HairSnip.com

Paula's view

I didn't tire of the number of times clients asked me about how Linzi I came to shave our heads. I had always tried to avoid the standard hairdresser topics and believed that it was a welcome relief to most of the ladies who came in, but almost without fail, clients asked about Linzi and I. I tried to play down the competition winning part of the story, but that always came up. Of course, if it hadn't been for the competition and my first practice session with Amy, I may not have been in this position.

The level of interest surprised me. It was almost 'car crash hairdressing' in a way, as everybody had to stop for a look and to glean as many of the gory details as possible. Their first encounter was usually with Linzi on reception who had steadfastly kept her head shaved since that first time. She was young and vibrant and loved the attention that she got now. Not least from her boyfriend, who had turned out to be something of a shave fan, whether he had known it or not. The poor lad had even proposed to Linzi within a week, so desperate he was to hang on to someone who would indulge his newly realised interest.

Once the client had got past Linzi, they were faced with me. Initially bald, but now sporting peach fuzz.

It was Joanne, the second client who had gone for the full headshave who had given me the idea of saving the smooth look for special occasions. She didn't want the hassle of coming in to the salon every few days for a professional shave, so she was going to do it herself most times, but come into the salon for a treat every now and again. I was in the fortunate position of being able to have somebody else shave me every day if I wanted, but I decided that the occasional shave would keep my interest up and more importantly, keep up that of my husband. I don't think that he is as much of a fan as Linzi's boyfriend, but he doesn't dislike the look on me and he has certainly not suggested that I never shave it again.

It had been over two weeks since I had shaved my head. In that time I had lost count of the number of clients who had admired the look, both on Linzi and on me. The new element to the discussion that was developing was the contrast between Linzi's bald look and my dark 'suede' look. I had to smile at the number who wanted to touch our heads to see what it felt like, in the same way that they would touch the fabric in a dress shop or a furniture shop.

I talked with them willingly about the decision, about the process, going in to as much detail as they wished. As I said, I didn't tire of the repetition, but the constant telling did trigger a thought in my mind.

I don't really know what it was that led me to take Amy all the way to a bald head that first time. I have been a hairdresser for a good few years and had never had the urge before. It just seemed right in the circumstances. There was no plan beyond the angled bob, it was a combination of the two of us and that was where we ended up. Then it had been Amy who suggested that Linzi should go for the shaved look and I was more than willing to ease her towards that. Joanne too, had just seemed right for it.

The question was, where would it lead? That was what had crystallised for me in the car on the way in to the salon today. I had decided that the first client who came in was going be clippered if at all possible. All the curiosity and talk of the past couple of weeks had made me think that I should perhaps have a little fun. It hadn't taken a lot of persuasion for Amy and Joanne and I know that both of them had enjoyed the impact on their private lives. It was only temporary after all if somebody didn't like it.

I never look at the appointment book until I actually get in in the morning, so while I was in the car I had no idea who it was going to be. That was about as random and interesting as I could make it for myself. The first thing that I did after I had turned the salon alarm off was to take the appointment book out of the drawer and flick to the page for that day.

Lorna Reynolds.

I nodded appreciatively and went to the kitchen to put the coffee on for the morning. I pictured her in my mind as I busied myself with the various tasks of the day. Probably late thirties, trim, attractive, strawberry blonde hair in a neat collar length bob. She had been a regular for a couple of years, reasonably fashion conscious, receptive to a change every now and again. There were probably bigger challenges than her, but she was an excellent candidate for my little experiment.

Linzi was the first of the staff to appear, shortly followed by the other two stylists. I decided not to say anything to them. This was a challenge that I had set myself and I didn't want to have people whispering when Lorna arrived. We drank coffee and chatted while we waited for the first clients to come in. As it turned out, Lorna had got caught up in traffic and was a few minutes late arriving. For a while, I thought that fate had decided otherwise and was on the point of looking at the appointment book again to see who was next in line. Then the salon door opened briskly and an out of breath Lorna came in.

I had positioned myself so that I could see her when she first set eyes on Linzi without her being able to see me unless she was very observant. She was no different from any of the other clients who had been into the salon in recent weeks. Initially taken aback at Linzi's look, but then nodding appreciatively as they took a little longer to examine what they saw. Lorna caught her breath and then followed Linzi through to the main salon. I moved out to where she could see me and said 'Hi' to her.

