’ husband, Bill, flip burgers, while holding a beer, and talking to one of Nicky’s brothers. Between tossing sticks as dogs brought them to him, Klaus chatted with Nicky’s mom, who was slicing a watermelon. Sarah and a girl with a buzzcut were showing off matching engagement rings to another one of Nicky’s brothers and sister-in-laws. Tom had an arm around the waist of a man I didn’t recognize, as they chuckled at a story Mike was telling in an animated fashion. I was happy to see Vivian and James were sitting comfortably and talking to Nicky’s new assistant with the short scarlet hair whose name I couldn’t remember and another girl who bore a certain resemblance to her suggesting a familial link, even though she had a darker complexion and hair down to her thighs. Jennifer seemed to be showing her instagram off to Angel….

”Hey,” I heard Rachel’s familiar voice, and felt her hand on my shoulder. “How’s the trial going?”

”It was delayed again.” I sighed. “At this rate, I’m going to need you to trim this grandma hairstyle instead of trying to get me back to looking like myself again.”

”Sorry Cath,” Rachel sighed too, then changed the subject. “How’s the polycule enjoying the party?”

”I’m glad you convinced me to bring them,” I smiled as I watched Fido gallop trying to outrun Sunny for the stick Klaus had just tossed, ”How about you, how are you doing? I know you used to count on Alana to be the outgoing one in social situations.”

”Yeah…” Rachel sighed again, and looked over to where the daughter Rachel and Alana had raised was taking off one of the little kid’s shoes so they could go into the bouncy castle. “It’s been an adjustment, not having my partner, but this group, these people, they have kept me going. I’ve gone back from only working three days a week to four days, and I’m considering five. It’s not good to sit around an empty house.”

”Good.” I simply said as I patted the hand that rested on my shoulder, then offered. “Maybe we could take a class at the community center or something, to get out more often.”

”That’s an idea,” Rachel sounded like she actually liked the thought. “If it was something we could do sitting down, it would be easier on my feet than another day at the salon. My feet and back are the reasons I’m not sure I want to do five days.”

Then for a while, we both sat and chatted lightly as we watched the cheerful atmosphere of the event. Then out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Nicky’s youngest brother carrying out a big sheet cake.

”I think that means I need to go. Nicky and Klaus insisted even though I’m not one of the owners.” Rachel told me, and got up to join Klaus and Nicky who were heading in the direction of the table Nicky’s brother was carefully placing the cake on.

Standing behind the cake that had “Happy 10th Anniversary” written on it in frosting, Klaus waved for quiet and attention. The littlest kids inside the bouncy castle were hushed by the group of parents standing at the entrance, and older kids were being gathered up to watch the proceeding. Emma stood a little behind Nicky, swaying slightly the way mothers do with the tiny baby she cradled in her arms. Russel, Bill, and Nicky’s younger sister had gathered all the dogs together, and had them settled. And all the grownups stopped their conversation to listen.

”10 years ago, my boyfriend’s barber and my mentor both managed to get fired just days apart from each other…” Klaus began telling the story in the accent that made him sound like a character from the movie Fargo, which wasn’t too surprising since the small town he grew up in was a bit north of the actual city.

It was a short speech, with Nicky, Rachel, and Bill all freely interrupting to add details and tease Klaus. At the end of it, someone began the chant “CUT THE CAKE, CUT THE CAKE…” which all the children enthusiastically took up while Klaus, Nicky, and Rachel held the knife together and made the first slice. Then Nicky’s older sister took over and began to divide the cake up into reasonable sized pieces and handing them out on paper plates.

”Here you go,” Heather said as she came carrying two slices of cake to sit with me, handing me one of the slices of cake. “Remember when we met…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2006 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“So what’s the emergency?” Rachel asked the woman wearing a baseball cap with lovely long light auburn hair flowing out from under it who she’d agreed could come back to her work station at Hair We Art, after checking that I didn’t mind even though she was in the middle of doing my roots.

”I accidentally got bits of construction paper glued in my hair.” The woman stated, giving no further explanation.

”I take it not something like school glue you can just wash out?” Rachel asked.

”I have the bottle,” the woman said, reaching into her big purse, pulling it out, and holding it so Rachel could peer at the label even though her hands were occupied applying the lightener.

When Rachel looked, she made a cringey face. As her eyes scanned the package.

“Turn it over so I can read the back,” Rachel requested, then called out. “KLAUS.”

Her way too handsome young assistant came over, and awaited instructions.

