Use the landing strip as a target

Authors note: (Search doctorverse for all stories relating to this universe.)

 

Chapter 1: The Situation

Introduction

George and Ashley have been part of the same friend group for over fifteen years, first meeting in their early twenties.  For many years, neither were very adventurous with their hair.  George was mild tempered, with an athletic build with medium blonde hair.  Ashley was quite the opposite, she was very boisterous, with a thicker build and dark brown hair down to the middle of her back.  

Now both in their mid thirties, through the years, Ashley got married, had three kids, and settled into being a regular housewife, still keeping the same style.  Meanwhile, George went through various relationships, and got more adventurous with his hair, experimenting with various styles, including shaving it bald multiple times, as well as receiving multiple flattops.

Ashley was particularly enamored with George’s flattop, being the first person to compliment his first one and suggested he keep it long term.  The times that George grew his hair out, she’d pester him about when it was going to come back, and show her joy when he eventually went back.  

Now 34 years old, Ashley got divorced, and she started making up for lost time of being a regular housewife.  She immediately got a nose ring, and started to cut her hair shorter.  First to just below her shoulder blades, but she wasn’t satisfied with that.  Every time she went to the stylist she came back shorter and slightly edgier.  The next cut was a bob slightly below the chin, then the bob became slightly angled, finally she settled on an angled bob, starting a little bit below the chin to slightly above the chin in the back with a small undercut.  

 

The party

One night the group of friends were hanging out drinking, and Ashley was a little tipsy.  She was at the point where she was aware of what she was doing, but was more boisterous and spontaneous than normal. 

“George!” she belted from across the table, “When are you going back to the flattop?  It’s been like 6 months.”  

“It’s not that easy Ashley, the barber who I went to previously for them moved away, I just don’t have anyone now,”  said George.  

Ashley didn’t particularly like that answer and it showed on her face.  “It can’t be that difficult to find someone to do it, it’s just a haircut.”  she answered back.  

George responded, “Well you see, it’s not as easy as just going to any salon and getting your haircut like you can with your hairstyle.  That haircut is kind of a dying art, not a lot of people can do it properly.  It’s pretty much just a lot of old school barbers, and they’re not great at using the internet to advertise their skills.”

“So what if I found a barber for you George, would you go then?”  chirped back Ashley.

“But the problem is, someone can say they’re good at them, but until you see results of cuts they’ve done it’s impossible to tell.  I went through a few places before I found someone who actually could do it properly,  I really don’t want to go through a bunch of trial and error again.”  said George.  

Ashley couldn’t really argue with that logic, she sat and thought about possible solutions.

“Maybe you wanna go test out a barber for me Ashley” George joked.  

“What do you mean?” said Ashley.  

“Well I was just joking but I meant you go test out the barbers flattop skills for me, but I wouldn’t expect you to do that.”  said George.

The ending of George’s sentence made Ashley take this as a challenge, she immediately responded with increased volume.

“George!  You think I would back down from a challenge?  I’m an alpha female, I don’t back down.”  

George was taken aback, “I don’t mean to make you do this, I can figure it out on my own.”  

By this point they had both gotten so deep into this conversation they had forgotten other people were also at the table, but with Ashley’s response being louder than everything else at the table, they couldn’t help but inquire as to what was happening.

Their friend Jamie asked, “What are you two talking about?”  

Ashley responded, “George doesn’t think I’d get a flattop.”

Jamie asked, “Do you realize how much hair you’d be cutting off?.”  

Ashley fired back, “Bitch I don’t give a fuck, Stephanie’s got short hair but none of you try to stop her from having it.” 

Brianna chimed in, “Yeah but it’s just tha-.”

Ashley cut her off, “Listen, my mind is made up and you can’t change it.  You two are stuck in your ways of women having long hair, you just don’t understand what it’s like to be adventurous.