'Hi Paula, you too!' she exclaimed as her eyes settled on my hair.

'Something in the water' I said.

'Linzi was just telling me about the competition' she said, as Linzi helped her into a gown.

I smiled and motioned to her to sit down in the chair. Lorna was quiet for a moment and I thought that she was going to leave her comments at that. I saw her look at me in the mirror and then she turned to get a better look.

'It really suits you, what made you do it?' she said.

'You know, it's good to do something totally different once in a while. It shakes everything up. Gives your comfortable little life a jolt.'

'What did Andy think?' she asked.

'He loves it, both clean shaven and like this' I replied.

'So you shaved it completely?' she asked.

'Oh yes. Best thing I ever did, hair-wise anyway' I said. 'I shaved a couple of clients and they both asked if I was going to do it too.' I added.

'What made them shave their heads?' she asked.

'The first one was modelling for me and we just ended up cutting more and more. The second one was ready for a change and she just went for it in the end' I said.

Lorna had nodded at appropriate points during our conversation and I could see her intermittently break eye contact with me to look at my hair, hoping that I wouldn't notice. I had reached the point where I needed to move things along.

I stood behind her and brushed her hair through. I had always been intrigued by the colour of her hair. It had a lovely, subtle reddish tint, but was most definitely not ginger. She kept it in great condition, whatever its length. At one point it had been well down her back, but I suggested to her that it would look much better if we took it to her shoulders. She had agreed without a fuss, saying that she trusted my judgement. Since then I had taken her bob slightly higher on each occasion she had come in. We hadn't talked about it, she had let me get on with it and had appeared happy each time. She had carried on coming back to me which was the best endorsement that she could give me.

Before she had come in I had set out a pair of clippers and three guards on the shelf in front of her. She had taken no notice of these when she sat down, but I could sense her eyes follow my hand as I reached across her for the clippers. She said nothing. I reached back across her towards the guards, neatly lined up. One, two and three. I put my hand on the number three and then looked at her deliberately. She had a puzzled look on her face.

I could see her eyes widening as the situation dawned on her. It would all hinge on our next exchange.

'You've always gone with what I thought would suit you, haven't you?' I said.

'Pretty much' she replied.

'Have I ever done anything that didn't make you look good?'

'No.'

'So do you trust me?'

'I did' she said pointedly.

'Think about the effect on your hubby when he's presented with a new woman tonight' I said.

'He'll freak' she said.

'Young Linzi's boyfriend proposed to her after she did it. I don't think he's let the poor girl put underwear on since and I can tell you for a fact that my other half hasn't registered any other hairstyle that I have had since I've known him, but he took notice of this one. It's kept his attention too, if you know what I mean!'

'That good?' she asked.

'It shouts out confidence, it demands attention and they know that if they don't give it to you, someone else will' I said. I was starting to think that I should get myself a job as a scriptwriter on a day-time tv show being able to come up with stuff like that!

'So what are you going to do?' she asked.

'You know what these do?' I asked.

'Ian has his cut with them.'

'Do you know which guard he has?' I asked.

'A three usually' she replied.

'And what does he have the other times?' I asked, pleased that she was engaging in a lengthy exchange about guard lengths rather than trying to seek justification for why she wasn't going to let me use them on her.

'He goes down to a two in summer.'

'Do you like it when he goes shorter? Can you tell the difference?' I asked.

'Oh, yes, I can tell. I think I do prefer the two to the three actually.' she replied after a moment's hesitation.

'Well, I was going to start with a three, so you know how long that would be' I said. She nodded.

'But then I changed my mind.'

'To..?'

'Number one' I said matter of factly. I reached in front of her and picked up the number one guard from the shelf and fitted it to the clipper head as she struggled for something to say.

'But that's so short' she said eventually.

'Would you rather start with the number two?'

'I think so' she said slowly.

'I don't think that it will make much difference with your hair colour, you know, Lorna. Once it's any sort of clipper length, it will look like you've shaved your head anyway.' I said. She was silent. Unlike the clippers once I flicked the switch.

'Shall we just go for the number one and take it from there?' I asked, still more in hope than anything else.

