The Prom Haircut

This one has been an unfinished draft since 2018, I’ve picked it up and put it down so many times and then was able to take the idea and start from scratch over the past week or two. Thanks to inspiration and advice from Klaatu48 as well as inspiration from so many other authors: Jethro, Runnerkate, Nikki M, Shorngirl, Ginger Herten, Secretshaver, Rayzur, and many more.

AI also helped with this – generating sections of it which I then could re-write and move around. I think in the end there isn’t much left from AI, but it helped a ton with getting words on paper initially.

Photos are from the now defunct “Amanda’s Hairstyles Page”

I welcome all critiques and feedback
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Stephanie sat in the salon chair, her long blonde hair draped over her shoulder waiting for her stylist Jill to make her way over. Tonight was her prom night with Marianna, and she couldn’t believe how quickly the day had arrived.

Marianna had been suggesting that Stephanie get a shorter haircut for months, but Stephanie had always shrugged it off. Marianna didn’t know it, but three weeks ago Stephanie had finally cracked. They were discussing what they would wear to the prom and Marianna had brought it up again.

“Steph, you’d look so cute with a shorter haircut,” she’d said. “It would show off your face so much! That’s the face that I fell in love with!”

Something about the way Marianna had said it had made Stephanie take notice. She had always been proud of her long hair, but she had to admit that Marianna was right. A shorter haircut would make her look more confident and stylish. So that evening, Stephanie made an appointment with her stylist, Jill. Jill was a talented hair stylist who had been cutting Stephanie’s hair for years. Stephanie knew that Jill would be able to give her the perfect haircut for her prom night.

Jill came over to her station and greeted Stephanie with a smile. She was wearing a short-sleeved black blouse with a shiny black vinyl apron, her blonde hair pulled back into a messy bun on the back of her head. “So, what are we doing today?” she asked running her fingers through Stephanie’s hair a bit as she made eye contact in the mirror.

“It’s prom night tonight, and I am planning to surprise my date with a new hairstyle, she’s been encouraging me to go short for a while. I’d like you to cut quite a bit of length off.”

“Great, I love it!!” Jill exclaimed. “What kind of haircut were you thinking?”

“I don’t know the right terms for it, but I’m thinking a kind of layered off-the-shoulders cut, what do you think?”

“I think that would be amazing on you, if you’re ready then let’s get to it! I’m going to chop off the length and then we can do some more detailed cutting after that.”

Jill bundled Stephanie’s hair into a ponytail just above the cape. Then looking at Stephanie in the mirror asked, “Are you ready to say goodbye to all this hair?”

With a gulp, Stephanie responded: “Let’s do this! I’m ready for it to go!”

Jill bent over and placing the tips of her scissors around the ponytail above the band, started cutting. Stephanie watched in the mirror as her hair fell out of the ponytail to hang around her face, the first indication of the cut to come. She felt a pang of sadness, but she knew it was for the best. She wanted to look her best for Marianna and was excited to surprise her with the new look.

In the moments that it took for Jill to snip through the hair, Stephanie thought about all the memories she had made with her long hair. She had worn it up for her first dance, down for her first date, and in a ponytail for every soccer game she had ever played. It had been a part of her for so long, and she couldn’t believe she was finally cutting it off. As Jill made the final snips, Stephanie was ready to put the past behind her and grinned as Jill held up her prize, the remaining hair now hanging in a rough cut around Stephanie’s head.

“Ok girl, let’s get you washed up!” Jill said, setting the ponytail on the counter and then leading Stephanie over to the basins in the back. The cape moved around Stephanie as she followed Jill while excitedly feeling her newly shorn hair.

At the basin, Stephanie settled into the chair, Jill draped a soft towel around her shoulders and then guided her head back into the basin, lifting her hair to be sure it all made it into the bowl. As Stephanie finished getting comfortable, Jill turned on the water, and carefully adjusted the temperature, making sure it was just right.

As Jill began to wet Stephanie’s hair, she carefully massaged her scalp with her fingertips, working the water through every strand. Stephanie let out a contented sigh as the warm water started to soak in.

Once the hair was thoroughly wet, Jill applied a generous amount of shampoo, working it into a rich lather that foamed up around Stephanie’s head. With gentle yet firm movements, she worked the shampoo into Stephanie’s hair and scalp, making sure every inch was properly cleansed. As Jill rinsed out the shampoo, Stephanie closed her eyes to protect them from any errant sprays.

Once the shampoo was completely washed out, Jill applied a hydrating conditioner, working it carefully into Stephanie’s hair. While the conditioner worked its magic, Jill gave Stephanie a relaxing head massage, gently rubbing her temples and working out any remaining tension in her scalp. Stephanie let out a small moan of pleasure as Jill’s skilled fingers worked their way over her head.

After a few minutes, Jill rinsed out the conditioner before running her fingers through the hair one last time to ensure it was rinsed to her liking. Turning off the water, she gently squeezed out some extra water before gently guiding Stephanie’s head out of the bowl, blotting away a few drips with the towel.

“Okay, you’re all set,” Jill said with a smile, helping Stephanie out of the chair and leading her back to the styling station. Stephanie settled back into the styling chair, furling the cape over the armrests. Once Stephanie was settled, Jill found her center part and then combed through her hair quickly and efficiently.

“God, I could get used to how easy it is to comb through my hair at his length!” Stephanie marveled as she watched Jill make quick work of the few tangles that had been left by the shampoo process. The tension on her hair from the comb ending at her shoulders felt so foreign to her after having gotten accustomed to long hair-brushing sessions for most of her life.