The rest of the group knows that when Ashley has an idea in her head, they can’t do anything about it.  She’s stubborn and will follow through on whatever it is, and in this case her targets were set on getting this haircut.  

Ashley turned her attention back to George.  “So if I go find a barber who can do it properly, and I get a flattop, will you get the same one as me then?”  

George, still surprised that this was actually going to happen and still with a little doubt in his mind answered back, “IF you get that haircut, and IF it looks good, then yeah I’ll go get the same haircut you get.  But it has to look up to my standards, if you get a haircut that isn’t a flattop that doesn’t count.  I’m not taking whatever short haircut or bad flattop you get as a reason for me to get one.”

Ashley responded, “Ok, so we have a deal then?”  

George held out his hand to shake on it,  “It’s a deal.”

 

Chapter 2: Getting to work 

Finding a shop

The next day, Ashley got to work searching the area for barbers.  Unfortunately she discovered that George was right, most of the barbers had no internet presence at all, and the ones that did didn’t show enough with their work to be qualified.  

She contemplated her strategy and decided she would start calling around, seeing who claimed they could do it, and gauging their confidence at the answer.  As she called around she wasn’t getting the answers she was looking for.  Many barbers said they could do it, but didn’t sound very confident in the answer, a sparse few at least flat out admitted they couldn’t do it properly.  

Eventually she called a place named Tony’s barbershop that delivered her a glimmer of hope.  

Tony, the namesake of the barbershop, answered her call “Hi this is Tony’s barber shop how can I help you?”

Ashley could hear clippers whirring in the background as she responded back. “Hi, I was curious if you were able to do a certain haircut.”

Tony questioned back, “Which one?”  

Ashley responded, “A flattop.”

Tony responded back full of confidence, “Not a problem, been doing them for many years, regular ones, and horse shoe flats.”  

Ashley, with a hint of joy in her voice, responded, “That’s great, do people have to make appointments?”

“Your boyfriend or husband will have to come in and wait, we don’t take appointments,”  said Tony.  

Before Ashley could completely process Tony’s last sentence, she responded, “Thanks so much!”  before hanging up the phone.  

After hanging up she thought to herself and got a little annoyed that Tony presumed she was calling for a husband or boyfriend.  She had spent so many years taking care of her husband’s errands and she didn’t want to hear the presumption.  Ashley didn’t have to work that night, and figured that there was no use putting it off.  She ushered the kids over to her neighbors house to be watched, and then drove right over to Tony’s barbershop. 

 

The Arrival

She pulled up to an old strip mall with many empty businesses, at one point this would have been a bustling area filled with shoppers, but now only few businesses remain, including Tony’s.  Guess it must be good if it survived in this area, she thought to herself.  A hint of nervousness washed over her as she parked her car.  This is dumb that I’m getting nervous, she thought to herself, it’s just hair.  She took some deep breaths, grabbed her purse, and exited the car.  

As she got out of the car she looked into the windows of the barbershop, there was already one man in the chair and another in the waiting area.  I hope I don’t have to wait too long, she thought to herself.  She started to walk to the door of the barbershop, her body moving in slow motion, or at least felt like it.  In her head she knows that once she enters that door there is no turning back, she’d be too embarrassed to get up and leave.  

Ashley pushes open the door, the man in the waiting area turns to look at her, but Tony doesn’t even look her way, continuing to work on his current client.  She walks past the man waiting and has a seat in the waiting area herself.  As she sits, she examines the barbershop to get a lay of the land.  There are only two barber chairs, much different than the salons she’s been to filled with chairs and stylists.  The walls are a dark wood coloring, not something she’s seen since the 90’s.  Covering those walls are assorted sports memorabilia, and pictures of a wide range of haircuts.  

Tony finishes up with his current client, and calls for the next guy to come have a seat in the chair.  Ashley feels the nervousness bubbling up inside of her, she knows that she’ll be next after this guy.  