'You're sure it will look good?' she asked.

I nodded.

'And your hubby liked it?'

'Loved it' I said.

'You're not just saying that?'

'I'm not just saying that' I replied as I placed the clippers at her forehead.

'Wait' she said.

I waited. I looked at her in the mirror, clippers poised. I waited some more. Still she said nothing. I moved the clippers into her hairline. She took a deep breath. I eased them over the crown of her head, removing tresses of hair and the possibility of objections at the same time. There was the lightest, blondish  stubble in the wake of the clippers. Hardly anything. I looked at Lorna in the mirror. Her eyes were closed tight. I made another two or three passes, clearing the crown of her head and then in a swift movement, drew the clippers across her temple.

'You can open your eyes now Lorna' I said.

'Oh God' she exclaimed.

'You'll be gorgeous' I told her.

'He's going to kill me' she said.

'He'll love it, just you wait.'

I made a quick pass behind her ear and then had a thought.

'You know, Lorna, we should just go for it, you're almost there anyway.'

'What do you mean' she asked.

Without turning the clippers off I eased the guard off them, making sure that she could see what I was doing. It took a moment for the implication of what I was proposing to hit home.

'But that'll be shorter, won't it?' she said.

'That'll be smooth' I said.

'What am I doing?' she asked quietly, possibly to me, possibly just to herself.

I leant forward slightly so that I could whisper in her ear. 'Remember that, when you and Ian are going at it like rabbits when you get home. I promise you, he'll love it, and if he doesn't, I'll sleep with him myself, that's how sure I am!'

She turned and looked at me, wide-eyed.

'So the compensation for my husband hating his bald wife is having him sleep with the person responsible, is that it?' she said.

'He's not going to hate it and I'm not going to sleep with him' I said, still not quite sure whether she was actually as annoyed as she seemed. I decided that is was probably best not to go any farther down that road, just in case. The aim was a happy customer, even if it was one who had never dreamt that they would be going home bald when they got up this morning.

I placed the unguarded clippers at the back of her neck and moved them upwards, higher and higher. She didn't object, but was perhaps still pre-occupied with my offer to sleep with her husband! I moved the clippers to her forehead and eased them backwards. Still no reaction from her. The clippers were doing their work, but it was difficult to see the difference because of the lightness of her colouring. I worked as quickly as I could, removing the hair from the side of her head so that she no longer had to sit and look at bald sections alongside the untouched sections of what remained of her bob.

I moved round to the back of her head to remove the last of her hair before going over her whole scalp again to make sure that the cut was even. I had every intention of wet-shaving her, but I wasn't sure that she would let me go that far. I switched the clippers off.

'There, look at you' I said. 'Look at your eyes, they're wonderful.'

She sighed, looking intently in the mirror.

'Can I touch it?' she asked.

I nodded, although quite why she was asking me permission to touch her own head, I don't know.

She reached tentatively from under the gown. Fingertips became the whole of her hand.

'I should hate you for doing this to me' she said.

'But you don't' I said hopefully.

'I don't think so, but the jury's still out on that one.'

'That's good' I said.

'Can I ask you why, though?'

'Why what?' I countered.

'Why you shaved me?'

'I thought that you had got the features for it, that it would bring out your eyes, accentuate your neck.'

She turned to one side to look at her neck in the mirror and ran her hand up her neck and over the back of her head.

'Nice?' I said.

'Mmm' she acknowledged.

'Ok, Lorna, now for the finishing touch. I'm going to wet-shave it for you, make it really smooth, is that ok?'

'Do you have to, can't you leave it like this?'

'I could, but it feels so much sexier when it's completely smooth.'

'Really?' she asked.

'Why do you think I am rationing my husband and only shaving it as a treat.'

She looked at me intently with her blue eyes.

'It makes that much of a difference?'

'Certainly does' I replied.

'I'll try then' she said.

'Good girl, Lorna' I said.

I smeared shaving foam over her scalp, starting with a small area and worked outwards, oh so slowly in a bid to convince her of the potential benefits of what I was doing. I could see that she had closed her eyes, just as Joanne had. Joanne thought that I didn't know quite how much she enjoyed being shaved, but there was no way that she could have concealed that degree of pleasure from somebody who was so close to her. I drew the razor slowly across Lorna's scalp, again trying as hard as I could to use as little pressure as possible. This wasn't masculine shaving, bristles rasping under the touch of the blade. This was caressing, this was foreplay. Lorna didn't open her eyes during all the time that I was shaving her. It was only as I was wiping away the last of the foam that she opened her eyes.

