HairSnip.com

It's odd how life gets you into ruts or you just start thinking that this is the way it has been for almost ever, so this is how it has to be. In the end it has to do with other people's expectations more then anything. What do people see first when they meet me--I have ALWAYS known that it was my hair. It's great hair honestly. I always knew that and certainly I have been told that forever. At a certain point though it starts being all that big a deal. Honestly I long ago lost any real emotional attachment to. In fact, truth be told, over time, it had become something I have grown (an interesting pun) to detest. It's great hair...I'm glad that all the rest of the world loves it and cherishes it...but I don't. In fact, it has become a chain of sorts that I have tried to get rid of and think about getting rid of every day. I really, have tried to get rid of it too. My regular hairdresser actually refused to cut it all off and then later talked me out of a shorter bob. Worse, when ever the subject came up with every man in my life you would think I had contemplated suicide. You would think that the stuff is actually attached to THEIR head rather then mine. I'm the one that has to brush it, wash it, deal with the weight of it in the summer, pull it back and out of the way (usually unsuccessfully)...I think you get the picture.  

The idea of really just doing away with it all completely has been in my mind for several years. I think some of the first times it was more then just a passing fantasy was years ago when the G.I. Jane movie came out. Up to that point, I was...accepting of my hair, but other then occasional "what if" thoughts, didn't think a major change could ever really happen. The scene when Demi Moore shaved her head gave me goosebumps. Why couldn't I do that...or if not a complete shave...something close. More then that, why fight with a hairdresser over whether or not you cut your hair short. There are other places to get your hair cut and I imagined that most of those places would be more then happy to do whatever I wanted. So...I thought about it a lot! I started over the years to collect pictures of great haircuts and think about I would really like to do. Finally I did work up nerve, made a bold decision and decided for sure that a short crop was exactly what I wanted. I had all the pictures and so into my hairdresser I marched (what was I thinking?) ready and willing, only to have her completely refuse to contemplate a (in her words) "massacre" like that. In the end she layered it a bit, highlighted it and sent me on my way. I was angry...mostly at myself, but more determined. What intervened was a succession of men, each one seemingly more attached to my hair then the next. Logic failed over and over and in at least two instances, the struggles over this were a big part of the breakup. At this point I had just had it. The whole hair thing and everyone's focus on it just made me feel less then human really. So...after a fight and another relationship end (only partly about my hair, but it was a factor), I steeled myself once more and headed to the same hairdresser (I should have known better) with instructions for a "short bob." Again...she refused...or rather this time told me it was really an unsuitable cut for me. Again...I caved. AND again I was mad...at her and myself. I was starting to feel like a prisoner.  

So...here it is about a year after this situation. I have thought about it alot since and now another summer is approaching with all the long hair challenges that heat and humidity bring. I NEED to do something. Needless to say...I am done with the stylist I mentioned. I am a hard learner...but I am really done now. I simply need to do this or I swear I will do a G.I. Jane in my bathroom! I am really that angry and determined! So...I find myself today going back through an old saved pile of pictures--all of them very short cuts and some of them are really short. They range from an almost buzzed back bob to various pixie type styles and one very short crop. I even had two pictures of women with crew cuts. They are striking images to say the least. Definately something I want to try sometime. I shuffle through everything and settle on two that I had always liked more then any of the others--one was a very short above the ears pixie and the other was the short spiky crop. Both would get all this hair off my neck and ears and give me a really nice easy care style that I just knew I could pull off. I long ago had tried out the whole "cyber cut" thing where they take your image and try different styles. Short hair really makes my best features stand out...or at least I think so. I think my old stylist was dead wrong, but on the other hand, I was only speculating. I would never REALLY know until after the cutting was done and I reasoned that if I hated it, I could always grow it back...or at least that were some of the jumbled thoughts going through my end. Basically I was excited and afraid all at the same time, but determined. More determined then I had ever been. What I had decided to do was to take the pictures and just head out on what I had decided to call my "hair adventure." I would drive until I found the most appealing place and would just walk in and go for it. I was tired of waiting and wondering and was at the point where this was all just killing me. I purposefully had no appointment anywhere, largely because I wanted a real feeling of freedom. Why couldn't I do what I wanted with my hair whenever I wanted? Part of getting my hair cut this short was motivated by the ease of finding places to get it trimmed when I felt like getting a haircut. I purposefully didn't want fancy at all and nothing I would have to style or worry about some new stylist screwing up. These were pretty simple styles that even a men's barber could deal with. Honestly...that was the direction I was thinking of anyway. I never had heard of a barbershop that refused to cut off a lot of hair. I just needed to find one that would cut mine. 

