forced haircuts

chapter 28

My mom loved me and my twin. She named us Emma and Ashley, im Emma and my twin is Ashley, we mostly call her Ash though. My mom normally had us get matching haircuts.

One time, my sister cut off one of her pigtails, and to fix it my mom had to give her a pixiecut. Guess what went for me? Same haircut. We always had to be the same for her.

Me and Ashley loved mostly the same things like our shoes and clothes. But she loved dares and pranks and i hated that. So in someways we're similar, someways we're different. But my mom was obsessed with making us the same all the time.

Around the age of twelve our hair was down to our butts. After the pigtail incident, she hadn't let us get near scissors after that. She only let us get trims.

On that day, my sister dared me to get a haircut, like Justin Bieber. She told me she would do it too and pay me $5. The short pixiecut would be done by a professional hairdresser who can be trusted. I decided to say yes, because she said she would to after me.

I searched up a picture of Justin Bieber, the guy's hair was super short, I didn't know how it would look on me. I picked a picture of him and walked into the salon.

I sat in the chair. This was the first haircut, our mom was letting us pick our own. She gave us $80 each, making us both get at least 12 inches off. Our hair was super long so cutting off 12 inches was only to our elbows.

"Hello, Miss Emma, what can I do for you today?" The barber asked. I showed her the picture on my phone. "This. My sister dared me." I said. "Alright, short hair coming right up." She said.

I fidgeted with my thumbs while I sat in the chair. I was really scared to cut off 25 inches. A pixiecut is way different then long butt length hair. My sister is one big prankster. She loves everything dares, anything to torture me.

The barber came back over to my chair. She the barbershop cape in hand. She put the black cape around me and fastened it. It was like a giant trash bag.

She grabbed one of the brushes and started to brush through my hair. She quickly got the tangles out. She got four hair-ties and sectioned them off of where she was gonna cut.

The four thick long ponytails, she started to braid. One by one, she finished braiding. The braids were long, and super thick. Just waiting to be cut off.

She picked up the scissors to cut the four braids. She started the slow process of cutting one of the braids. She hacked at it for minutes before it finally had been cut off.

She began cutting off the next long braid. All you could hear was clippers, scissors, and my hair being hacked off through out the barbershop.

My sister watched the haircut through the window. She started to laugh. Hopefully it was something mom said or something on her phone.

The second braid was placed down on the table directly towards my left. She tried to cut through the third one fast but it was just as slow as the others. It was a little bit of a struggle to cut the braids off. But she managed it.

"Finally onto the last braid. You're doing amazing for a dare, usually most people are sobbing." She said. She started to cut the last part of my braid. It was a little bit thicker than the rest of the braids. But after awhile the braid was cut out and off my head.

The weight not being on my head was weird. My hair usually weighed me down. It wasn't normally light, it was often very heavy and hard to carry at times.

The barber brought the clippers over to my chair. She put the guard on and plugged it in. "Buzzing the back. We could stop here if you wanted, just say the word." She said, smiling. "Nope!" I said. I wasn't exactly enjoying this but it's a dare and you have to do all dares.

The clippers started to power through the bottom of my hair. "That's so short." I thought. She turned off the clippers. She grabbed the scissors again. She started to feather my hair and trim it. It was already about the length I 'wanted'.

Once she was done cutting she began to style it by moving it around. She created the classic Justin Bieber side bangs on me. The short hair looked horrible on me. I looked like a fucking boy, god Ashley.

I got up out of the chair and walked over to pay. "Excuse me, I'm here to pay." I said. The secretary rolled her office chair over to me. "Your total is $73.87. Cash, Debit, or Credit?" She asked. "Uh, cash." I said, handing her the money in a $50, a $20 and a $10. "Thank you! Have a nice day." She smiled. "You too!" I smiled back.

I walked out of the salon and into the car. "Your turn." I nudged my sister to go get the pixiecut as well. She opened the car door and walked into the salon.

I watched as she showed the barber a picture of what I assumed to be a Justin Bieber picture as well. He nodded. He began to brush out the hair. I looked down back at my phone. I trusted she was getting the short haircut she dated me to get.

I scrolled on TikTok and messaged a couple of friends about my new haircut. I told them it was for $5 and my twin sister was doing it too. They understood.

Once my sister was done she paid and walked out of the salon. She opened the door to our moms car. She sat down in her seat and buckled up.

"Ash and Em, give me the braids and change." Mom said. I grabbed my four long thick braids and change to give to mom. She took them in her hands and looked at them.

"Emma! Why the fuck is your braid, TWENTY FIVE INCHES LONG?!" She shouted. I looked up. "Is Ashley's not?" I asked. "Her braids are 12 inches long like a normal person." She said. I looked to my side to look at Ash. She betrayed me. "You're paying more than five bucks or you're shaving that whole thing." I threatened.

"Oh, like you would." She smiled. I looked down. I felt the short hair upon my head. Tears came out, they flowed down my cheeks.

Ashley scrunched up my short hair, "Em, this is good for you, the short hair suits you." She said. "Ashley?" I asked. "Yeah, Ems?" She looked over at me. "I think you should cut you hair short too. Or else I'll do it myself in your sleep." I said. She nodded. I was mad about the hair but couldn't help but like it.