Hair salon conversations

I got my hair cut yesterday.  I've been growing it out for the better part of a year because hubs begged me to do it (what is it with men and long hair?).  Well on Friday I'd had enough of it and made the executive decision that I was getting it cut off on Saturday.  We've lived in this city for nearly three years and I've yet to find a hairdresser that I like enough to go back to, plus I'm cheap and tend to be impulsive with my hair (translation: I don't usually schedule appointments in advance), so that makes finding a hair dresser hard, so I usually end up in one of the places that takes walk in appointments.  That's where I end up yesterday.

I'm a simple girl and usually keep my hair somewhere between chin length and shoulder length with a few layers and shaped around my face.  It's quick to fix with a brush and blow dryer but still goes into a pony tail for working out.  It's a quick, easy cut and pretty much any hairdresser can do a reasonable job at it.  I got about five inches cut off, to just above the shoulder.

I think that one of the things that they teach in beauty school is to make conversation with your clients.  So she did.  I'll give you one guess what the first question out of her mouth was.  "Do you have kids."  I quickly replied with a polite but short "nope." and hoped that line of questioning wouldn't continue.  Had it ended there I wouldn't have really minded.  I mean, the question was uncomfortable, but she was just trying to make conversation with a person she's never met and I am a woman of child bearing age.  But she followed up with "has your family been pressuring you and your husband to have kids?"  I decided to end the conversation once and for all by saying "our families do not dictate what happens in our bedroom."  And the conversation moved on to a different topic.  I could have told her that we can't have kids.  I could have told her that we tried really hard for a long time to have kids and it didn't work.  I could have given her a short lecture on human reproduction.  I could have said something, anything about infertility.  But I didn't.  Why?  Because I don't want anyone's pity.  Yes, infertility sucks.  No, I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.  But I also shouldn't feel the need to explain my entire reproductive history to a complete stranger in a hair salon.

I don't know why I responded the way I did.  Maybe her follow-up question took me a bit by surprise?  I was expecting "why?" and not something about what our families think.  If I'm completely truthful I wasn't feeling particularly strong yesterday and I just didn't want to think of or  talk about infertility.  I just wanted to be a normal woman enjoying an hour in the salon without being reminded of what I don't have.

I really like what she did with my hair, with the exception of that extremely awkward 60 seconds of conversation.  So maybe I'll go back to her again in a few weeks.  I've been wanting to try out highlights.  We'll see.

*****

I've kicked my workouts up a notch recently.  I decided that having babies was completely out of my control but having flat abs is not.  So I'm working hard and already seeing results.  Is this vain?  Maybe.  Probably.  Will I ever have a six pack?  Unlikely.  Lets be honest, I like to drink wine and eat good food too much for that.  But it's fun to have a goal to work towards.  And it's fun to look in the mirror and like what I see.

*****

Indiana's "Religious Freedom Restoration Act" (that I mentioned in my last post) was signed by the governor.  A very sad day indeed.