Prashant Priti

Prashant was noticing Priti spending a lot of time on her hair. It was waist length, thick and black. It had gotten very damaged because she had dyed her hair so much; so, she was constantly applying heat to mask the damage. Priti was preparing for CFA exam along with doing a part time job. Prashant, on the other hand ran a very successful business of his own. He was noticing that for the past few months Priti’s studies was getting effected due to her time spent behind her hair. He had hinted for Priti to cut her hair short so she could concentrate on her studies and let the damaged hair go so new healthy growth could take place. But she had declined because she loved her long hair. Prashant knew she would not agree easily and he would have to take drastic steps. He had a plan in mind. On Sunday after they both had breakfast, he invited Priti out. He said, “Sweetheart, I’m gonna go and run some errands. Would you like to join?” “Yes, I’ll be there in a minute.” Called out his wife. She always enjoyed spending time with him even a bit because they hardly got to see each other due to their hectic schedules. She asked, “Should I dress up?” Prashant knew she’ll take to much time to take ready and style her hair, but he wanted to let her do her hair one last time, because he knew what came next. He said, “Take your time.” After half and hour, Priti came in a cotton white sleeveless knee-length dress with her hair looking let down and blow dried really impeccably with no sign of damage. Now they were ready to go; Prashant complimented Priti, “Honey, your hair looks really nice.” She smiled shyly and they both sat in the car and drove off. They both did grocery shopping and ran few other errands. While returning home, Prashant parked the car in front of the barbershop. He told Priti, “let’s go inside” Priti was not surprised. She had accompanied Prashant to the barbershop various times before, when he went to get his own haircut. As the entered the familiar surroundings, the cool air of the air-conditioner greeted them in the face. It was a traditional men’s barbershop but modernized a bit. There were 3 barber chairs, a waiting area, a small reception and a small shampoo area behind the reception. Yash and Karan were chatting in the waiting area when the couple entered. As it was a Sunday, there were only 2 barbers instead of three. Prashant and the barbers greeted each other while Priti smiled at them. Yash, Prashant’s regular barber said, “Prashant, come, take a seat.” Now was the time. Prashant shook his head and said, “Today, I’m not here for a haircut, but Priti is.” Priti was taken aback and looked surprised, “what?” she asked while looking at her husband, puzzled. “Babe, you spend too much time on your hair instead of studying. Look how long and damaged your hair is. Your hair has gotten really damaged and using heat is not going to repair it. You need to start afresh and let your healthy hair grow back.” Priti was at a loss of words. Prashant was not the type of man who took the decisions on her part. His decision had surprised her because he always let her do her own thing. She was frozen and standing on the same position and her not moved a bit. Prashant understood her shock but he grabbed her elbow, a bit forcefully but gently and made her walk to the chair. The barbers look at the scene unfolding between them. They did not want to meddle in their affair. The walk to the chair was very short. As soon as Priti got over from the initial shock, she stopped in her tracks and groaned,” Prashant what are you doing. This is not a joke.” She tried to get her hand away from her husband’s grip. Without losing the grip on her hand Prashant explained softly, “Sweetie, you need this. You are long due for a haircut. You are not going to walk out of here without one.” “But Prashant,” she whined, “I love my long hair; you do it too. I am not a kid; I know how to take care of my hair and balance work and studies. If you want, I’ll go to a salon today itself and get my hair trimmed if that’s what you want.” Prashant chided her, “Priti, I’m being serious about your hair. No silly trimming, your hair is past that stage. You need a short haircut for now. You have to complete CFA which is going to take you at least two years while simultaneously working. It’s going to be difficult to manage your long hair. You need something manageable. I’m not about to let you waste your time. Your career is more important than your damaged hair.” Priti was about to say something when Prashant said to the barbers, “We should start now. One of you, please start fast.” Yash was Prashant’s regular barber so he stepped forward towards the chair. He instructed Priti, “And you, sit down.” When Priti did not budge from her place he declared, “Priti, don’t make me force you” with a thinly veiled threat. Priti was embarrassed being scolded by her husband in front of 2 strangers. She didn’t want Prashant treating like a child so she sat down on the barber chair. It was big and intimidating so she sat on the edge thinking frantically on how to get Prashant to change his mind. However, Prashant had made the decision; she was going to get her hair cut short whether she liked it or not. Prashant took a seat on the empty barber chair beside Priti’s seat, while the barber, Yash, pulled Priti back so she was sitting straight on the chair. He took a tissue roll, tied it around her neck and then caped her with a pristine white cape. Priti was staring at her reflection in the mirror, her long hair flowing on both the sides like a waterfall, on the cape. Yash took a small hairbrush on the counter and combed all her hair back. He started brushing her hair to remove all the tangles. He was a little rough in brushing her