JimB
Our visit to a Barber Shop
By JimB ©opyright March 2000
It was an unusually hot April the year I turned thirteen.
At our school you had to wear a short-sleeved summer blouses and school flannel shorts from the end of March to the end of May, the end of the school year.
It was the eighth of April.
Sandi, my best friend, and I were waited for my mom to come by and take us home.
Instead of my mom to coming to pick us up, Sandi’s mom came and picked us up instead.
We had no ideas why, as she usually didn’t do it.
I thought this was great because I got a chance to get a ride in their Mercedes.
As she drove us toward my home, she missed the turn to my house.
I mentioned it to her and asked where we were going?
She said we were going for a spring treat.
We arrived at small shopping center with a hamburger restaurant.
Her mom treated us both to the ultimate burgers and shakes meal.
It was getting close to five o’clock and time to go.
Sandi and I turned to go towards where the car was parked, when her mom told us we were going to another shop first.
The shop was one of the town’s three barber shops.
The red and white pole was turning and the barber shop appeared empty.
Sandi asked why we were going here and her mom said we were going for a hair cut.
I hated having my hair cut. It was the mid eighties and Sandi and I had long mop tops.
I managed to dodge the last three times my mom took me to her hair salon for a hair cut or a trim.
Sandi on the other hand had been getting her hair trimmed a little short with each visit to her mom’s hair salon.
My first thought was to run.
But, for some reason I simply followed Sandi and her mom as they went in the barber shop.
Her mom saw I had a little misgiving about going it.
She told me, my mom said it was all right since she was bring me home.
It turned out, the barber shop was owned by Sandi’s cousins Jan and Jen.
They were both in their early twenties and had gone to barber school together.
Jan was in Jen’s barber chair when we arrived having the finishing touches put to a head shaving by Jen.
Jan had experienced the head shaving at the end of their training, four years ago, by Jen.
She looked at us from the mirror and told one of us could sit in Jan’s barber chair, as she was going to give one of us our hair cut.
We looked at each other and Sandi gave me a little shove to Jan’s barber chair saying, “You first.”
As I stepped into Jan’s barber chair, Jen finally finished shaving and uncaped Jan.
“It’s the summer time and you two would look great “buzzed”!” Jan told us.
I looked at Sandi and we both just shrugged our shoulders and said, “OKAY.”
“Right!” Sandi’s mom said.
“BUT, maybe more!”
I began to panic as Jan caped me. I have never sat in a barber chair, nor gone to a barber shop before.
I became fidgety as Jan began brushing out my hair from a center part.
I glanced at Sandi and Jen was doing the same thing.
From the look on her face she might know more than me.
“You’re mom and I had a little chat,” her mom told me.
I was a little shocked and did not understand what she was saying.
Just then there was a bell ringing in the back room.
Jan patted me on the shoulder and said she would be back.
Jen picked up her clippers with an attachment and turned it on.
She paused and asked Sandi “if she was ready”.
Sandi nodded and said, “Yes.”
Jen pushed her bangs back and started pushing the clippers right down the middle of her head leaving behind very short hair.
Three passes later and Sandi had short hair on top of her head.
Just then Jan returned and approach the barber chair with her clippers with an attachment on it and pulled back my bangs and said, “Here we go.”
As I sat staring in the mirror she made her first pass right down the middle of my head to the crown, from the back of my head to my forehead, and dropped the first handful of hair in my lap.
I knew my dark brown locks were doomed and I was not making the decision.
Pass after pass over my head, as it became lighter and lighter.
I couldn’t believe how short it was, with just a hint of dark hair.
Then, came the sides of my head as she pushed my head first to the right then to the left.
Finally, she moved the clippers upward to take the hair at the back of my head off.
I looked in the mirror at my self.
I looked at Sandi, as the clipper stopped, and saw we had the same hair cut.
Jan looked at Sandi’s mom, who just knotted her head.
Just then there was a “click” and humming sound.
I turned and looked at Sandi and she told me, “BUZZ!”
I looked not understanding what she meant.
I felt Jan turn my head so I was looking at my self in the large mirror behind the customers waiting chairs.
She raised her clippers and place in the center of my forehead and slowly moved it back over my head.
I heard Sandi again say, “BUZZ.”
I looked at her in the mirror and Jen was doing the same thing to her.
With slow passes of the clippers Jan and Jen were now moving the clippers up the right side of our heads.
As they began moving the clippers up the back of our heads, Sandi’s mom said, “A little shorter.”