“Maybe I won’t be too nervous if I’m the only person here getting my haircut, it’d be nice if I didn’t have that pressure of someone else watching me,’ she thinks to herself.   

As she finishes that thought, the door pops open, another client walks in, and seats himself close to Ashley.  

“Dammit that didn’t last long, I jinxed myself even thinking about it,” she thinks.  

She tries to distract herself from the anxiety she’s feeling about having people watch her, and watches Tony go to work on the current client.  He’s a man in his mid 50’s, regular build, with a completely shaved head that she notices has been freshly shaved, as it looks extremely smooth.  She can tell he’s very proficient with the clippers, he’s very efficient with what he does, and is very precise.  He’s not much of a talker, if he does have to say something it is in very short sentences.  Her watching of Tony is interrupted, another man walks through the door of the barbershop, again cursing her own luck in her head.  As she sees Tony getting closer to the end of the current client’s haircut, her anxiety and nervousness increases.  She can feel herself getting sweatier, her heart is racing, and she’s clutching her purse closer than ever.  

Tony finishes up with the next client, then motions to the man who came in after Ashley to come up to the chair.  

 

Chapter 3: The Cut

Confrontation

Ashley says, “Hey I was here before that guy!”  

Tony looks at her and says, “Oh, I presumed that was your boyfriend and you were just waiting with him to get his haircut.”  

Ashley swallows deeply and says, “No I’m here to get my haircut.”

Tony, confused, says, “We don’t do trims or stuff like that here, I can recommend a salon to you if you want.”  

Ashley begins to wonder if this is all worth it, her nervousness is getting exponentially higher as this discussion goes on.  She responds quietly, “Right, I understand that.”  

Too quiet for Tony, he asks her to repeat herself. 

This is becoming too much for Ashley, everyone in the barbershop is now paying attention to her, curious as to what’s going to happen.  She quickly responds, louder this time, “Right, I understand that.”  

Tony, still confused, says “Oooooook, come on over then and have a seat.”  

Ashley has a seat, and sets her purse in her lap.  

“So what did you want done then young lady?”  asks Tony.

“I… wanted to get a flattop.”  quietly says Ashley, needing to use every ounce of willpower she has left to get these words out as her nerves continue to rise.  

“You’re gonna have to speak up, I’m a little hard of hearing these days.”  says Tony.

“I wanted to get a flattop!”  Ashley says, not seemingly able to control the loudness of her voice.   She immediately turns red from embarrassment.  

“Oh…. I talked to you on the phone earlier didn’t I?  I thought you sounded familiar.”  Tony responded.  

“What kind of flattop do you want?”  Tony asks.

At this point Ashley freezes, she is now realizing she didn’t look up the difference between a regular and horseshoe that Tony mentioned on the phone.  

“Uhhhhh”  is all Ashley can mutter.  

“Have a look at the pictures on the wall”  Tony says as he points to two pictures.  “The one on the left is a regular one, and the one on the right is a horseshoe.”  

Because of the angle of the pictures he has, it’s hard for Ashley to tell a huge difference between the two.  She can tell that the one on the right is shorter than the one on the left.  

She briefly thinks about it, and decides that since she would want to see George in the shorter flattop, she chooses that one.  

Overwhelmed by the emotions of the situations, she points to the picture on the right.  

“You want that exact haircut?”  Tony inquires.  

Ashley nods her head, she can’t even bring herself to say the word yes at this point.  

“Alright then, let’s get to it.”  says Tony.

 

The anxiety of haircuts

Fear and Acceptance

He swings the cape around her, runs a paper neck strip around her neck, and then clasps the cape tight.  

“Last chance to say anything if you want to back out.”  says Tony, still confused that this is about to happen.  

Ashley’s nerves are at their boiling point, she’s finally reached the point where she’s doubting herself.  The thoughts of what her friends said the other night flow into her head.  This IS a lot of hair to cut off, am I going to look like a guy?  What are my friends and coworkers going to say about this?  What If I hate it and have to wait super long for my hair to grow back out?  