So...I grabbed what I needed, and headed downtown. I had a general idea about the location of a couple of simple barber stylist places and a couple of regular old barbershops. I would scope them out one by one and make my decision. I passed the first place--a national chain shop that I knew about--and pulled into the parking lot. As I drove by, I noticed a whole waiting room full and decided to bypass that one. As I turned out of the lot,  out of corner of my eye, I saw a striped barber pole on the corner of another strip mall across the street and quickly changed lanes and took the next turn. I pulled past the shop and noticed a middle aged male barber sitting in the chair reading a newspaper. My heart was doing flip flops and part of me was saying, "what the hell are you doing or thinking girl?" but I pulled into a parking spot around the corner and turned off the car. I sat for a moment just to catch my breath and collect my thoughts. So...is this the place? As if propelled by a power outside of myself, I opened the car door and on shaky legs walked to the shop. The barber looked up as I opened the door. He had a peasant smile and said, "Hi...what can I do for ya?" I took a deep breath and said, "Ah...do you cut women's hair here?" The barber shrugged and stood up from the chair, "Well sure...I have several female customers. Do you want a haircut? A trim? Or something else? I can do pretty much whatever you want within reason. I don't do long or fancy styles ya know." I shook my head, "No...no that's not what I want. I just want a nice simple haircut and I have some pictures." He looked at me, smiled again and said, "Well...lets have a look...why don't you have a seat and we'll see what we can do."

I took off my jacket, hung it up on the hook and sat down in the barber chair. I noticed that my hands were shaking as I pulled out the pictures and handed them to the barber. He looked them over, nodded and then said, "So...pretty short huh? Are  you sure...it's a big change?" I shook my head and said, "Ah...no...this is really something I have thought about for awhile. I really want all of this stuff cut off real short. Can you do it?" He shrugged again and said, "Sure, I can cut it however you want it...not a problem," and then added with a smile, "I just want to make sure I don't have an angry customer on my hands. It can be a big shock." As he said this, he turned the chair to the mirror. "So...which cut are we doin then?" As he said this, he pulled a large piece of tissue from a dispenser, walked behind me and pumped the chair up a couple of times. As he pulled the piece of tissue around my neck, something I have never had done before, I considered the two images on the counter. "Can we do sort of a mix of the two maybe?" I said. "Sure said the barber...so short back and sides, maybe a couple inches on top with bangs? Sort of a boy haircut I guess...what I call a short back and sides cut." For a moment, my voice didn't seem to work. Finally I just nodded my head and squeeked out, "that's what I want." The barber smiled at my reflection, "ya sure then?" I nodded. He nodded, grabbed a large striped cape from behind the chair and tossed it around me. It settled into place and he pulled up tight and fastened it around my neck. He then turned the chair away from the mirror (that never usually happened in a salon either). I took a deep breath. "So ah...do you want me to take your hair down or...." I had piled my hair back on my head just before I left the house, more out of reflex then anything else. I reached out from under the cape and reached back to undo the pins that held it and let if fall. I shook it out and put my hands back under the cape. I could see the barber's reaction, but he just looked me over, never said a further word other then to ask me if I wanted to put the pins on the counter. I shook my head, "no I don't want them. You can throw them away. I won't need 'em." I handed the pins to the barber and he tossed them in a waste basket with a clatter. I put my hands under the cape again and grabbed the arm rests tight. It was happening.  

In the mean time the barber opened a drawer and pulled out a brush. "O.K....," he said. "Let's see what we have here." He rather rapidly brushed everything out as best he could without to much pulling. I didn't figure it would matter any way and in the end he just spread everything out, looking it over as he did so. I looked down at it one last time. It gleamed and rippled...it really did. I had a regret about this for just one second...but it didn't last long. I knew what I wanted and...it was happening. I was so excited I thought I would burst, but their was a strange feeling of unreality. That ended quickly enough as the barber grabbed a comb and a pair of barber shears from the counter. "Want to keep any?" he asked. "Some girls like to save the ponytail as a keepsake. I could maybe find rubber band or something..." I just shook my head. "No...," I just want it cut...I may just take a piece later." He just nodded, "O.K. then," he said as he pumped up the chair a couple of times, moved to my right side, combed as best he could through the mound of hair on that side, pulled a section down tight, and with his fingers tight against my ear, "Shhhhck, Schhhhck" dropped all of it into my lap. I was sure the intake of breath was audible, but if he heard it, he said nothing, he just combed out the next section and another foot and half mound of blond waves rolled over my shoulder and dropped audibly to the floor. He now combed the back section down, gently pushed my head forward, and pulled everything tightly at the nape of my neck. The scissors bit through the hair in three swift cuts and I could hear the soft shushing sound as the hair wafted to the floor. He just kept on to the next section and that decended as well and soon he took that last section over my left ear and all of it softly rolled to join the first chunk in my lap. Just as quickly he gathered what was left in the front that framed my face and snipped through it at eyebrow level. It rolled over my nose and into my lap. As he snipped here and there at a few strands that must have been missed I looked at the pile of hair in my lap. What a lot to make over a lifeless and useless chunk of fur. There it all sat in all it's streaked and shampoo scented glory. I noticed how light my head felt already and I wanted to reach out and touch what was left, and play with the hair in my lap just to feel it, but didn't dare. I just reached down with my hands and lifted some of it to feel it's weight from under the cape and soon ne started to snip around my ears fairly rapidly and shorter but no less impressive masses rolled onto my shoulders and chest, only to be joined by still more as he worked around me removing the bulk. Finally he stopped, grabbed a duster from the counter and brushed off my face and neck. An aweful lot of hair now lay across my chest and lap...but this was only the beginning.  