hair because he didn’t have much experience in handling female hair. He took his own sweet time to do the task because of the length and thickness of Priti’s hair. Priti closed her eyes and tried to enjoy the brushing of her precious hair for the last time but she could not because Yash was pulling at her hair too harshly. Inspite of that she did not make a sound because she didn’t want to embarrass herself any further. After Yash brushed her hair to his satisfaction, he kept down the brush and asked Prashant, “how do you want me to cut it?” he knew from the conversation that Prashant was in charge and Priti was not to be confronted. Prashant got down from his seat and stood beside Yash, behind the chair and examined Priti’s hair. Priti looked at Prashant’s reflection in the mirror and waited in anticipation. Prashant pointed at Priti’s nape and then met Priti’s stare in the mirror. She was pleading with her eyes but Prashant ignored her and went back to his seat beside Priti. Priti’s fate was sealed. She will no longer be the long-haired beauty; all her hair was going to be cut off. Yash asked Priti to remove her earrings as it would come in between the haircut. Prashant quickly removed his wife’s earrings and put it in his pocket Yash picked up the comb and clips to make partitions in her hair. He sectioned her hair into right and left temples and clipped it on either side. He let her hair on forehead held loose in front of her head and proceeded to precisely comb out a one-inch section on her nape; then, he clipped the remaining hair on her crown. After he was satisfied, he picked up his trusted scissors from the counter. He pressed the comb at the loose section on Priti’s nape, and pushed Priti’s head down; he lifted a lock of hair and swiftly snipped it. A 16-inch lock of hair fell down on the floor. As soon as the cold steel of the scissors had touched Priti’s nape, a tear slipped out her eyes; the sound of the scissors echoed in the salon as Yash kept on combing out section after section and snipping it at the nape. On noticing the tears, Prashant comforted Priti. He told her calmly, “Priti, I know you love your hair; I do too but I am doing this for your own good. You will thank me later.” He got up and wiped the tears in his wife’s eyes with his fingers. Yash stopped the cutting momentarily. Priti was sad and angry by the way Prashant maneuvered her in the barber chair but she pleaded with him, “Please Prashant, I promise to study hard, but don’t get my hair cut off.” Prashant held her chin and made her look at him. He said, “Priti, I love you with or without your long hair. And I want to see you successful. This is a small price to pay for your success.” Saying this he returned to his seat beside Priti and signaled Yash to continue. Yash pushed down Priti’s head as he resumed cutting the hair at her nape really short. Her hair was only an inch at her nape which gradually got a bit longer as Yash moved upwards. Priti’s tears had also restarted. As Yash moved to the next section of the nape, Priti could feel the change taking place. The weight was lifting and with each precise cut, her head was feeling lighter and lighter. her head was lifted up with the nape completed. Yash went and stood on the right side of Priti and unclipped that section. He gathered the portion of her hair, carefully measured the desired length (which was only 5 inches, too short for Priti’s liking) and cut it off right at her chin. This time the 14 inches of hair directly fell onto the white cape. Priti could only watch sadly as Yash attacked her hair with the shears. The familiar cascade of hair continued as the cape collected the fallen black strands. Moving to the left side, Yash mirrored the process, maintaining a perfect balance in length. Priti kept on staring at her reflection as her hair was butchered too short for her liking. But Prashant was watching in awe as he watched his wife evolve with each snip. Yash then focused on framing Priti’s face snipping over the pieces here and there. As he approached the front, he paused to ask Prashant, “fringe?” Prashant hesitated for a moment before nodding in agreement. Priti didn’t even bother to see what her husband wanted because she was tired of crying and wanted to get this over as fast as possible. Yash sectioned off a portion of hair at the front which was the only long remaining portion. He combed the hair over her eyes and chopped it a little lower than eyebrow length. One and a half feet of hair rained down on the cape. With the last snip, Yash stepped back allowing the couple to take in the new look. Priti looked at the mirror forlornly as her waist-length curtain of black hair was transformed in a short bob that made her look like a school girl. She hated in and started crying again. Yash looked at Prashant and asked for his opinion. Prashant looked at Priti crying and said, “Babe I hate to do this to you but this still needs to be shorter. Look your hair is still damaged.” He fished out the ends of the bob and showed it to her. Priti, still sobbing and whimpering tried to get up but Prashant pushed her back into chair. She looked at him and pleaded with him, “No Prashant, please, this is shortest my hair has ever been since I was a baby. I look silly. How will I explain everyone about this change Prashant. My hair hardly reaches the chin.” Prashant told her this time, a bit impatiently, “Priti your hair is still damaged from all the dyeing you have been doing. And your hair is still long enough because you will still require a lot of heat and time for styling this bob. You need something shorter because I don’t want you to get distracted and waste your time. Let me and Yash figure out what to do with your hair. If you make it harder for