”Klaus,” Rachel explained as she kept up her pace with the lightener, not pausing and risking my hair being unevenly processed. “Take that bottle of glue to the office, and call the 800 number on the back. Ask if it’s possible to get it out of hair, and write out any instructions they give you.”

”What do you think they’ll say?” The woman asked as she sat down in the empty chair next to Rachel’s after Klaus had disappeared into the back of the shop.

”Honestly,” Rachel warned, “I’m pretty sure they are going to say we have to cut it out. I’d rather double check first though, just in case I’m wrong. How high up is the paper and glue?”

”Very,” the woman grumbled as she took off the hat revealing the colorful torn pieces of paper that formed a circle around her crown. “If you have to cut it, it’s going to be short.”

“Sorry Heather.” Rachel said to her. “I can’t really tell without touching it, and as I said, I can’t pause this to do that, or Cath’s hair will process unevenly, but it might be possible to blend it in with the layers. It depends on how much it seeped down into the hair. If it’s not possible, it will look good short. The color is what really makes you stand out, and you’ve got a nice face shape. And of course, it will grow back. How did that happen?”

”It’s a long story. How long do you think this will take?” Heather asked, “I have a work thing I have to be at in a few hours. I really shouldn’t even have taken the morning off, but obviously, I can’t go like this.”

”I’m pretty booked, and will have to squeeze you in between scheduled clients.” Rachel warned her as she kept applying the chemicals to my roots. “I can’t pause this, and I have someone coming right after Cath. If you want to wait for me, you’re not getting out of here for hours. I could start you while Cath’s hair is processing, but it won’t be enough time to finish before I will need to get back to her. There is another option though.”

”Yeah?” Heather asked with zero enthusiasm.

”Let Klaus take care of it.” Rachel said as she dipping the brush she was using in the lightener. “He’s the one getting the instructions, so if there is a way to clean the glue out, he’ll be the one who has heard those instruction. And if it does have to be cut out, he’ll do fine. He’s even less scissor happy than I am, and you know I’m not scissor happy.”

”But he’s just an assistant…” Heather hesitated.

“He’s fine. He’s fully licensed, went to a great beauty school. I have him cut my hair. Frankly day one as my assistant fresh out of beauty school he was better than my last assistant was when she moved on to a stylist position at a salon a few towns over. I’ve actually been trying to talk the owner of this place into giving Klaus his own chair, but she’s being inflexible about it since he hasn’t been my assistant for as long as she thinks new stylists should be.” Rachel explained, then lowering her voice , she confided, “I’m thinking of leaving here and going over to Krystal’s Palace, since Krystal is willing to give Klaus his own chair. Don’t say anything though, because we aren’t sure yet.”

”If you let Klaus do your hair, you can enjoy a little eye-candy.” I pointed out, I’d been enjoying having the very handsome young man to watch while Rachel did my hair.

”Leave him alone Cath.” Rachel warned me. “He’s not even a little bit bi.”

”Well that’s a pity.” I sighed. “I don’t really get just writing off half the population as not potential partners.”

“You’re bi?” Heather asked.

”Mhm”

”And you are just ok with it?” She looked up at Rachel.

”If it’s a problem,” Rachel said stiffly, “I’m sure you can find another stylist.”

”No, no. You don’t understand,” Heather chuckled. “The reason I’ve always been cautious about sharing details about my dating life is because I’m bi but wasn’t sure it was safe to come out to you.”

”Sorry if I did anything to make it seem that way.” Rachel said. “I like to keep my personal life and work life separate. I just figured you were a private person when you were vague. I guess I should have made it more clear that this is a safe space. It’s not that I’m in the closet, I just…”

“I only knew because I ran into Rachel and her lesbian life partner, Alana, and their daughter in the supermarket once,” I expanded the context for Heather.

”It’s not your fault,” Heather casually assured Rachel. “I guess I should just tell you how the glue and paper thing happened. Last night, I was at the woman I’ve been dating’s house having a little celebration for my birthday. Well she’s got a couple of preteen kids, and they made me a special birthday crown out of construction paper. I thought it was a bit weird, because they were kind of old for that kind of thing, but I didn’t want to be like that, so I just went along with it. Turns out though, that they were mad at me and it was a prank. Their mom got the glue bottle from them, so I could show you.”

”That’s a hell of a mean prank.” I observed. “Why were they angry?”