The next sound made me jump as the barber grabbed a large, red clipper (just like in the G.I. Jane movie, I thought). The high pitched whine was very powerful and, clippers in hand, he moved back to the right side. I grabbed the arm rests again as he began to pull the clippers over the comb. Very rapidly more large chunks of my hair shushed down over my ears and onto my shoulders, some of it rolling across my chest. I breathed hard and watched. Soon I couldn't feel any hair on my right ear and as he worked across the back I felt a cool breeze on my neck as well. I just felt so strange, as if I was bald. I could still feel some weight of hair on my forhead, but aside from that I felt nothing. The soft shushing of the clippers and comb continued and smaller and smaller chunks of hair rolled down my shoulders. The barber pushed my head forward and the clippers ran up along my bare neck and then over the comb again as he worded around the bottom and up along the back of my head. It felt strange and deliceous in a way I couldn't describe--sort of warm, prickly and cool all at once. He pulled my ear down, worked around that side with the clippers, turned the chair and repeated the same thing on the other side and then shut off the clippers and set them on the counter. He combed up the hair on top and "clop, clop, clop clop" pieces started rain down over my face and ears. Soon my bangs were combed up and another rain poured down over my nose. The barber brushed my face off and I looked down at myself. My entire front was now covered with my hair. The barber brushed off my shoulders now too and around my neck. A huge pile now slowley rolled to join the mass now sitting in my lap. The lightness and cool breeze was very evident now. What a change and such an odd, odd sensation.  

He stepped back, brushed though everything, picked up the clippers again and they burst into life again. He pushed my head forward again so that my chin now prickled with the short hairs left there and worked here at there around the bottom in back and then around the sides with the comb and clippers. Small hairs scattered down over my ears and across my shoulders. He wisked here and there, shut them off and looked me over again, brushed a mass of hair off my neck and shoulders and into my lap and...turned the chair to face the mirror.  

I was STUNNED to say the least. The image that greeted me was not what I expected. I looked oddly waif like, but in a really good way, with real ears, cheek bones and my face now fully exposed for the world to see. I looked radiant. The barber grabbed a hand mirror so I could see the back. I could hardly wait to touch it all and run my hands over my head. It was so short in back especially. I just said, "OH WOW!...I can't believe it...I...oh thank you!" The barber smiled, dusted around my neck, pushed all the hair down off my shoulders, undid the cape in back and rolled it forward. As he pulled the pile of hair off my lap I reached up to feel my head for the first time. "OHHHH MY!" was all I could say. The feeling was unbelievable...so short and prickly in back and just barely fluffy on top. I messed with it in the mirror a bit, pushing the two inches or so and the short bangs this way and that. "I'm sure you could use some kind of gel to do some interesting things," the barber said. As I stood up out of the chair still feeling my head, I just felt so light. The cool breeze was...just hard to believe. "I feel like I just lost 10 pounds!" I said and we both laughed. "That's about right," said the barber. "That'll be $8," he added. "You're kidding, right? Just $8?" He shook his head, "Nope...that's all." I handed him a $20 and said, "keep the change, this is the best haircut I ever had...I will definately be back." I grabbed my coat, and as the barber swept up the mass of hair that used to be hanging on my head I walked over, searched through the pile for one of the longest pieces and grabbed it, shook the barbers hand and literally danced out the door. When I got back in the car I found an old ribbon in the glove box, tied it around the chunk of hair and layed it reverently in the passenger's seat. I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do with it...but figured I would think of something. What I did know was that I would never, ever have long hair like that again.

Rate this story now.
5- Excellent 4- Very good 3- Good 2- Needs work 1- Poor  

Enter some comments about this story or see what others have said on the forums.