me or Yash, I’m gonna tell him to shave your head, get it?” The last threat shut Priti up. She could not believe it Prashant was behaving like this. But she had no option because she knew Prashant would always have his way and he was pretty convincing. Her shoulders slumped in defeat as Prashant and Yash contemplated her next style. Prashant turned to Yash and told him, “Can you cut her hair shorter?” Yash asked him, “how short” “Three inches more.” Came the reply. Priti was even more alarmed as he spells out the cut for her but she kept mum. Yash explained Prashant, “This is the shortest bob, any further it will be quite unconventional and look quite radical. Ill have to take clipper the nape, back and sides and the remaining hair will be shortened above her ears.” To demonstrate Yash used his fingers to resemble a bowl like shape. Priti was frightened and her panicked expression was ignored by the barber and her husband. Prashant had never seen his wife in a drastic cut and he had an undeniable urge for a more radical change, so he gave yash the signal to go ahead, much to the dismay of Priti. He instructed Yash, “turn the chair away from the mirror so Priti gets a huge surprise.” Not having a say in the haircut was one thing and not seeing the haircut taking place was another. She wanted to protest but she knew she wouldn’t be heard so she sat there stoically getting ready to endure what her husband had ordered. Yash then turned the chair away from the mirror in such a way that she was sitting facing Prashant. She looked into his eyes to stop whatever he had in mind but Prashant simply gave her a look. He knew that seeing all her cut hair falling around her would distress her so he thought that it was better for Priti to look at the finished haircut. Meanwhile, Yash prepared for the extreme cut that Prashant wanted his wife to have. It was drastic but Yash had no objections. He always liked giving extreme haircuts to his female clients. He took the spray bottle and drenched Priti’s hair. He sectioned off her hair, leaving only the top part untouched which would undeniably become a bowl. Priti could here Yash fiddling with his equipment and a switch and then, “POP” something buzzed. Yash had plugged in the clippers and had attached number 4 attachment to it. Priti could not believe that for the first time in her life, clippers were being used on her. Yash pushed Priti’s head down and with a deft motion, pushed the clippers into her nape and higher and higher till it reached her crown. Then he flicked his wrist and the clippered hair fell on the cape. Yash kept on shaving the nape, the clippers mercilessly cutting through the long strands. Hardly an inch of hair remained on Priti’s back of the head. Prashant watched intently his wife’s transformation excited him. He watched as Yash lifted Priti’s head, pushed it towards the right and started clipping the remaining hair on her left side. He repeated the same process on his right side. The distinct sounds of the clippers echoed in the barbershop, drowning out Priti’s whimpering. Although she was facing Prashant while the barber was shearing her head, she just looked down on the hair fallen on the cape because she was too embarrassed to look at Prashant. Moving upwards, Yash continued to shave the back and sides, creating a contrast between the closely cropped sections and the untouched top. Once the back and the sides were shorn, Yash shifted to the top. He dampened the hair with water and combed the hair forming a bowl around her face that resembled an undercut bob. He took his scissors and came in front of Priti. Yash combed out a section in front of Priti’s eyes and snipped it. The fringe now lay only half way till her head. Using that lock as a guide, Yash swiftly cut a fringe in a horizontal line. The shock registered on Priti’s face as the shortened strands fell before her eyes. Yash, undeterred by her reaction, continued to craft the short bangs with precision. Once, he was satisfied, he moved to the right side to complete her impending bowl cut. His fingers deftly separated a portion, creating a division between the already cut hair and the untouched hair on the right side. He lifted the first segment and quickly chopped it off. 3 inches of hair fell on the cape. With each subsequent section on the right side, Yash maintained a meticulous approach. He checked and double checked the length, ensure that the right side harmonized with the short bangs in the front. As the cut strands fell onto the already littered cape, Priti’s hair began to reflect a bowl. Yash gave the same treatment to the left side of Priti’s hair. The salon echoed with the sound of merciless snips as Yash continued cutting. Priti was sitting submissively, looking down at the cape as more and more hair clippings laid down. She had no doubt that Prashant was letting Yash turn her into an absolute freak. Prashant, on the other hand was mesmerized by the process. He felt bad that Priti was crying through the whole time but he decided he would make it up to her. Yash stepped back to assess the symmetry and balance of the bowl. Only the hair at the back remained untouched. Yash quickly sculpted the back. Now Priti’s dense expanse of hair was tamed into a short bowl cut that ended an inch above her years. To give the finishing touches, Yash combed her hair properly and started scissors over comb cutting. He pushed her head this way and that while her hair succumbed to Yash’s shears. Finally, Yash concluded the merciless attack on her hair. With the damp hair ready for styling, Yash expertly wielded the blow dryer. Given the length of Sanya’s hair it took him merely 5 minutes. He then took his thinning shears and thinned the hair out as he deemed fit. Prashant