”They thought I was cheating on their mom,” Heather looked a little nervous about answering, but did anyway in a quiet voice so only Rachel and I could hear. “I wasn’t cheating though, we just have an open relationship, but she never told them.”

”Oh,” I said, “that’s rough. How did it go when they found out? Did they feel really bad about jumping to conclusions?”

”The kid’s didn’t find out.” Heather complained. “My girlfriend and I had a big fight, because she refused to set them straight. She gave them consequences for pulling the prank, but as far as they are concerned they are just in trouble because they shouldn’t have taken matters into their own hands, but they were right that I was cheating. We broke up because she refused to be honest with them, and I refuse to hide the truth anymore. The kids probably think we broke up because I was cheating.”

”Sound’s like you had a pretty lousy birthday.” Rachel sympathized, as she glanced over at Heather, who was carefully lifting her hair up to see how much of it was attached to the bits of paper.

“Yeah…” Heather let out, then nodded towards where Klaus was coming through a door from the back of the shop carrying the bottle of glue. “I guess it’s time to find out exactly how lousy.”

“Sorry,” Klaus gravely informed Heather and Rachel. ”They said you have to cut it out.”

”Do you want to wait till I can squeeze you in, or get someone else to do it right away?” Rachel asked Heather.

”Klaus can do it since you gave him such a ringing endorsement.” Heather agreed, making Klaus flush nervously.

”Klaus, grab your kit,” Rachel instructed the nervous looking young man. “under the circumstances, you can use Agnes’ station, since she’s off today. Use your beauty school shears till you’re sure you have all the glue out, and then you can use your new Matsuis for fixing whatever is left.”

Klaus squeezed in past Rachel, opening one of her cabinets and taking out a black canvas case. He opened it up and spread out the tools from it on the counter in front of Heather, as he did, her eyes focused on the shear and feathering razor he took out.

”I’ll be right back…uh?“ Klaus said.

”Heather,” she filled in.

”I’ll be right back Heather, I just need to grab a cape.” He patted her shoulder and walked off.

Heather stared at the scissors some more, then back up at her reflection in the mirror. She frowned, turning her head to look at how high up the clumps of glue and paper in her hair were again.

”You really can pull off short hair if Klaus can’t blend it in.” I assured her.

”Thanks,” Heather responded in a flat tone, that scream saying thanks was out of habitual politeness not gratitude.

When Klaus returned, Heather gave him the least enthusiastic smile ever. I watched as Klaus unfolded the white nylon cape with a shampoo company logo, and shook it out gently. Then he draped the light fabric over Heather, reaching up under her beautiful but ruined long auburn hair, so he could fasten the velcro at the back of her neck.

”I will try to save as much as possible,” Klaus gently promised Heather, putting his hands on her shoulders. “Then we can discuss what style options you have. Ok?”

Heather just silently nodded, not looking happy about waiting to find out what Klaus could save. Klaus rather gingerly lifted the hair up, just with his hands, and peered at it closely, trying to decide how to start dealing with the situation. Then he picked up one of the pairs of shears, not bothering with the comb.

Shnup, snip, shnip

Klaus very carefully snipped with just the points of his scissors right at where the paper was glued to Heather‘s hair. It took a while, as long as it took for Rachel to do three sections on my hair, for Klaus to finally snip the whole lock off.

Looking at the back of Heather’s head, it was obvious that the glue had seeped in pretty deep. The tuft of short hair left behind on her head was substantial. I definitely didn’t think it could be blended in. Heather hadn’t reacted yet; I didn’t think she could tell how thick the lock had been, since it was from the back of her head, and Klaus had dropped it behind her.

Klaus lifted the next piece of glued on paper, and began snipping.

Shnip, shnip, shnip, shnip, shnip

From the tiny careful snips he was taking, it was obvious Klaus was being good to his word about saving as much as possible, but as much as possible wasn’t a lot. Some of the snips Klaus was taking were just barely an inch or so from Heather’s scalp.

I was getting the feeling that Heather was beginning to suspect how much hair she was losing, even though she couldn’t actually see what was happening on the back of her head, she was looking more and more agitated and anxious.

Shnup, shnup, shnip, snip

”There you go Cath,” Rachel said as she put down the brush she’d been applying the lightener with and took off her gloves. “Just relax while that processes, and I’ll get you a diet coke.”

Then she turned and peered over Klaus’ shoulder. Klaus gave her a slightly pained look while holding up a bit of hair to show her what it looked like underneath.