“I know right!?” Jill responded, “I go short periodically and love how much easier it is to handle, with summer approaching I’m probably due for a summer chop pretty soon myself.”

Jill having combed out all of Stephanie’s hair then went to work sectioning it off, she twisted most of each side into two little buns on either side of Stephanie’s head, leaving just the bottom half of the nape free.

“Ok time for some more hair to hit the floor!” Jill said jokingly as she lifted the first vertical section from Stephanie’s nape. Holding it at an angle, Jill precisely point-cut the ends, sending chunks of hair to rest near her feet. The next section followed being snipped to match the first. She ruffled both a bit to check how the hair was laying before continuing along in a nice rhythm.

Before too long Jill had finished the first section and undid first the right side and then the left, releasing more untrimmed hair to plop out of its confinement. Combing the new sections into place Jill continued her efforts, again starting from the center and working out, each section lost chunks of hair as she trimmed them nicely into place.

After one more section at the nape, Jill released the whole right side and was working around the right side of Stephanie’s head, trimming sections so it all blended nicely with the back. Tufts of hair were raining down as Jill snipped across each section, and some started falling onto the cape as she worked around toward the front of the head. As she dropped the final section on the right side to lay against Stephanie’s face, Stephanie exclaimed, “It’s looking so amazing, I can’t wait to see how it looks dried!”, she then looked down at the cape and around on the floor, “and look at all this hair you’re cutting off! I can’t believe there’s so much left to cut after you snipped off the ponytail!”

“All the little bits add up! I’m glad you’re loving it so far, getting close to the end of the cutting.” Jill told Stephanie as she came around the back of her and worked to release the left side. With all the hair released from the top of Stephanie’s head, Jill busied herself with trimming up the left side, first blending it with the back, and then working around the side, lifting each slice away from the head and snipping it into shape.

After snipping the final section, she set her scissors down and ran her fingers through Stephanie’s hair. “I’ll get this blow-dried in a second, but what do you think?” She asked.

“I love it! It’s looking like exactly what I imagined!”

“I’m so happy to hear it! Let’s get you dried and then we can do a final check.” Jill said as she grabbed her blow dryer and a brush from the station. She turned it on and started brushing out pieces of hair and hitting them with the dryer, section by section she worked around Stephanie’s head, adding just a bit of body to the cut but leaving it fairly natural. Once she had made her way around, she shut the dryer off and returned it to her station before checking over the final product.

“Do you want bangs or maybe we just stick with a few face-framing layers?”

Let’s stick with no bangs, the face-framing layers sound nice though”

“Sounds great,” Jill said as she carefully extracted a lock of hair from the side of Stephanie’s face, taking her razor, she carefully cut it so it lay just at Stephanie’s cheeks at the shortest, blending nicely into the rest of the hair. As the razor sliced the hair with quiet rasps, the dry clumps floated to sit on the cape and then slowly build up speed as they made their way to the floor. She then did the same on the other side, carefully slicing away a few inches of hair before checking both sides for symmetry.

“Ok, that’s it, you’re all set to go!” Finally, Jill was finished. Stephanie studied the finished product in the mirror. She couldn’t believe it. Her hair was shorter than she had ever worn, but it looked amazing. It was cute and stylish, and it framed her face perfectly.

“I love it!” Stephanie said.

“It looks great on you,” Jill said with a smile, “I’m sure your sweetheart will love it as well!”

Jill removed the cape, dumping the last little bits of hair to the ground. Stephanie’s mom had been there for the start of the cut but had wandered off midway through, Jill lead Stephanie to the front and as they rounded the corner to the desk, her mom saw her and exclaimed, “My baby is all grown up! It looks great on you sweetie! Do you love it?”

“I love it!” Stephanie said, beaming back at her mother while blushing a bit at how loud her mother’s outburst was.

“Let’s get a photo of you with your ponytail!” her mother said, “give me your phone and stand over there by that window.”

Stephanie did as she was told, holding the ponytail with a big smile, happy that it was finally off her head. After a few poses, her mom returned her phone to her and then went to pay while Stephanie reviewed the photos quickly; then with final thank yous and gushing to Jill, they said their goodbyes and headed out to the car.

In the car, the ponytail draped over her lap, Stephanie pulled out her phone and snapped a quick photo of the ponytail. She hit share and clicked on Marianna’s contact. “I did a thing…” she typed out, then hit send.

Two minutes later her phone buzzed, “WHAAAAAATTTT!?” then “Do I get to see it, or are you going to make me wait until tonight?!”

“Why should I show you now when I can make you wait? 😉” Marianna responded, giggling a bit, giddy with excitement.

“Telling Marianna?” Her mother asked glancing over with a chuckle.

“Of course, but I’m not making it easy, so far I’ve just sent a photo of the ponytail.”

“My evil evil daughter, I love you kiddo”

“How about if you show me now how adorable you look with short hair, I promise to only give you one I told you so when I see you?” Marianna’s bargaining response came through, making Stephanie laugh some more.

“Knowing you, that’s probably an excellent deal” Stephanie responded, then “Here you go you get to see the dolled-up version later.” She then inserted the photo and then paused for a dramatic flair for a moment before hitting send.

“OMG, I love it! I can’t wait to take the most beautiful girl in the school to prom tonight! I love you and am so proud of you for going for it and chopping off that hair!”

“I can’t wait to see you later gorgeous, te amo mucho”

“Te amo tambien mi amor”

Stephanie stroked the ponytail with a big smile on her face as they drove the rest of the way home, her mom glancing over every now and then with an equally big smile, pleased with how happy her daughter was with her haircut and her girlfriend and proud of the woman she was becoming.