Carol had always liked working at Under the Dryer, a nice upper-end beauty parlor. She was something of a well known figure among the neighborhood women, always chatting them up as she did their hair. She basically had a mental map of the social lives of fifty different regular customers from their monthly visits. She was making a living doing what she loved, hair styling with a smile, and that was more than many could say!

She also loved her daughter, Harita (or ‘Hari’ as she usually wanted to be called). While they’d never had much in the way of shared interests - Hari had a lot more boyish tastes than Carol had even had in her youth - she still loved and supported her. When, after finally agreeing to visit the salon, Hari had enjoyed herself so much that she’d started to work there, Carol had been overjoyed. Finally, something she and her daughter could do together!

So why was she so worried about it now?

It had been about a month since Hari had joined Under the Dryer, and Carol had started to notice some strange things. One: Hari was… basically taking her position. At first, it had just been the two ladies she’d spoken with, Wendy and Veronica. Then she took a couple of Carol’s regulars when there was an accidental schedule conflict. And then, a bit back, Carol had gotten sick, and Hari had taken her appointments for the time she was recovering. By the time Carol had come back, those customers had decided to keep the appointments with Hari.

On its own, that would have been... fine. Carol loved her clients, but if they turned out to want to spend time with Hari, then that was just great, even if Hari was just basically having her own personality. The real worry was the changes in Hari. Or Harita, as she went by these days. Hari was a teenager, but since she’d gotten all glammed up a month back, she’d been both looking and acting much more mature. Carol had at first chalked it up to her fashion choices and hair style being a bit more old school - she had mentioned going out shopping with Wendy, and the right style can do a lot for someone’s appearance. But that didn’t explain the sudden change in her height, the way she carried herself or how she just talked about old events like she’d been there for them.

It had taken some discrete observation, but eventually, Carol discovered the cause. She watched Harita do her work, and after the application of the special shampoo and conditioner they’d received the previous month, her client came out not only with a fabulous new do, but clearly taller and with clearer skin - the sorts of things normal shampoo wouldn’t have any effect on! Somehow, these haircare products were making people older.

Carol had then contacted the company, and found something that might help, to her immense relief. After the success of their “Mature Glamour” line of products, the company was sending out samples of a new product type they called “Youthful Beauty”. If it worked anything like what Harita had been using, then maybe it’d turn her back to her old self.

That was the plan, at least, as she walked in for work on the day they were supposed to arrive. Harita was waiting for her, there well ahead of her as she always had been - one of the parts that hadn’t changed about her personality was being a bit of an early bird. “Carol, good to see ya!” Harita said cheerfully, taking a moment to wave before going back to her client. “It’s about that time of the month, huh? Gonna get your hair done up right?”

Carol was shocked it had taken her so long to notice Hari’s change - the girl pretty much talked like she did. “Wasn’t the plan, but sure, could do. I was actually thinking I’d help you with the same, like I did last month!”

“Oh, ain’t that sweet?” Harita finished up with the client and sent her on her way to dry off. She took a moment to wash her hands and dry them, as she continued. “How about I do you first, hm?”

“I mean, I don’t mind going second,” Carol said.

“No, really, I insist!” Harita said cheerfully. “You’ve been looking real stressed lately, and I bet that a makeover is just the thing to set you right.”

“Well…” Carol started. It’d probably be easier to just let her do it, and then use the shampoo after that. “If you insist, then sure.” No point risking the chance of putting her in a bad mood, where she might refuse the treatment, Carol thought.

The familiar process of getting her hair done was actually pretty relaxing, Carol found. Lying back in the reclining chair, she let Harita start the water and begin to wash her hair. “How’re you feeling, Carol? It’s always nice to get it done, hm?” Hari asked.

“Honestly, yes,” Carol agreed. “Sorry if I’ve seemed off lately. Things have been a bit stressful, and I’ve been worried about you starting the job…”

“Oh, ain’t that nice!” Harita said, “You don’t have to worry about me, it’s already feeling like I’ve worked here for years! I do appreciate it though.”

“Yeah, I suppose. It’s nice to see you getting along with everyone so well…”

“You don’t have to worry your pretty little head, I’m fine!” Harita said, “One sec! I wanna treat you to the good stuff.”

With that, Harita strode off to the back room and quickly grabbed the newest stock that had just come in that day. It was from her favorite brand, a new product line called ‘Youthful Beauty’, so she wanted to use it for her special customer! She returned to Carol’s seat and put some of the shampoo into her hands, rubbing them together. “Time to get started~”

As she started rubbing the shampoo into Carol’s hair, she was surprised by how high quality it felt - but not that surprised, given that she knew the brand. Still, it was nice to work with, going in nice and smoothly and spreading evenly. Already, Carol’s hair was looking healthier and more vibrant!

