Janice & The Express Salon (Chapter 2)

“Next!” the female barber called out towards the waiting bench. Janice appeared slightly startled by the prompt, but quickly knocked back to reality from her worry.

She was caught in a spot with Sam still not back from his comics. “Hell damn those comics Sam,” Janice thought exactly at that moment. With the ticket card still in hand, the nervousity made her slightly break out in cold sweat. The female barber looked on mysteriously as Janice continued to sit on the bench with her repeated prompting.

“Alright, I guess I could use a trim. Can’t let the money go to waste after all,” Janice supposed. She finally gathered her bravery to lift her almost jelly legs, and walked reluctantly over to take a seat at the female barber’s station.

Without question, the barber proceeded to pull out a piece of neck strip from a roll attached to a dispenser at the station. She wrapped the neck strip around Janice’s neck by the front, and lifted up Janice’s auburn locks so that it could be fastened in place. A neatly folded haircutting cape was then taken off the shelf, unfolded, and draped over Janice entirely. Similar to the previous lady, the cape was so huge that Janice’s silhouette was no longer obvious. All that could be seen of Janice was her head of long auburn locks, a gift of her mother’s good genes.

“So miss, what will it be for you?” the female barber began to question while tightening the cape around Janice’s neck. Well, that sure caught Janice in the spot, since this haircut wasn’t her original intent at all. With nothing in mind, Janice responded. “Umm, perhaps just a little off the top?” she meekly spoke.

“Alright, hopefully you won’t regret this,” the female barber retorted. Regret? Janice felt confused by her using that term since there was nothing regretful about getting a trim, or is there?

The female barber grabbed a pair of cordless hair clippers off the shelf, and retrieved a straight comb from her hairdressing pouch. Janice was not surprised by the usage of the hair clippers, since some of the stylists at the salon she frequented used them as well for trims, since the cut would be more even. But what was coming, Janice would never have thought of.

“Bend your head down for me please,” the female barber asked as she positioned herself behind Janice, ready to render her services. Janice bent down as instructed, but nonetheless was forcefully pushed down further with the female barber’s hand, so forward that her chin almost touched the cape.

The hair clippers then snapped alive with a thud, albeit much softer than that of the corded bad boys that the traditional barbers used. Janice was pretty calm, expecting nothing more than a few runs of the hair clippers over the split ends of her auburn locks. Instead, the female barbers parted her hair into several sections, with the top and crown area one section, and the sides and back another. This puzzled Janice, since that is the usual parting for short haircuts. What was the female barber up to?

All soon became clear. As soon as the female barber was done with the sectioning, she lifted Janice’s auburn locks by the back to reveal her neck line. The hair clippers were then pushed straight upwards from the neck line, only stopping short of the partition between the top and the back section! Janice was shocked by the unexpected sensation felt from the clippers, and was sure that certainly was not just a trim!

Clearly Janice was not the one surprised by the move, as the customers that arrived after her and still waiting by the bench, all briefly shifted attention to her as they watched the hair clippers sever her beautiful auburn locks from her scalp. What was left from that one push with the hair clippers were light brown stubble, so short that it probably can’t be combed.

Janice had a brief urge to speak up about that not being what she wanted, but she realised that the damage had already been done. She can only let the female barber finish the shearing. But beneath that obvious intent, Janice also enjoyed the touch of the hair clippers, which was a surprise to her as well. The vibration of the hair clippers while running through her locks was such a stimulating experience, Janice almost got wet below. She held it in nonetheless, with fear of being embarrassed in public.

The female barber pushed the hair clippers through Janice’s locks again, widening the path of brown stubble. Janice’s auburn locks coasted briefly in the air after being clipped, before landing lifelessly on the floor. Even with just two pushes, the floor was already littered with Janice’s clipped locks. The same motion was repeated throughout the backs and sides, bringing the hair in the section to shorter than even an inch, probably a quarter inch at most. Janice’s scalp was partially visible through all the brown stubble. So much hair had already been cut, the floor around Janice’s chair was covered in auburn, and the cape was enveloped with her cut hair as well. She almost sighed at the sight of her precious locks, which she grew so dearly, all chopped off in minutes.

With the sides and back all sheared close to the scalp, Janice was already feeling pretty light-headed. It has been quite long since Janice felt the feeling of having nothing to cover up her face, nothing to frame her facial features. But all this was restored momentarily as the top section was unpinned, letting her remaining long hair down, covering over the shaved sides and back. Janice reached out to touch the sheared back, and the stubbly touch was really such an exciting feeling. But Janice realised that this had to stop, or she would probably be heading home with a crew cut. In the current state, at least she could use the remaining locks in the top section to cover the sides and back, giving some time to grow back out some hair before deciding what she wants to do in the end.

As the barber was about to run the hair clippers over the top with a different guard, Janice quickly signaled for her to stop. The female barber stopped short of an irreversible process, as the clippers were just inches away from Janice’s frontal hairline.

“I think we can stop here,” Janice said again. The immersed crowd by the waiting bench looked almost disappointed upon hearing Janice’s decision, but quickly acted nonchalant to conceal their interest in Janice’s shearing. Fortunately for Janice, she had plenty of hair, enough from the top to cover up the shaved sides and back. The female barber, slightly upset by the fact that she couldn’t give Janice a complete buzz cut, unfastened the cape off Janice, and used the neck strip to wipe off any loose hairs on Janice’s face.

At this moment, Sam appeared around the corner of the express salon. His reflection was spotted by Janice through the reflection, prompting her to turn around and stare straight at Sam in the eyes. What will happen to Sam next, especially after his disappearance caused Janice to lose half her head of hair? Find out how the story continues in the available Chapter 3, or go backwards & check out Chapter 1 if you have not!

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