'So that's what I look like bald' she commented.

'Stunning' I told her.

'I still can't believe that you've done that to me' she said.

I smiled at her.

'You'll probably need to experiment a little with your make-up, change your eye make-up, that sort of thing.' I said. She nodded.

'As your beautician' I said a little more quietly 'I would recommend that you get yourself waxed before your husband gets home. Put on something lacy and let him explore the new you.'

'Is that what you did?' she asked.

'Not a hair anywhere' I said with a wry grin 'now he thinks that Christmas is in June!'

'Well, I'll think about it' she said.

I undid the gown at the back of her neck and eased it off her shoulders. She stood up and looked at herself in the various mirrors in the salon, her hand straying to her head as she looked.

'I honestly think that you look gorgeous' I told her.

'You're not just saying that' she asked.

'I don't say things if I don't mean them' I replied.

'So what happens if my husband hates it?'

'I've got a bit of a moral dilemma then, haven't I?' I replied with a smile.

'I think you probably have' she laughed.

I led Lorna out to reception to tell Linzi that there was no charge for the cut.

After Lorna had gone, Linzi looked at me, her mouth wide in mock horror.

'How did you get away with that?' she asked.

'She trusts my professional judgement' I replied with a smile.

The following day, I was having a coffee while waiting for my next client when Linzi came and told me that there was a phone call for me.

I went out to reception and picked up the phone.

'Hello, this is Paula' I said.

'Hi Paula, it's Lorna.' She sounded serious.

'Hi Lorna, I wasn't expecting to hear from you for a while. What did he think?' I ventured.

'He hated it' she said tersely.

'Really?' I asked, suddenly feeling guilty.

'I told him about what you said and he wants to know which hotel you want to meet him in.'

I didn't know what to say.

'You're kidding, right' I said after a moment. After all, how many wives make arrangements for their husbands to commit adultery?

She paused.

'Gotcha' she said.

'You nearly had me there. So what did he think, really?'

'You were right. He loved it. Couldn't keep his hands off it.' she said.

'Told you he would' I replied.

'He even wants to shave me himself when it grows out a bit' she said.

'What have I started?' I said before the implications of what she had just said registered. 'You will come and see me still, though, won't you?' I added.

'It might be a while' she said. 'Ian did suggest though that you and your hubby might like to come to a party that we're having next weekend.'

'Thank you, that would be lovely' I replied.

'You might want to talk it over with him before you accept' she said.

'Why's that?'

'When I say "party", it's more of a small gathering of friends, who, shall we say are like-minded.'

'I'm intrigued' I said.

'Let's say that it gets VERY friendly, so if that's not your sort of thing, forget I said anything' she said. Fortunately, Linzi had taken herself off to sort out some towels or something, so I was alone at reception.

'That sort of party' I said, hoping to goad her into a bit more detail.

'Ian and I had a little chat and we just thought that you seem to be open to new experiences and like to share them and you did offer to sleep with my husband, didn't you?' she added with a chuckle.

'Only because I knew that there was no chance of it happening' I replied.

'I'm sorry, Paula, forget that I mentioned it' she said.

'No, I'm glad you did, really' I answered.

'So you want to come?' she asked.

'That's one way of putting it, I suppose' I said.

'You know what I mean. Give me your mobile number and I'll call you tonight and we'll chat some more.'

We ended the conversation and I was left in reception wondering exactly what I had started. It certainly looked like I had picked a 'victim' who had hidden depths of her own. Linzi came back to reception.

'Everything alright?' she asked.

'Couldn't be better. That was just Lorna saying how much her husband liked her new look.'

She raised her eyebrows suggestively.

'We both know what that means' she added.

'We certainly do' I said just as the door was opened by my next client.

I welcomed her and wondered whether it would be best for now if I just did what she asked. Probably would, as I would have enough trouble keeping my mind on my work as it was. I also had to think of what I was going to say to Ian when I got home. Well, it was a nice problem to have, I thought.

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