“C’est la vie,” Rachel reminded Klaus, then offered in a soothing voice, “Heather, I can get you a drink too if you’d like.”

“How bad is it?” Heather asked, ignoring the offer.

”It’s not going to look good trying to blend it into your current layers.” Rachel told her honestly. “To make it look good your style options are pretty limited.“

”It’s what I expected.” Heather said with resignation. Though she didn’t sound happy about it, she seemed accepting.

“Do you want a drink?”

Heather just gave the very slightest shake of her head, since Klaus was holding a lock of hair. Klaus kept working.

Snip, snip, shnip

Klaus dropped another lock of the long red hair to the floor. Normally, I would just enjoy watching such a handsome young man working, but since it involved such an unwanted haircut, I was feeling a little guilty about it. I was grateful for the distraction and comfort when Rachel arrived and handed me a can of diet coke.

Klaus had cut off all the obvious big chunks of paper, by the time Rachel did the first check of my roots and told me it would be a little longer. So as I continued to sit and wait, I watched Klaus start to carefully comb through the mixed up jumble of long and short locks on Heather’s head, searching for any less obvious spots that still contained glue. He paused the slow combing several times when it was obvious he’d encountered resistance. Some of the times, after pausing and examining the spot, he just untangled and kept going, other times, he snipped out some more glued together strands.

Klaus ran the comb through Heather’s hacked up hair a few times without encountering any more resistance. He then put the comb down, and gently fluffed Heather’s hair in front of her shoulders so she could see what was left, and then he picked up the large hand mirror to show her the back.

”I’m sorry,” Klaus began nervously explaining. “There are some pretty obvious missing chunks back here, here and here. These ones here, here, here and here are a little less obvious, but mean the ends lost a fair amount of volume. I can try to preserve length by cutting it into a really dramatic shag.”

”By ‘dramatic shag,’ you really mean mullet, don’t you?” Heather clarified, as Klaus just made an apologetic face. “Just cut it short. I’d rather have a good short haircut than a bad long one. I need it not to be obvious that this haircut was a fix and not a choice. Thanks for trying though.”

”Do you want to look at options?” Klaus asked, “I could get a few look books…”

”Trying to make this mess fit into a style from a magazine seems pointless,” Heather said as she lifted up a very short tuft, and observed its brevity. “Just making what you have to work with look as good as possible seems more realistic. What do you think would really work?”

”Are you up for a Mia Farrow in ’Rosemary’s Baby’ crop?” Klaus asked. “I’ll give it a really soft texture to keep it pretty feminine.”

”I guess,” Heather agreed with a deep frown, and lifted a particularly short tuft from the side of her head. “that’s pretty much the length of this piece?”

“Yeah.”

”Fine,” Heather said, releasing the tuft to fall back down, and leaned back in the chair. “Can you get it over pretty quickly, so I can have a couple of hours to get used to it before I have to show up at work and pretend I actually wanted to have all my hair chopped off.”

”Sure,” Klaus consoled her. “I’ll just cut off the bulk before I take you over to wash it, so that will go faster.”

I watched Klaus pick up the shears and a comb, and begin to simply take the length. He combed the bright auburn locks up, and sliced through the dangling dry tresses against the comb. About a foot of the hair floated down, slowly drifting a few strands at a time.

Ssssshrrrrunch, ssshrrriiiiirrrunch, shhhhhnip

I watched the pile of coppery hair behind Heather grow, as the hair on her head was sheared off. Long strands draped over her shoulders, and slid into her lap, as she watched. I watched Heather’s stiff expression as she watched herself simply being divested of what was one of her most striking features.

”Ok,” Rachel announced as she checked my roots, “You’re done, let’s go rinse this and get you toned.”

”Ok.” I said.

I got up, and stepped carefully around the puddle of red locks that surrounded Klaus and Heather. Heather had gone from the long hair that had flowed out from under the baseball cap and over her shoulder in soft layered waves that reached her bra strap, to having just a messy couple of inches all over.

”I’m ready to wash you, too” Klaus said, “so let’s just go follow them.“

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When I arrived back at Rachel’s chair, with the warm toner on my hair processing, Klaus had just begun cutting what he’d salvaged of Heather’s hair into a neat style. He seemed to be mostly working with a feathering razor. Klaus had Heather’s head forward as he used the blade to carve Heather’s hairline into a soft arch.

