Chapter 2 - Snip, snip, snip
"I've arranged with Mr Canning for you to go around to his, this afternoon after school. He's retired so he will be in."
"Yes, Mum. Will you come with me?"
"Don't be silly. You're a big girl now. You're eighteen, and I hardly think you need me to come with you to have your hair done or be worried about our neighbour, Mr Canning. What are you thinking? He's not going to do anything. He's not interested in women; it'll just be like having a woman shave you, only he's expert."
Weren't there women who were expert too? But her mother's mind was made up.
It was with some nerves that Susan rang the doorbell of the house next to her own. It was not Mr Canning who answered but Mr Lovell.
"Ah, Susan, we were expecting you. Mr Canning has been getting ready."
Mr Canning was dressed in a white coat, the sort barbers used to wear, she thought. Her eyes darted around the room not missing the white towel draped over a chair, a swivel chair.
"I haven't a barber's chair anymore, Susan, but that would not have been quite right anyway. No need to shave your face - hardly or cut your hair unless you think you need it. This chair though reclines and can be raised quite high. Just right, really, to shave your pubic area. But before that would you like a cup of tea?"
A nice cup of tea steadied Susan's nerves.
"Now, Susan, how much do you want trimmed?"
"I, I don't know. Mum said I should... and, and... did she say?" Susan asked hopefully.
Mr Canning shook his head, "No, but I have some photographs here to help you choose."
It was a sheath of naked women photographs particularly emphasising their pubic hair, some quite closeup.
"That's bikini line, trimmed back so it doesn't show around your bikini." Another photo and a chuckle, "that's a bit of a postage stamp eh?"
It certainly was! Susan smiled back. Mr Canning was clearly trying to be kind; trying to be light and reassuring.
"Or a landing strip, a humorous name eh? That's sweet, a heart shape. A couple of nice triangles, quite a bit of maintenance need." He spoke as she turned the photographs over. "A rather odd round shape; oh, yes an oval, and then there nothing at all."
Susan's jaw dropped. The photograph showed in close up the woman's completely smooth mound with not a hair to be seen, just her divide. Her legs were rather open and rather more could be seen between them. Certainly, no hair at all, but a woman's 'bits' very much there, the contrast between her tanned skin and where her bikini had been, just emphasised her exposure. But what had startled Susan was the woman's vagina contained a pretty substantial male organ. A penis, an erect penis, was there in the photograph. Penis and balls indeed. The man too was shaved, no hair around the penis at all. His balls denuded as well.
"I put that in to show both the complete shave and to illustrate it is not just young women like yourself who shave. Women too, and men. Shave completely. It is quite normal, Susan, you don't need to think you'll stand out in a crowd if perhaps you go to a naturist beach."
The thought rather appalled Susan.
"What would you like, Susan?"
"I don't know. I think just the bikini line. I don't know."
"What do you think, Mr Lovell?"
"I think we need to see before deciding."
"Too true. Susan, take off your skirt and knickers."
It was happening. What she had been dreading. The two men watching as she stood and undid the clasp of her school skirt. There was nothing for it. She let it fall. Around her hips her brand new white knickers; and pushing at the front, her curls making a very soft and springy mound; like a pin cushion, perhaps. "Err, these as well?"
"Of course." They were not looking away. Why should they? They were interested in examining her pubic hair to make decisions. They watched her pull the knickers down. She knew there was no point leaving them around her knees. She took them off and hesitated, before putting them aside. There was something particularly final in that. She sort of felt more secure with them still in her hand. Susan closed her eyes so conscious she was standing there half naked. School blouse, school tie, even school blazer but nothing below except her long white socks.
Mr Lovell got up and took her blazer from her and picked up skirt and knickers. She knew he was just being tidy but taking them further away from her left her feeling vulnerable and even more naked.
Mr Canning picked up a pair of scissors and, perhaps absentmindedly, moved the blades open and then closed as if thinking of trimming curls. "I think, maybe, a heart - or is that too soppy or overly romantic for you, Susan? Such thick curls to work with, perfect for sculpting. With care I could do things in 3D with you. Would you like that?"
Susan was not sure. "A heart? I don't know. Perhaps just a little tidying."
"Or all snipped away, Susan. All gone. All smooth as a baby's bottom! A lot of ladies like that."
Susan shook her head, "I don't think so." But it would grow back if she did not like the look.
"Come, let us do a little snipping, a little shortening, a little trimming first." He held out his hand and drew her towards the towel covered chair. It was not like sitting on a normal chair; the back was down, and she had to recline. She lay there almost shivering, her legs clamped tightly together.