“No, I can’t do this, I just can’t.”  Ashley thinks to herself. 

She begins to open her mouth to tell him to stop.  Unfortunately for Ashley, what felt like only a couple of seconds in her mind was actually much longer, more like thirty seconds.  For Tony, he’d given her enough time to back out.  The high powered clippers click on, and Tony immediately runs them up the right side of her head.  Ashley’s mouth is agape as a giant chunk of hair falls into her lap.  

Ashley feels completely frozen, a second ago she had finally flip flopped on her stubborn decision making, but it was too late.  She couldn’t believe this was actually happening, she had to sit back and wait for it to be over.  She closes her mouth and resigns herself to her fate.  

 

No going back

Tony continues to move around her head, removing length on the back and sides.  Moving the clippers from the bottom of her head to the crown in an upward motion.  Ashley couldn’t believe the amount of hair that she is seeing in her lap.  It continues to pile up as Tony removes bulk hair all around her head.  

Tony moves to the top, he quickly uses the clippers to remove some bulk on top but still leaving quite a few inches.  Hair falls in front of Ashley’s face down to her lap.  He turns around to his station to set down his clippers, and grabs a can of hairspray, which he then unleashes onto the top of Ashley’s head, spraying more than Ashley has ever used herself at one time.  After he’s satisfied with the amount, he sets the hairspray down at his station, then grabs a comb and hair dryer.  He uses the hair dryer and comb in combination to make her hair stand straight up on her head.  Moving all around, meticulously making sure that everything is perfectly straight up in the air.  When he’s satisfied he sets the hair dryer back down, and grabs his clippers.  

“Ok now don’t move a muscle.”  Tony tells Ashley. 

“Ok”  Ashley quietly gets out.  She thinks to herself, “This won’t be a problem, I’m completely frozen anyways.” then laughs to herself in her head.  

Tony slows down a little bit from the nonchalant clippering Ashley experienced before.  He kneels down a little bit to make sure he is looking at the top of her head level, puts the comb to the front of her head, and clips the hair across her head perfectly straight.  Strands of hair fall in front of Ashley’s head.  A knot forms in her stomach as this haircut becomes all the more real.  Tony continues to move across the top of her head with perfection, every cut makes her hair more level.  

As Tony goes across the top of her head, he cuts very close to her scalp in the middle of her head.  It’s at this point that Ashley gets curious about how it’s looking, and realizes that she isn’t facing a mirror.  Everything moved so fast earlier that she didn’t notice that she was just staring at the wall of the barbershop instead of a mirror.  

Tony finishes going across the top of her head, and stops to inspect his work.  He makes a few corrections here and there, but not much is required.  He sets the comb down, and goes back to working on the sides and back, as previously he had just quickly removed bulk hair.  With no guard on the clippers he runs them all the way up to the crown of her head.  

“Wow.. that feels kinda good.”  Ashley thinks to herself.  Her previous experience with clippers was minimal, she had recently gotten around to getting a little bit of an undercut but it was a longer undercut, and not something that put the clippers directly onto her scalp.  

Ashley closes her eyes and begins to enjoy the process more and more as Tony goes around the sides and back, going all the way up to the crown of the head, removing everything he can with clippers.  She has no clue how this is going to look, but she’s determined to enjoy the parts that she likes, even if the overall experience is still an embarrassing one for her. 

After Tony finishes removing as much as he can with the clippers on the side and back he goes back to the top of her head.  Tony needs to flesh out the horseshoe part of this haircut, and goes to work making a nice path on the top of her head.  Ashley’s enjoyment from the side and back clippering immediately turns to confusion, “Why the hell is he doing something to the middle of my head?” she asks herself.    

Tony finishes up on the top, turns the clippers off and sets them down to inspect his work.  Ashley breathes a little easier as she thinks Tony is finally done.  Ashley then hears the sound of a machine pump, her eyes become wide open when she feels Tony lather warm shaving cream all over the side, back and new landing strip on top of her head.  