Sandi and I looked at each other.
I could see she, as I did not know what she was saying.
As I looked at my self in the mirror, hating my mom for not calling me and telling me about this hair cut.
Making it even worst for not coming.
Our heads were wrapped with a warm towel and removed after a few minutes.
Jan and Jen began spreading white warm lather over our head, as we heard her mom say, “Shorter.”
Jan and Jen held up opened straight razors, as Sandi’s mom smiled and said, “YES.”
They began to shave our head smooth as Sandi’s mom told them.
I let my hair grow for the next few years.
Sandi, I do not know.
We stopped talking to each other for some unknown reason and we did not see each other either.
Was this the last shaven head I had?
Perhaps yes!
Perhaps no!
When I turned fifteen my mom once told me, “It was up to me if I wanted to grow my hair out or cut my hair short.”
At first I didn’t care.
But, let my hair grow some.
Then, on the first day of the summer after three years of letting my hair grow, only trimming the ends once a month.
I decided to returned to “Jan and Jen Barber Shop” for a little change.
I saw Jen and didn’t recognize her at first.
She had her shoulder length blonde hair shaved off.
She looked great.
I asked her why she shaved her head and was told, “JUST wanted to.”
She caped me and asked, “What do you want to do!”
We talked a little about how I have been letting my hair grew over the last three years and why.
I told her how surprise I was and how upset I was with my mom.
“So, how come after three years you’re back are here?” she inquired.
I hesitated a little and told her my mom had told me a few days ago, “It was up to me if I wanted long hair or cut my hair short hair”.
A few months after our visit to their barber shop Sandi told me how she had asked her mom if she could get her hair cut a lot shorter than she was think about doing.
How her mom told my mom about what she wanted to do.
My mom told her, “She wished I would cut my hair shorter, too.”
Needless to say they talked more about how she and Sandi could get me to cut my hair short and how short.
“Since, that talk,” I told her. “We did not talk to each other unless we had to.”
“Since, the other day when my mom told me it was up to me about my hair.
“I have thought about how it is slowly growing out and maybe I would keep it at the length it is.
“But, I began remembering back to that day when you cut my hair.
“How I did not understand why.
“How I remember when Sandi told me, “BUZZ”.
“And, what she was telling me.
“I did not know, nor understand, what she meant at the time.
“Nor did I understand what her mom meant when she said, “A little more.”
“I have to admit Sandi’s mom called me and told me what she and you’re mom talked about,” Jan said with a smile.
“And, decided both of you were to be buzzed first and your head shaved.
“So, have you decided?
“Long hair or short hair?”
“SHORT,” I told her.
“So, back then we did not have a choice?
“But, how short, was another question.”
Jan walked to the wait bench and pick up a magazine with short hair cuts for women.
“How about looking through this!” she said.
“NO, neither Sandi or you had a choice.
“In the mean time I will just put the cape on you and brush our hair.”
I started looking through the magazine as Jan caped me and began brushing my hair.
I blinked my eyes a few times as I looked at my self in the mirror behind the customers waiting chairs.
My mine quickly brought me back to that day.
It started with Jan capping me and brushing my hair.
I saw, in the mirror, what happened.
I heard Sandi’s voice say, “BUZZ”.
I was upset.
But, I did not say anything, nor do anything.
My mine brought the feelings I experienced back then.
I did not express my feelings back then.
I only kept it in my unconunces mine until now.
I tossed the magazine to the bench.
I looked at Jan standing on the right side of her barber chair, her hands behind her back.
I started telling her about the “feelings” I experienced back then.
But, did not express them back then.
To only be kept in my unconunces mine until now.
She just stood there looking at me with a slight smile.
Her left hand came from behind her back and turned my head so I was looking at my self in the mirror behind the customers waiting chairs.
I heard a CLICK and took a deep breath.
Her right hand came from behind her back and slowly moved to the center of my forehead.
Slowly, more slowly than that day, she moved the clippers over my head leaving behind a Buzz Cut.
I smiled, “Just what I want.”
“And, A little more”!
Jan’s fingers brushed hair off my face as the clippers buzzed more of my hair off to the scalp.
“Is Jen here?” I asked Jan as she continued buzzing my head.
“No, she’s home with her husband and their three week old daughter,” she replied.
“How about Sandi?” I inquired.
“Just once,” Jan said as she turned the clippers off and hung it under the shelf.
A few weeks after that visit with her mom, who said, “A little more!”