was impressed by how the bowl cut looked. Priti looked really cute even though it was very masculine. Without warning Yash turned the chair towards the mirror; as soon as she saw her reflection she burst out into tears. She cried, “Prashant how can you make him cut my hair like this, I look like so ugly.” With trembling hands, she touched the clippered nape and sides. She turned her head side to side and realized how ugly the bowl made her look. Prashant stood up from his seat and consoled her, “Priti it looks very cute. This is a very unique style. I love this look on you.” “I hate you, Prashant. I look like an ugly school going boy with a mushroom cut.” As much as Prashant love the bowl cut, he could not disagree with Priti. It looked like a mushroom cut and would not look professional in her job. He looked at Priti lovingly stroking her shaved nape and told, “We’ll fix this soon.” Prashant asked, “Yash, I appreciate the bowl cut but can you change it to something more manageable and professional?” “I understand Prashant, but the back and the sides are shaved closely. The only option is to taper and fade the back and sides, or shave it completely. We can only take a couple of inches on top, leaving it longer than the back and sides. Prashant knew that this was only one option and it will result in a short masculine look. “It will be too drastic, Prashant,” she cried. “Babe, we don’t have any other option. It’s this bowl cut or a proper professional cut.” “Fine, do as you want,” Priti replied dejectedly. Prashant told Yash, “Alright Yash, lets go ahead with the short professional cut.” Yash retrieved the scissor while Priti took a deep breath to get ready for losing her already shorn hair. She was not ready for a masculine look but then Prashant comforted her and squeezed her shoulders. Yash again turned the chair towards Prashant and started cutting of Priti’s hair. He grabbed a bunch of hair between his fingers, as close to scalp as possible, and snipped off the hair protruding between his fingers. He repeated this process all over Priti’s back and sides. After that he selected a pair of clippers with a short guard, the buzzing sound filling the salon as he began to drastically reduce the length on the back. Prashant or Priti could not see it but Yash was scalping her. Her scalp was visible beneath quarter inch hair. Starting at the nape, Yash moved upwards, skillfully carving a fade, blending the shaved portions seamlessly with the slightly longer lengths on the top. He repeated the same process on the sides as well. Yash shifted to the refinement phase. He traded the clippers for scissors, meticulously working with a comb to achieve the desired length and texture. The scissor-over-comb technique allowed him to create a polished and sophisticated look around the back and sides. Prashant looked at Priti’s ears which were exposed and looked cute. He wondered why she had always kept it hidden. He touched the shaved area above her ears and loved the velvety feeling of the stubble. When he did this, Priti realized how awfully short her hair was; it was shorter than her husband’s. she just sat down without any expression because all her tears had dried up. She just wanted it to get this over as fast as possible. With the back and sides seamlessly transformed into a short boy cut, Yash shifted his attention to the remaining length on the top. with a pair of scissors, he approached Priti’s crown. The initial few snips severed the strands, marking the beginning of the ruthless reduction, and continued to mercilessly chop away at the top, taking off several inches of hair. The longest hair on her head now lay on her crown, hardly one and a half inch in length. He took out his thinning shears and blended the top with sides. For the last step, he took shaving cream and lathered her hairline and side burns and shave them off with a straight razor. “Yash raises the hairline while you are shaving,” insisted Prashant. Yash was more than happy to comply. The straight razor glided along the hairline, creating crisp and well-defined borders. Yash paid meticulous attention to hairline and raised it 2 inches above, as if he would do to a man; ensuring that the outline of the boy cut was sharp and polished. Finally, the haircut was over. Yash switched on the hairdryer and it hardly took 20 seconds to dry her hair as she was practically bald. Prashant got up from his seat as Yash turned Priti towards the mirror. She could not recognize the lady staring back at her. Her eyes were read from crying and her face was full of little hair snippets sticking on her skin. Her hand reached to touch the back and sides but could only feel the stubble. She could barely grab the hair on top. She burst into tears seeing her altered image. “Prashant, why? Why did you have to make me look like a boy? My hair is shorter than yours. Oh my God, my hair……its shaved. Half of my head is shaved, Prashant!!!” Prashant comforted, “Priti this haircut suits you very much. Its nice and short and looks really professional. Think of all the time and money you’ll save. Its just hair and it will grow back.” Yash took a huge brush and brushed out her hair sticking on her face and nape. He then removed the cape while all the hair flourished on the ground where all her dead hair lay. She stood up carefully not wanting to trample the hair which once adorned her hair. Prashant gave her her earrings. She wore them while he paid for her cut. Prashant paid Yash for the haircut accompanied by a huge tip. He again stroked her almost bald head and sat down in the car, ready to go home. Priti did not speak anything and simply ignored him while he tried to soothe her. Prashant knew how to lift her spirits but for that, they had to go home first.