Tony wipes his hands off on the towel at his station, then grabs his straight razor.  He begins scratching away at the sides and back of Ashley’s head.  Tony didn’t even need to tell Ashley to stay still, he could tell from the past half an hour that she was frozen still.  Over and over he goes, removing every little bit of stubble on her head, except for where the newly created horseshoe flattop lay.  When he finished he wiped the shaved areas down with a towel and rubbed his hands over those areas to ensure there was nothing left.  

“All set miss.”  Tony said, as he unclipped the cape on Ashley’s neck and folded it forward.  “You ready to see your new haircut?”  

Ashley nods, it’s all she can muster.  

 

The Reaction

Tony turns the chair around so that Ashley is facing the large mirror at his station.  Her mouth opens immediately and her hands cover it in shock.  She focuses on the new haircut, moving her head from side to side.  Tony holds up a hand mirror behind her so that she can see the back of her head as well.  Not much is left of her hair, all she can see is perfectly level, perfectly straight hair standing up, the rest of her scalp is completely white.  Everything is a blur to her at this point, but she remembers that Tony had done something to the top of her head.  As she leans forward she sees a perfect landing strip leading down the back of her head cutting a path in the flattop. 

 “Th-th-thank you.” is all Ashley can say, her voice having an obvious stutter from seeing her appearance.  Tony removes the cape, and heads over to his register, waiting for her to come pay.  Ashley gets up, her legs feel like spaghetti, both from sitting too long and the experience itself.  

“It’s a good thing I was wearing flats and not heels, or I’d be on my ass right now.”  She thinks to herself. 

She makes her way to the register, avoiding eye contact with everyone in the waiting area.  By this point two more men had shown up, and all of their eyes were on her.  She sets her purse on the counter, pulls out some cash to pay Tony with, then exits the shop in a hurry.

 

Chapter 4: Acceptance

Feeling herself

Ashley makes her way to her car, as a breeze hits her and her newly mostly shaved scalp.  This new sensation surprises Ashley, as she closes her eyes to enjoy it.  She gets to her car, and has to fumble with the fob to get it open, her hands a nervous mess still.  She manages to get it open, sit in her car, and pull the door shut.  As she does, she takes many deep breaths before calming herself down.  

She pulls her sun visor down and looks at herself in the mirror there, still in shock as to her new look, but getting more used to it as she can process this by herself in her own environment.  She then takes her hands and begins to rub the clean sides and back of her head.  Yet another new experience, and one that Ashley particularly enjoys.  

“Now I know why guys shave their head,” Ashley thinks to herself, “this feels absolutely incredible.”  

As Ashley continues to rub the sides and back of her head, she feels an internal warmth, realizing she is experiencing a completely new turn on for her.  Her drive home isn’t too long, but she keeps one hand on her scalp the entire way, rubbing it constantly.  

As she gets home she checks the time, 2:16 pm, Tony’s is still open for another couple of hours.  “Maybe I can get George there today.” she thinks to herself.  She immediately grabs her phone and texts him, “You busy?”  Her phone dings moments later, George’s response, ‘not in the slightest.’  She texts back, “I’ll be there soon.”  But first, she had to get ready.

She went to her bedroom and combed through her wardrobe thinking about what to wear.  She found a dress she had gone clubbing with a few years ago that she hadn’t worn in a long time, red, short, strapless, and hugged her body nicely.  To go along with that she got a matching pair of very tall red heels, and the biggest hoop earrings that she owned.  After putting the outfit together she admired herself in her full body length mirror.  

“That might have been the most nervewracking experience of my life, but I look fucking HOT.” she says out loud.  She turns around a few times, looking at herself, enjoying every angle she sees.  

