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After she had breaking up with her boyfriend of four years, Laurie decided to make a change to her shoulder length, light brown hair. Mark never liked short hair on women, so Laurie had always worn her hair longer than she would have liked.  But now with Mark out of the picture, she decided a change was in order. After she had seen several other women her age, sporting smart looking pixie haircuts, Laurie decided she was going to get her hair cut the same way.

But rather than go to her regular hairdresser, who would probably talk her out of it, Laurie decided she was going to get her hair cut at the local beauty school that was located a few blocks from her home.  She could stop in some night on her way home from work and get it cut.  Best of all, it would only cost her $2.00.  Why spend $40 with her regular stylist, when she could get it done for $2.00?  How hard is it to do a pixie haircut anyway?

Laurie parked her car in the lot located on the side of the beauty school and walked to the front door.  As she passed the front window, she turned to see how crowded it was.  To her delight, Laurie saw that there were only a few people getting haircuts and no one was in the waiting area.  She would probably be in and out in about 20 minutes.

As she opened the door of the shop, she heard chimes announce the arrival of a new customer.  A pleasant looking girl seated behind the counter, smiled as she looked up.  “Hello and welcome to Tremane’s Beauty Center.  What can we do for you today?"

“I’d like a haircut please."

“We can help you with that.  Did you have a particular style in mind?"

“I’d like to cut it short, in a pixie style."

“Pixie?  Sure, I can get a stylist to help you with that.  It’s a pretty easy cut to do.  And what is your name please?"

“Laurie."

“Please have a seat Laurie and I will get a student to help you."

Laurie walked to waiting area and sat down.  It was a fairly plain room with no pictures or wall decorations.  Just a grouping of chairs and a table piled with old magazines.  A minute or two after she was seated, Laurie heard her name called and she stood up.  She was greeted by a young girl who looked no more than 15, with short cropped jet black hair.  The girl introduced herself as Miranda and asked Laurie to follow her back to her work station.

Laurie followed behind Miranda and looked at some of the other customers getting their hair cut.  She saw a woman about her own age, getting a trim of her stylish A-Line bob.  The stylist was using a pair of clippers to trim along her neck in back.  Laurie also saw a young girl of maybe 14, getting the ends of her shoulder length hair trimmed.  The haircuts looked both looked good and the customers both looked pleased.

When they reached Miranda’s work station, she motioned Laurie to sit in the chair.  Laurie eased herself into the large, old fashioned chair and found it was quite comfortable.  Miranda pulled Laurie’s hair back into a ponytail and fastened it with a clip so she could place a cape around her.  Once she had Laurie caped, Miranda removed the clip and Laurie’s hair fell back into place.

Next Miranda began to comb the hair on top of Laurie’s head, pulling it together in her left hand.  When she had all the top hair gathered in her hand, she again fastened the hair with a clip so that all the hair on the top of Laurie’s head was pulled straight up.  Then Miranda grabbed a pair of clippers from a drawer under the back counter.  Laurie was a little surprised, but not really nervous about Miranda using clippers.  Perhaps this is how the stylists are taught to cut a pixie these days.  Laurie had never really seen the process done before.  She jumped a little when she heard the clippers spring to life, but relaxed a little when Miranda gently combed through the hair on the right side of her hand.  Then just as quickly, Miranda brought the clippers up under Laurie’s hair and eased them up the right side of her head.  As she did this, Laurie watched as about ten inches of her head lightly fell away into her lap.

She sat transfixed as she watched Miranda repeat the procedure and another section of ten inch hair fall to her shoulder.  For the first time Laurie could see just how short the remaining hair was.  From what she could see, it appeared there was no more than a quarter inch of hair remaining.  It was hard to say at this point, but to Laurie it looked far shorter than other pixie haircuts she had seen.

Next Miranda eased Laurie’s head forward and began working on the back of her head.  With each pass of the clippers upward, great sections of her hair gently fell down her back and onto the floor.  Laurie couldn’t see it, but she envisioned a great amount of her hair was now piling up on the floor.  Miranda continued working and now both Laurie’s right ear and neck were completely exposed.  In a few seconds, she moved on to the left side of Laurie’s head, continuing to make great upward sweeps with the clippers, causing large sections of hair to gently fall away.  To Laurie’s eyes Miranda looked like an artist the way she was working and using the clippers.  It seemed almost choreographed. 