Carol was surprised how nice it felt to receive, as well. She’d had more than her fair share of makeovers and salon visits, but something about this just felt even nicer than usual. Maybe it was something to do with how good at it Harita was already proving herself to be - her fingers worked the shampoo into her hair like an expert! Or maybe it was just that the one taking care of her was her daughter (albeit in a different form than she usually was), and she liked to have that feeling of closeness. She had a suspicion that once Hari was back to normal she’d not want to do much of the beauty stuff, so she decided to just relax and enjoy it while she could.

It was honestly so relaxing that she felt a bit younger! She was, of course, unaware of how the lines of age were beginning to fade, how she lost a couple inches of height. Harita made sure to shampoo, and then condition, quite thoroughly, rubbing the soothing substance into Carol’s scalp. Eventually, though, she rinsed the hair and let Carol sit up again. “There we go, nice and wet! You’re looking good and glamorous already, hun!”

“Oh, you don’t have to be so complimentary to me, I know it’s your job,” Carol said with a smile.

“I don’t know about you, but I only say it if I believe it! I could swear that it’s practically rinsing the years away.”

“Sure, sure,” Carol said, waving away the compliment.

Harita started to put curlers into Carol’s wet hair, and unbeknownst to the mother her transformation continued. Her bust, covered by a towel to avoid getting her clothes wet and thus hidden, started to shrink a bit, while her mature curves slimmed. She didn’t notice much, besides the surprising lack of stiffness in some joints. Meanwhile, Harita continued to chatter away, in a genial tone that Carol couldn’t help but compare to her usual manner when dealing with customers. “So did you hear about what happened with Wendy last week?” Harita asked cheerfully.

Carol raised an eyebrow, thumbing through her mental contact list - had Wendy had anything happen last week? “No, I didn’t hear anything, why?”

“You didn’t hear? Her boyfriend broke up with her! She said it was on good terms, but the girls say-” Harita continued, while Carol tuned her out for a bit. She hadn’t heard about that? She’d known Wendy for longer than Harita had been alive! She’d been one of Carol’s first clients, and pretty much since then she’d always been part of her social life. But somehow, she had had a major life event happen last week, and Hari knew about it and not her! “Hey, Carol, are you alright…?”

“No, I’m not alright.” Carol said, trying her best not to let the repressed anger boil over. She loved her daughter, she really did - but there was a difference between that and being ok with the lady basically replacing her!

“Oh, hun, what’s the matter? You can tell me.” Harita said, in that infuriatingly soothing tone that Carol always used when a customer was upset. She knew she should calm down, but something was making a background simmer turn into a boil. The youthful hormones were starting to get to her…

“What’s the matter is that you’re taking over my life, ‘hun’!” Carol snapped. “I brought you here because I wanted to share interests, and you go and basically start becoming me,” Carol was going off on her, and she knew she shouldn’t but it was too late for that-

“What are you talking about? I’m just doing my job!” Harita said, frowning.

“You’ve taken mine! You’re the stylist everyone comes to now, even my oldest friends! You talk like me, act like me, so far as I can tell you think like me… it’s like you’re a completely different person.”

“What on earth are you on about? It’s not like I’m acting any different than I usually am.”

Some people were looking over, and Carol felt bad for a second, but she couldn’t stop now. “You are though. It’s not that I don’t think you should do the job, it’s just I want my Hari back…”

“Hey now, I think you should calm down-”  Harita had her hands out in a placating gesture, but Carol slapped her hand away - right into the cabinet full of shampoos and conditioners.

“Oh no-” Carol had time to say, before they spilled out onto the ground, “Sorry, sorry-” she said, calming down a bit at her own mistake. The shampoos - the high class ones that they’d got recently - seemed to almost fume, a small puff of color into the air… the bottles had said it was non-toxic so probably safe to breath, right?

Carol cursed herself out internally - why had she been so mad? She could hardly even remember, now. She’d agreed to come there, after all, and then Mom had just been talking to her… something about that didn’t feel right. Harita was having similar thoughts, a bit of irritation at her daughter’s outburst - wait, did she have a daughter…?

Both stood up, shaking their heads to clear them as they finished cleaning the spill. They looked at each other, Carol significantly shorter than Harita, and Harita frowning a bit in a way that emphasized the beginnings of age lines on her face. Carol broke the silence first. “Sorry, Mom…”

“We’ll talk about this at home,” Harita said sternly. “I know you didn’t want to come here, but we had a deal, and we’re keeping to it.”

“I just… don’t get the beauty stuff…” Carol grumbled, looking down. Was this even worth the skates she’d been asking for?

“And that’s fine, but just let Mom have her fun, alright? If you want, sometime next week we can go do something I don’t like that you do. Maybe I’ll come with you to the skate park?”

Carol winced at that. “You’d be so embarrassing though…” she muttered. But, well, she’d made a mess. She didn’t need to antagonize Harita any further. “But alright, I appreciate it…”

Harita’s stern frown melted into a big smile. “Agreed then! Let’s get you under the dryer, now, before it all dries wrong and I have to rewash and curl your hair again.”

The pair, a fashion conscious mother and a tomboyish daughter, proceeded to the helmet-dryers, the mysterious fumes making sure that they were completely unaware of their previous roles...