10-TV FICTION CLASSICS

You'll just be going under the dryer when your mom's hair will be ready to comb out," Ann chuckled.

And so it was. Alan found himself going through the same process that he had just witnessed. There was his mother, sitting while Ann backcombed and teased her hair into its final styling while he was cooking under the hot drier, his head covered in large rollers. They had been here almost two hours! Just to have their hair done! He didn't plan on doing this again. Mark must be crazy! "Maybe having short hair makes sense," he thought to himself.

Finally the hair drier clicked off and Ann checked one of his curlers to see if the hair was dry yet.

"There we are, all done," Ann announced as she motioned to Alan to sit in the styling chair once more. He watched as the hairdresser removed the pins and rollers. Alan was somewhat shocked at the way his previously limp, straight hair snapped back into tight rolls against his scalp. It made his hair look positively short, but he knew that she had only trimmed a fraction of an inch off of the ends.

Next, Ann took a brush and slowly but forcefully ran it through his new curls from his forehead down to the nape of his neck. Even the curls had been blended together and smoothed out, standing out several inches from his scalp.

"Oh, look at that fabulous body!" Ann exclaimed as she fluffed his hair with her hands.

"Why is it that the nicest hair I run into is always on males? It's not fair!" She added.

"Yeah, it sure looks different...almost longer than before," Alan replied, watching the way it fluffed out instead of hanging down. Alan got ready to get up.

"Wait. I'm not done yet," Ann said. "You think that I would let you go out with a partially completed style? My reputation would be ruined!" she teased.

She then took a small, pink, lacy cape, draped it over Alan's shoulders and tied the ribbons behind his neck.

"That's just to keep any falling hairs off of your shirt," Ann explained.

Alan watched in the mirror as this seemingly endless process continued. Now she took a rat-tail comb and standing behind him, sectioned off some hair just above his forehead. Then she proceeded to do the same thing he had seen her do on his mother's hair, that is, backcomb by combing downwards on the hair towards his scalp. It made the section of hair stand up stiffly on its own. Swiftly Ann repeated the same process on section after section of hair until his whole head looked like Alfalfa's from the Little Rascals!

"Uh.. how's this going to become what I saw in Mark's picture?" Alan asked nervously.

HAIR TODAY, GOWN TOMORROW -11

"Keep watching," Ann smiled. With comb brush and hairspray, she smoothed and formed. Karen Taylor smiled as she watched her one and only transform. She couldn't help but giggle as Alan's hairstyle kept evolving, often slipping into very feminine hairdo's in the process.

Finally, Ann sprayed all of Alan's hairstyle with hairspray and stepped back.

"Well, what do you think?" She asked smiling.

Alan was staring in wonder at his reflection in the mirror. It looked like he had put on a wig, so different was his hairstyle from what he had come in with. His hair did look a lot like Mark's! It was softly curled throughout, his bangs tickling the tops of his brows, the hair at the temples, over his ears and along his nape now curling gently under. The backcombing even made him look taller! It was indeed a variation of the hairdo his mother now wore.

"Hey...you know it does look neat, but it's like mom's?" he finally replied in shock.

"Oh, it's marvelous! And it does look like mine," Mrs. Taylor gushed. "I should have brought you here ages ago.'

""

Alan's eyes darted back and forth between his mother's hairstyle and his own. He had his mother's hair!

Mrs. Taylor smiled, saying, "Yes it looks as good as mine...but more manly."

"I guess you win the bet," Alan stated as he stood up from the chair and let Ann remove the lacy little cape.

"I'm glad you like it! I'll pencil you in for a standing appointment with your mom then," Ann said as she folded the cape and put it on a shelf.

"Well, thanks, but I don't think that will be necessary. I can handle it myself. This is too much like torture," Alan joked.

"I'm sure your mother will help you with setting it at home, but it's always good to get it set professionally once a week or so," the hairdresser explained.

"Setting at home? Why would I want to set it at home?" He asked.

"Alan...you've just had a permanent wave," Alan's mother explained as if she were speaking to a child. "If you shampoo your hair and not set it on rollers afterwards, your hair will look like a haystack."

"What? You mean that I have to wear rollers each time I wash my hair?"

"That's right...but don't worry, I'll show you how. You get used to it very quickly. It will be as routine as brushing your teeth,' his mother consoled her annoyed son.

Ann added, "Mark does his own each evening before bedtime. It doesn't bother him."