“And, Jan said to her, “A little more for you, too.”
“YES, both of them walked out with “A little more hair cut.”
“Really her mom, too?” I inquired surprising.
“Then, it was back to the Buzz Cut for both of them,” Jan replied as she tossed a towel in the sink and turned on the hot water.
“You did not know that!
“I thought you two were close friends?”
“We stopped talking to each other unless we had to and we did not have the same classes, either,” I mentioned.
She wrapped my buzzed head the with warm towel and walked to the shaving dispenser for some warm shaving lather.
She removed the towel and tossed it under her shelf.
She began lathering my head, when she suddenly stopped.
I looked at her left hand with the warm white shaving lather.
“Will be using your straight razor?” I asked her as I turned my head to the mirror over the waiting chairs.
“If I use my straight razor,” she began telling me.
“They will also be used on your eyebrows.”
She continued lathering my head for your straight razor.
With her straight razor my head and eyebrows were gone.
She dusted my head and face.
As I was walking out the barber shop ……
“Come back in two weeks and I can make them a lot smoother than the straight razor,” she told me.
When I arrived home I looked in the rear mirror and said to my self, “I hope mom meant what she said, “When I turned fifteen my mom once told me, “It was up to me if I wanted to grow my hair out or cut my hair short.”
But, I shrugged my shoulders and my mine said, “TO LATE!”
“Well, I see you “did what you wanted”.” she told me as she brushed her fingers over my shaven head.
“How long will you keel your head shaved?”
“WHY don’t you come with me in two weeks,” told her as I did a little turning around while her fingers were on the top of my shaven head.
“Will it be a Saturday?” she asked as I stopped.
“Who cares!” I told her.
“Just more people watching us,” she told me.
Every time I took a shower, every time I looked in the mirror, my mine wondered what Jan meant when she said“ Come back in two weeks and I can make them a lot smoother than the straight razor!”
Would mom come with me, like she said?
Would mom do what Jan said “Come back in two weeks and I can make them a lot smoother than the straight razor,” if I did.
Perhaps yes!
Perhaps no!
“Hi Mrs. Williams,” Jan said as mom and I walked into the barber shop.
“Been six years since you and Mrs. Carson came and talked with me and Jen about cutting your daughter’s hair short.”
“MOM!” I said.
“Relax Wendy,” mom told me.
“You now ……
“Your head is shaved and you asked me come back with you for another head shave.
“Yes, I am going to get my shaved with you.”
“Well Mrs. Williams,” Jan said.
“I told Wendy, “Come back in two weeks and I can make them a lot smoother than the straight razor.
“I did not know she would be bring you with her.”
“WHAT THE HELL,” mom said.
“We are here and what ever “I can make them a lot smoother than the straight razor is.
“Just do it.”
“Will you both sit in one of the barber chairs,” Jan told them as she pointed to two barber chair.
CLICK…..
“Who’s first?” Jan asked them.
“MOM!” Wendy said pointing to her mother.
Jan quickly ran her clippers with the quarter inch attachment over Wendy’s mom head.
She then stepped to the other barber chair and ran the clippers with the quarter inch attachment over Wendy’s head.
“Just keep still as I wrap your heads,” Jan told them as she wrapped their head with what looked a towel.
“I have to let the wrapping sit on your head for ten minutes before I remove it.”
“Wendy I will remove your wrapping first,” Jan told her as her fingers held the wrapping and she pulled.
“WHAT THE FUCK!” Wendy said.
“Now you Mrs. Williams,” Jan told her as her fingers held the wrapping and she pulled.
“WHAT THE FICK!” Mrs. Williams said.
“Hold still Mrs. Williams,” Jan told her as she held the small wrapping over her eyebrows and pull.
“WHAT THE FUCK!” Mrs. Williams said.
“Now Wendy …” Jan told her as she held the small wrapping over her eyebrows and pull.
“WHAT THE FUCK!” Wendy said.
Jan stepped in front of both of them, as she handed them each the wrapping she had wrapped and pulled.
They looked at the wrappings.
“These wrappings contain a special WAX,” Jan began telling them.
“As the wax liquefies it slowly wraps each hair to the fullest.
“Then, it hardens the hair.
“You will not have to have a HAIR CUT of any kind for FIVE years.
“The same goes for your eyebrows.”
NO Perhaps no!
YES Perhaps YES!
“Now, if you both want,” Jan began.
“I can close and lock the door to the barber shop, pull the shads down, and you both can pull your …….
“
