It lessens the shock (7)
I believe the answer is:
haircut
'it lessens' is the definition.
The definition suggests a singular noun which matches the answer.
'shock' is the wordplay.
I cannot really see how this works, but
'shock' could be 'hair' (shock can mean a mass of hair) and 'hair' is located in the answer.
The remaining letters 'cut' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'the' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for haircut that I've seen before include "Tonsorial style" , "DA, for example" , "Crop possibly" , "Bob possibly" , "shock treatment" .)