Ashley grabs her purse, heads back out to the car, and texts her neighbor.  “I’m going to need you to watch them a bit longer, mama’s gotta take care of some business.” she sends.  

 

Showing George

She drives over to George’s house and sped there like her life depended on it, she couldn’t wait to show George her haircut.  She parks the car, gets out, and walks to the front door, then adjusts her dress slightly before ringing the doorbell.  

George opens the door, “Oh hey Ashl- OH MY GOD.’  says George.

Ashley gives a quick spin, “Is this haircut up to YOUR standards?”  she says.

“Uh yeah, you look..” George says before Ashley cuts him off.

“Hot as fuck, yeah I know.”  says Ashley.  “Get your keys and wallet, let’s go.” 

“Go?  Go where?”  asks George.

Ashley responds. “To the barber obviously, you said you’d get one if I got one up to your standards.” 

“I wasn’t exactly planning to go immediately…” George says.

Ashley retaliates, “I don’t give a fuck when you’re ready, you said you’d get one if I got one, you’re getting one now.  I’m not leaving your driveway until you’re in my car.’  

George knows he won’t be able to win this battle, “Ok … let me grab my things.’ he says as he retreats inside to get his keys and wallet. “Let’s go I guess.” 

They both get in the car, and Ashley begins the drive back to Tony’s.  

‘So … you like the haircut right?  I know I cut you off earlier”  Ashley asks.

“Yeah I legitimately think it looks incredible on you.’ says George.

“Do you think it’s too severe?  He shaved like three quarters of my head bald”  Ashley says as she laughs.

“Well, I agree that it’s severe, I can’t deny that, but for your personality I think severe works.  I’m not sure many other women could pull this off.”  George responds.

Ashley blushes a little bit, ‘Good I’m glad you think so… now rub the back of my head while we drive.’  she responds as she laughs. 

George gladly reaches over to rub the smooth part of her head as she drives, he notices that she bites her lip and writhes a tiny bit in her seat as he continues to rub.   It’s obvious that she more than enjoys this experience. 

 

George reciprocates

After a short drive, they arrive at Tony’s, it’s getting close to closing time, but Ashley can see that there is no one waiting.  She quickly parks and exit the car, grabbing George’s hand to pull him along to the shop.  She pushes open the door and Tony looks up to see that she has returned. 

“Little lady if you want another haircut you’re gonna end up bald, you don’t have much else I can do.”  He laughs as he responds.  

‘Oh it’s not for me, it’s for him.’  She says as she pulls George into the shop.  ‘He wants exactly what you gave me earlier.”  

“Is that right sir?”  Tony questions George.  

George looks at Ashley, who already has a mean look on her face to intimidate him into saying yes.  Still continuing to look at Ashley he responds, ‘Yeah that’s right.’ As he responds her face immediately lights up into a smile, as she goes to have a seat in the waiting area.  

Tony guides George to the chair, and gets to work.  With the same precision he did with Ashley, he clips down the side and back of George’s head.  He sprays George’s head with a ton of hairspray then blow dries it straight up with the help of a comb.  Tony then proceeds to make the top perfectly level before creating the horseshoe, and razor shaving all but the horseshoe smooth.  

After finishing he turns George around, just like he did with Ashley.  George inspects the work he did, and is immensely satisfied.  

“Well it looks like I just found a new barbershop,” says George.  

Ashley beams with joy that the work she put into today was coming to fruition.  George gets up to meet Tony at the register to pay.  After paying, Ashley grabs George’s hand to drag him out of the shop.  On her way out she smiles and mentions to Tony, “We’ll see you in a couple weeks to freshen us both up.”  

After leaving the barbershop she takes her hands and rubs them over the freshly shaved parts of George’s head.  

 “You’re taking me to dinner haircut twinsie,”  she demands, ‘but then after that I wouldn’t be opposed if you used my landing strip as a target.’  she said as she smiled and winked at George.  She then grabbed his hand and pulled him to the car to begin their night of fun.