When Miranda was finished cutting the hair on the left side of Laurie’s head, she stepped back for a second and carefully inspected the process so fair.  She smiled approvingly and switched the clippers off and placed them on the rear counter. Next she unclipped the hair from the top of Laurie’s head and it fell away covering the closely cut sections underneath. 

Once again Miranda reached for the clippers, but before turning them on, she placed a plastic guard on them.  When she had it fastened and in place, Miranda turned the clippers on again and moved them toward the top middle of Laurie’s head.  Right at her “widow’s peak", Miranda took the clippers straight back over the top of Laurie’s head.  As she mowed backward, 12 inches or more of hair began to fall away.  And though not quite as short as the hair on the sides of her head, Laurie could see that the top hair was scarcely more than a half inch long.  It appeared much shorter than any pixie haircut she had seen.

Miranda continued to mow with the clippers over the top of Laurie’s head.  In less than a minute, she had cut all the hair on the top of Laurie’s head, to just over a half inch in length.  Laurie sat looking at herself in the mirror and hardly recognized herself.  Her hair was cut so short, she almost looked like a ten year old boy.  Laurie was also amazed at how large her forehead looked.  She had never noticed before, but her forehead was much larger than she ever thought.  With her hair parted in the middle and her hair swept to each side, it neatly hid it’s size. Weren’t there supposed to be bangs with a pixie?  Laurie was sure she had seen other woman with bangs.  Longer bangs would be hiding the vastness of her forehead. What a mistake.  Going with such a short haircut was probably not a good idea.

When Miranda completed the top of Laurie’s head, she again turned the clippers off and this time returned them to the drawer in the back counter.  Next she took out a second, smaller pair of clippers and turned them on.  A slight buzzing noise penetrated the air and Miranda brought the clippers into Laurie’s hair in front of her right ear.  She was using the clippers to gently shorten the sideburn area and then began trimming around the right ear.  Next Miranda began to gently shave along Laurie’s neck and trimmed a straight line across the back at the neck line. Miranda finished by trimming around Laurie’s left ear, then she quickly moved to the front and began to gently trim the already ultra short bangs.

Laurie turned her head from side-to-side so she could get a better look at how the sides of her head looked.  She was surprised at just how short the sides appeared now.  Then Miranda was standing behind her, holding a mirror up so Laurie could see the back.  Laurie instantly brought her right hand out from under the cape and rubbed the back of her head.

“Is a Pixie haircut really supposed to be this short?"

“Well it’s how my mother used to do it."

“Your mother?  What do you mean your mother?  Isn’t this how you were taught to do it here at the school?"

“A Pixie?  No, they didn’t teach us this at school. Just now they just asked if any of us knew how to do a pixie haircut and I said that I could do it.  This is how my mother used to do when I was a little girl.  Why, don’t you like it?"

“It’s ok -- Just a lot shorter than I expected it to be.  I didn’t realize you would be using clippers to cut it."

“I don’t really know if it’s how you’re supposed to do it, but it’s how my mother did it.  She used clippers on both my brother and me when we were kids.  I just thought it was supposed to be done that way."

“Well no use crying about it now."

Miranda returned the mirror to the hook under the back counter and grabbed for a small hand brush.  She used it to brush away stray hairs from Laurie’s face, across her forehead and along her neck in back.  When she was satisfied with the job, Miranda replaced the hand brush on her back counter.  Then she undid the fastener in back and removed the cape from around Laurie. 

Laurie watched as long strands of her hair fell from the cape to the floor below.  As she stood, Laurie looked down at a carpet of her own hair now covering the floor.  She looked into the mirror one more time at the woman looking back at her.  This woman, with the large forehead, appeared much older than Laurie would have liked.  She took her hand and ran it front to back over the top of her head.  Laurie found she kind of liked the feel of the shorn hair under the hand.  It felt like a carpet made soft felt.

Laurie followed Miranda as they approached the front counter area.

“Thank-you for coming today.  I hope you found my work acceptable."

“Yes – I guess so."

Laurie paid the two dollars for her haircut and walked out of the shop, headed to her car. As she walked, she instinctively brushed her hand along the top of her head.  It was if she were trying to make the hair on the top of her head grow longer with each pass she made with her hand.  She would just have to accept the fact that her hair was far shorter than she intended and she had no one to blame but herself.  You get what you pay for, and she had paid two dollars for a haircut.  What did she expect, the world’s best haircut for two dollars?  Laurie sighed, got in her car and drove away.

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