The damp scraps, stuck to Heather’s bent neck and shoulder. Maybe some of it had fallen to the floor, but if it had, it was lost in the massive pile of dry locks Klaus had pushed up against the base of Agnes’ chair. Klaus worked slowly and deliberately as he shaped the shaggy red hair into a simple crop. He took great care with making Heather’s sideburns soft, enhancing the way they framed her delicate ears. He brushed his hand through the top of her hair frequently as he trimmed the bangs that rested closer to her hairline than her eyebrows on her forehead.

Once the outline of the style was fully defined, Klaus began to cut the bulk of Heather’s hair to lengths that matched the soft bangs. He sliced the hair on top of her head, so it just lay against her skull.

After Klaus had used the razor to cut all the hair on the top of Heather’s head, he switched from the razor to his shears. He tilted Heather’s head forward again, and combed the already fairly short hair up into his fingers that rested right against Heather’s scalp. Klaus began point cutting the hair even shorter, giving it a soft texture that eliminated the choppy look from earlier.

Snip, snip, snip…

The parts where Klaus had had to cut Heather’s auburn locks especially short, finally began to blend into the crop as Klaus worked up, joining the razor cut top with the point cut sides. It was surprising how seamlessly they joined, even though Klaus had used completely different tools.

Klaus went back to the bottom, combing the short hair on Heather’s nape up, and snipping lightly with the tips of his scissors right up against the comb. He didn’t seem to be cutting off all the hair at that length, just taking out a few strands at a time, giving it even more texture as he tapered it just slightly more.

Klaus was snipping a slight arch around Heather’s ear when Rachel decided my hair was done being toned, and it was time for my final rinsing.

When we return, Klaus was blow drying Heather’s very short crop, using a brush to convince the hair to part neatly above her left eye. He turned off the noisy device while Rachel had begun to section my once again completely blonde long hair so she could give it a light trim, pretty much taking off the exact same amount from the bottom as the length of the roots she had lightened.

Klaus was just taking a few last little snips at the nearly finished short crop he’d given Heather. Rachel had just started to snip at the long hair resting against my back, when Klaus picked up his little trimmer. Heather had a very pained look on her face when he turned it on and the high pitched whiny hum began. She looked even more unhappy as he stroked down her neck with them, shaving off the baby hairs that had been hidden up under her long auburn hair when she arrived.

”So,” Klaus said nervously as he dusted Heather off, and began to take the cape off.

”It’s really well done,” Heather said unenthusiastically as she stroked the neckline Klaus was showing her in a hand mirror. “It looks nice even if it isn’t really me. Do you think anyone is actually going to believe I just suddenly decided to do this?”

Klaus looked to Rachel for help. Rachel, palmed her scissor and paused my trim.

”It’s not unbelievable, lots of women do sometimes just decide they want to go short,” Rachel talked to Heather, “but maybe you will just be happier telling the truth. It’s definitely going to be easier to tell the truth, than spending months pretending you love a haircut you don’t. Tangled web we weave when we deceive… You’re going to have to thank people over and over about complimenting something you hate. If you want to keep up the pretense, you have to keep it short, instead of growing it out. And everyone is going to ask if you donated it.”

”But I can’t tell people…” Heather explained mournfully, still petting her cropped head as she looked down at the pile of red hair on the floor that had been ruined in the cruel prank.

”You can keep the private details private.” Rachel assured her. “You can just say you got glue in it and leave it at that. You can even mention that your friend’s kids made you a paper crown, if people ask how, and most people will just assume the still wet glue was an accident, not a deliberate act of revenge.”

”I guess that’s probably better than trying to pretend I just decided to cut off all my hair on a whim.” Heather sighed, looking down at the beautiful hair again.

“You didn’t want to have to pretend with your girlfriend anymore for a reason,” I pointed out. “Living honestly and openly is better.”

Heather nodded as she got up, and checked her watch. “You’re right, thank you….?”

”Cath.” I reminded her. “Do you have time to wait for me to be done, and then get some lunch before you need to get to that work thing? If you don’t, maybe dinner? My treat, sort of a makeup birthday celebration, since last night’s went so badly.”

“I don’t have time now, but I could do dinner,” Heather gave me a very small smile. “You know the gay bar? Want to meet me there at six?”

—————————— 2024 —————————————-

“Yes, I remember.” I said, as I leaned against her. Looking at the unconventional family we built together and both loved so deeply interacting with the other families surrounding us both of origin and chosen. “You’ve brought so much love and joy into my life.”

”And you’ve returned it ten fold.” Heather assured me, putting her arm around me and pulling me even closer.

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