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A little off the sides, please!

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I put my life into the hands of a high school senior last Friday, but Jessica West didn't know what she was getting into, either.

It took half a year for me to build up the courage, but I finally did it. I got my hair cut at the Leander High Cosmetology class.

Jessica directed me toward the chair in this classroom that's been converted into a beauty parlor.

“Are my ears gonna be safe?” I thought as she reached for her clippers.

So I asked her, “What all do you guys do here?”

“We do lots of things,” she said. “We do hair, nails, waxing, perms.”

“Waxing?”

“Yeah, waxing.”

“Do you shave backs, too?”

At first I expected her to giggle and cut a swath across my head, but she answered as if she'd been asked a thousand times.

“No, we don't do backs. Those require tables.”

OK, she's a high school kid. She's got to have a sense of humor, right?

She begins to chat it up like a regular barber, stylist or hair professional usually does.

“How is your day going?” she asked. “What do you do?”

I told her what I did and she said, “Oh, that sounds cool.”

Cool is going down to get a haircut for $6 and writing a column about it?

Like all cosmetology students in the school district - Vista Ridge and Cedar Park cosmetology students attend the class at Leander High - Jessica had to go through 500 hours of training as a junior before she could touch anybody's hair or nails as a senior.

So I asked, “You touch no hair when you're a junior?”

“No, just the mannequins,” she said.

At that point I was her mannequin. But me, I'm a regular guy who doesn't mind if my hair gets butchered because, well, it's just hair. It'll grow back. I shaved my head countless times in the military and the ol' rug always came back. Good genetics, I guess.

I asked her if she always wanted to be in cosmetology. She said she took the class on a whim after hearing about it one day on the morning announcements.

“I know I can make money once I get my license,” Jessica said. She should get her license by the end of the school year. “But what I really want to do is someday be a veterinarian.”

That brought to mind something my dad once told me about his hair. “I've got Audubon hair,” he would say. “It oughtta been on a goat's behind.”

And here I was. The mannequin who was most likely getting an Audubon haircut.

But when it was all over, I finally got to look in the mirror. Nice job. I don't have to shave it, don't need a ball cap and don't need to spend $15 or more elsewhere.

I got a good haircut from one of our students who's learning a skill that goes beyond history, math and government classes.

I'll be back again for another buzz. And kudos to Lauria Mullins' class for a job well done.

E-mail editor@hillcountrynews.com

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