A piece I wrote a few years ago.
*****
Joshua slipped a shirt into his bag as his roommate came into the room.
"You going home for the holidays?" His roommate asked as he sat on his bed.
"Yeah. Gotta go see my mom and dad." Joshua said. His roommate nodded and then Joshua ran his fingers through his hair, getting them tangled in the long brown strands, "I gotta get a haircut though."
His sophomore year was rough and he'd let his hair grow to ten inches for various reasons. He had been the kid who had always had short hair growing up, buzzcuts had been his go to summer hairstyle and in the winter he sported a high and tight- his dad had said that it was one of the few decent haircuts a man could get and that if it had been good enough for when he had toured in the army, it was good enough for his son. Joshua knew that the moment that he arrived home, his parents would give him a firm talking to and then make him get it done anyways, so he decided to take matters into his own hands before he left for winter vacation.
Joshua's roommate chuckled, "No where's going to be open, dude."
"I already made an appointment." Joshua pointed out as he put his running shoes into his duffel bag.
"Smart one. Okay, well, I'm heading out, have a good break."
"Thanks. You too." Joshua zipped his bag shut and pulled on his shoes.
He opened the door, headed downstairs, then exited the dorm, and walked down the street to the barber shop.
He had never been to this particular one. It was a strange barber shop: for one, it was incredibly retro; and for two, it was also known to be run by a really attractive man named Steven. So Joshua decided to make an appointment with the ever famous Steven.
Joshua opened the the door, there was only one person in the entire barber shop, currently sitting in the waiting area, who he assumed was Steven
"Hi, you must be Joshua." The man with said. He was extremely attractive: young, strong, sporting a black pompadour, dressed in a button down and black jeans that ever so slightly showed off his bulge.
Joshua smiled, "Yeah, I'm Joshua." He outstretched his hand and the man shook it.
"I'm Steven." The barber said, "Well I guess we should get started, so take a seat." He gestured to a red faux leather barber chair that looked like something out of an old movie and all Joshua wanted to do was to sit in it, because it looked extremely comfortable.
Joshua was led over to the chair, he took a seat, and Steven stood behind him.
Steven began to play around with Joshua's hair, combing it this way and that with his fingers so that he could get a sense of how it moved and what type of texture was present, "So. What do you want to do with your hair today?"
Joshua didn't ponder the question, he knew he wanted it short, "Well, I let it grow out for too long. I need a change..." he then shrugged, "Shave it all off." He looked at himself in the mirror and couldn't believe that those words had come out of his mouth. He knew that a shave was not a buzzcut, and a buzzcut had been the shortest hairstyle that he had ever had. He still wanted a change, a big change, so he stuck to what he said.
Steven looked at him through the mirror, his fingers had started to slow down the playing, "Why do you need a change? Sometimes it's better to talk it out then to shave it all off. Sometimes it takes time to think about it."
"I recently broke up with... my boyfriend. He loved my hair." Joshua confessed, sure his parents had been a driving factor, but the reason his hair was long was not only because he had been lazy but also because of his ex-boyfriend's love of long hair on men, "I just want it all gone. It'll grow back. It's just hair."
Steven nodded, "Are you sure that you would like to go ahead?"
"Yeah. I'm sure. Just shave it all off." Joshua said as he folded his hands in his lap, he wasn't going to back down now.
Steven ran his fingers through Joshua's hair again, pulling it out a little so he could get a rough estimate of the length, "You've got good length. Unfortunately you only have about 8 and a half inches, so-" Steven was cut off by Joshua.
"I don't want to donate it anyways."
Steven nodded and rested his hands on Joshua's shoulder and looked at him through the mirror, "Alright. I'm going to tie it off and cut that off before I buzz it down, since if it's that long it might jam the clippers, and then after the buzz, I'll shave down the stubble. That sound good?"
Joshua nodded in agreement, "Yeah."