Up until recently, Luke always
wore a wig. When Luke was a
young teen, hard rock music
was in vogue and he asked his
parents if he could get a
"long haired" wig. They
agreed, so long as his grades
held up in school. They did.
Luke was an "A" student. His
long haired wig made his
condition less detectable
because it looked more
realistic.

I have always known Luke in
long hair, even if it was
"fake." Luke and I met while
we were working together on a
film project. We were both in
our early 20s. We became close
friends. He shared his hair
secret with me. No one knew he
wore a wig and no was to ever
know. Luke was very ashamed of
the fact that under the long,
elbow length hair (wig) he was
completely bald as a cue ball.
Our friendship sustained
through both our career ups
and downs.

Shortly after Luke's 29th
birthday, he told me his hair
had begun to grow back. He and
I lived 3,000 miles apart so I
did not see him while this was
happening but was thrilled for
him. We remained friends all
the while. Luke's hair
continued to grow his doctor
was amazed but happy. Luke and
I kept in touch and his hair
continued to grow back. His
"real" hair was to his
shoulders when I saw him a
couple years later and we
started to fall back in love.
Luke got a job closer to where
I lived and we started to
become an "item" again. His
hair kept growing, although it
was starting to look a bit
ragged since it had not been
cut by a professional in over
3 years. He did not trust
anyone with his hair and had
cut some layers and bangs in
it himself. It looked silly
but I was just happy it was
growing for him. He DID wear
it in a neat ponytail for
work.

Luke's hair continued to grow.
Some of the hair on his body
that he had also lost due to
the condition also had come
back. This was a bit of a
re-birth for him. I was so
happy for him.

When Luke's hair grew to
around elbow length it was
beginning to annoy him. He did
not like the waviness of it
and spent a long time every
morning blow-drying it so that
it was straight. I thought it
also made him look like an old
hippy. Luke had been working
out seriously for the last two
years and had developed a much
more muscular body. I thought
his long hair hid his broad
shoulders and long, lean neck
but, again, I was sheepish to
remark anything as I was happy
that his hair was growing
after years of being dormant.

This past Spring we had a hot
spell and Luke had also just
bought a Mazda Miata
convertible. He went to pick
it up from the dealer's and
drove it to my house that
night. He was complaining that
his hair was in his mouth,
that it was too hot, etc. I
remarked that maybe he should
get it cut? It's been growing
for over 4 years now...

He said he wanted to do it but
was afraid. I asked him why?
He admitted that he had
developed a phobia of barbers
and stylists over the years
because he had never been to
one or remembered what it was
like to have his hair
cut after all, hs last cut
was when he was 5 years old.

Being the very unselfish
girlfriend that I am, I told
him that one of the musicians
I worked with a lot had
bragged about how skilled (and
how attractive and sweet) this
one stylist was and that I
would not mind if he went to
her (even though I knew she
was better looking then me).
This stylist had "done" many
high profile musician and
celebrity types and was a
Christie Brinkley look alike
(gorgeous blonde with a
perfect figure and sexy
voice). Luke seemed
interested. I just wanted him
to get over his phobia and
start looking decent instead
of like some Woodstock
refugee!

I tracked down this woman and
made an appointment for him.
She was booked months in
advance so it would be awhile.
His appointment day arrived
and I expected he wanted to go
alone. But, he insisted I come
along.

On the way to the salon, he
was a nervous wreck. Think
about it---this guy had not
had a haircut since he was 5
years old and even at that he
literally had NO MEMORY of it.
He was like a little kid. He
even asked me if "it hurt." I
could not help but get a bit
choked up because I had known
this guy for years. He had
always worn a wig and now he
was about to have his own long
hair cut off.

The salon was pretty
extravagant but it was neither
like a barbershop or "girlie"
so Luke seemed to feel OK with
that. To keep the stylist
anonymous, I will call her
"Barbie" (because that is what
she looked like---a BARBIE
doll!!). Barbie's
assistant---complete with
pierced eyebrow and belly
button came to "fetch" Luke
for a consultation. No, I was
not jealous. My boyfriend
deserved this after all these
years of suffering.

Barbie spent a great deal of
time feeling Luke's hair,
looking him over and even made
some sketches on paper of how
she wanted to cut his hair. I
am a very straight woman but
Barbie was so sexy and
attractive I felt that if Luke
wanted to have a threesome and
wanted me to choose another
woman to join us that Barbie
would be perfect. She was so
well groomed, so clean, so
pretty and nice.

Barbie decided that Luke
should not have extremely
short hair but that a
collar length style, with
layers and a purposely messy
look would be best for him.
After all, he has had long
hair most of his life. She did
tell him that she would have
to shave his neck, though,
because the hair had grown
much too long there.

Now here is what I was not at
all prepared for. I was not
prepared to get turned on by
watching Luke's haircut. But,
I was! She decided to turn him
away from the mirror. She
said, "Sometimes it is better
not to know how we get from
'before' to 'after'."

Barbie started by shaving
Luke's neck. Then, she took a
comb and pulled a bunch of
hair out from the back of his
head and cut the bulk of it
off over the comb. Then she
began layering it, cutting it
very fast---not really
measuring it but it seemed she
knew what she was doing. The
floor was covered with dark,
wavy hair in no time! Earlier,
during the consultation,
Barbie had mentioned how much
younger Luke would look if his
ears were exposed. She wasted
no time and sliced off most of
Luke's hair above his ears,
layered and tapered the hair
on both sides and I have to
admit, my 30-something
year-old boyfriend was looking
like he was a college guy! I
was impressed!

The weirdest and most surreal
moment came when she went to
cut the top and his bangs.
Luke is a pretty "tough" guy
but he started to tear up and
so did I. We both knew why. It
was because he had not gotten
a chance to feel what this was
like until now. While other
guys he went to school with
bitched and moaned about
getting a haircut (remember!
we grew up in the era when
long hair was popular!) Luke
almost wished he COULD! But he
had no HAIR to have cut! Now,
he was having a beautiful
woman cut his hair and I (his
ok-looking girlfriend) had no
objection to this.

After the appointment, it was
so funny to watch Luke! Even
though his hair was not real
super-short, he kept remarking
about how great it felt to
have the privilege of being
able to grow it long and have
it cut. So many people take it
for granted that they can
change their hair style every
few months because it grows so
fast but they forget about the
fact that some people (like
Luke) go through life without
ever experiencing the pleasure
of a professional cut---be it
by a barber, stylist or
home-barberette.
PS: If you have long hair and
wish to cut it off, please
consider donating part of it
to the organization Locks of
Love. They make wigs for
children with Alopecia (like
Luke had) and  cancer.