The cold war 07

Stepping through the tastefully decorated entrance of Lotus salon and spa, Ben was feeling extremely anxious, He looked around scanning his surrounding noting that everything was so bright and clean, a world apart from the usual barbershop he frequented, when he needed to get a trim.

It was his third day of the challenge and the toughest yet, having not eaten a proper meal in three days, he felt extremely weak and empty, not helped by the morning exercise routines, that seemed to be focussing on his legs and bum, which now ached all the time from all the focussed stretches and exercises.

At least his outfit for the day was more appropriate for someone his age, even if the silky top with its puffy cape sleeves was a little more feminine than he would have liked. Below the top, he was wearing a pair of cut off denim shorts, and a pair of Ugg boots, which were actually pretty comfortable, but looking in the mirror before leaving the apartment, Ben had again felt ridiculous, seeing his head above an obviously feminine outfit. His body looked like that of a teenage girl, a flat-chested one, but with his shaved legs and thin frame, the girly outfit didn’t look out of place. On the other hand, his head definitely looked out of place, his eyebrows softened his face making him look a little more androgynous but with his shaggy boy cut and wearing no makeup, everyone would know he was a boy. He had hated the clip in ponytail and the makeup, he had been forced to wear the previous day, but without them, he realised, he felt exposed. 

It was a strange thought, but in that moment looking at his freaky reflection in the mirror, he had almost begged Irina to let him wear the fake hair and a little makeup, but with her having already told; he wouldn’t need them for their trip to the salon as they would just be removed as soon as they arrived, he would need to just grin and bear it. 

And bear it he would, as no matter how tired or humiliated he felt, he was determined not to show it, he was going to make it to the end of the month no matter what, he was going to collect his payment, thinking of it as compensation for ruining his eyebrows and all the other humiliating things he'd had endured in the last few days.

Back in Lotus salon and spa, Ben had made it past the reception area, and was now in a small changing booth, wearing a small white robe. It was time for his first appointment of the day, a full-body wax and he was trying to delay leaving the changing room for as long as possible, he had heard stories of waxing being painful and wasn’t looking forward to the experience one bit.

following on from the waxing, he knew things weren't going to get much better, he had a whole list of appointment to attend filling up much of the afternoon. He had tried to listen as the woman in reception had reeled them off, but he not being familiar with beauty treatments he hadn’t understood most of what she had said as she might as well have been speaking in a foreign language, seaweed wrap, facial peel, eyelash something or other, dermal filler, the only one he really understood was hair appointment, which would be the last one of the day.

For a moment, he had second thoughts and thought about redressing and making a run for it but calming his nerves, he focussed once again on the money, also reminded himself that his girly eyebrows were going to take a while to grow back in and any treatment he received today would probably help with his disguise. Not that he wanted to look like a girl, but if he had to live like this for the next few weeks, he reasoned it was better to blend in, and besides Irina had promised nothing they did that day was going to be permanent.

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Four hours later, a thoroughly relaxed Irina sat admiring her reflection in the mirror, she was thinking about how much she loved coming to this place and how they always made her look and feel amazing.

She turned to the left slightly and looked at her glowing complexion, the facial peel and numerous scrubs having left her skin as smooth as porcelain.

Leaning forward slightly, she inspected her lips, which were still a little tender. She pushed them together and wondered if the lip filling injection had made much of a difference, not that she wanted it to, the idea wasn’t to make her lips any bigger but just to maintain her previous pouty look.

Looking up at her eyes, she smiled, seeing her eyelashes. It had been too long since her last appointment, and her eyelash extensions, which had looked a little patchy, and sparse the last few days, now once again looking full and curled.

“Everything ok”? asked Irina’s stylist having watched Irina thoroughly examine all the changes to her appearance.

“Yes, I love it”, Irina replied, “amazing work as always”.

“Aww, you’re too kind”, The stylist replied, “just doing my job and it’s easy to make my clients look beautiful when they already have all the raw materials”.

Irina smiled, “what do you think of the hair”? She asked, “It’s so new, I’m not sure what to make of it”.

“Well, it’s definitely different, but that colour looks great on you”, the stylist replied, “and if you decide it’s not for you, I can always dye it back to your original colour”.

“You’re right”, Irina announced, “I’ve been wanting to try this colour out, like, forever, and you know,  now just seemed a perfect time. Thanks, Liz", she added fluffing up her newly coloured hair,  "Oh, by the way, is my stepbrother done yet”?

Liz the stylist, took a few steps back and turned her head to look across the room, “No, he’s still under the dryer”, she said trying to suppress her laughter, “I can’t believe he agreed to have all the same treatments as you, my brother would have told me where to go, but you know, from over here he actually looks pretty cute”.

“This I’ve got to see”, Irina said getting to her feet.

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With the heat of the dryer baking his head and its incessant hum giving him a headache, Ben was now regretting his discussion not to run earlier than a day. 

He knew when he arrived, the goal was to make him look a little more feminine after all that is what beauty salons did, but what he hadn't been prepared for was the sheer number of treatments and the drastic changes each one of them, would make to his appearance.

He hadn’t yet seen the finished look, receiving glances in the odd mirror after each treatment, but even so, he had a pretty good idea what he looked like, some of the changes hard not to think about. 

His eyelashes were the most obvious as he sat there and also the most irritable, they had been extended and were now incredibly long and curled, feeling incredible odd but surprising light given the volume of them. Every blink was a reminder of his feminine-looking eyes, worse still he knew they weren’t going to be easy to remove.

His skin was now completely hairless and silky smooth to the touch after all the strange lotions and liquids, applied and removed from his skin, but that wasn’t the worst part, that honour definitely went to his lips, his puffy sore lips, which had been assaulted by a very long scary looking needle. 

He still felt panicked thinking about them, as he had previously believed lip injections were permanent, but the woman had said the effect was temporary with the initial swelling making them look bigger than they actually were, Ben sure hoped so as right now they felt enormous.

With the sound of the dryer in his ears, Ben didn’t notice Irina walk up to him from across the room but feeling as though someone was watching him, he tilted his head upwards to see a stunned looking Irina, looking down on him with her mouth wide open, confirming his suspicions, that the changes he had undergone that day had changed the way he looked pretty dramatically.

“Oh, wow, look at you”, Irina announced staring down taking in the sight of her feminised step-brother.

Ben saw her mouth move but didn't hear the words with the loud dryer humming in his ears but that was fine, he wasn't in the mood for conversation. 

Ben took a moment to examine Irina's new look and he had to admit she looked stunning after a full day of pampering. But the sight of his beautified step-sister only compounded Ben's misery, knowing he'd just undergone all the same treatments. He was now desperate to see what they had done to him and if he still looked like a boy, especially after seeing Irina’s hair, now dyed bright platinum blonde.

(See image 4.2)