02 October 2013

A little trim and...


As I mentioned last week, I needed to get my hair trimmed before I go to the Lindy Charm School workshop later this month.

Today, like every second Wednesday, was a nail appointment day. As is so often the case, by the time I got to bed on Tuesday night, I was so exhausted that even though I had epilated my face, trimmed my hairline and arm hair, going to my nail appointment in girl mode ceased to be an option because I really needed the extra sleep!

Knowing that the Lindy Charm School workshop isn't until after my next nail appointment, I decided to go with bronze on my nails this time and go red next time. Sadly, this was the end of my favourite bottle of Face of Australia limited edition Molten Metallic Bronze polish.

After getting my nails done, I went to the Building Society then, as I was walking back to my car, decided to stop in at the hair salon that my wife and son go to, to see if I could get an appointment. It turned out that I was able to get an appointment later in the afternoon. In the process of making the appointment, she knew who I was relative to my wife and son, which became quite relevant later on...

The first thing that she did was take my hair out of the plait, brush it out and show me the 75mm (3") or so that she wanted to take off, pointing out that the ends were thin and scraggly. I agreed with her ~ the length that she removed was about the length that I knew needed removing last year!

When she asked if I always wore my hair tied back, I answered "not always". In conversation, I offhandedly mentioned that the length that was coming off had been making it difficult to do things such a 1940s 3-roll. No reaction. I took that to mean that she had realised from the painted nails, pierced ears, long hair and lack of facial hair that I was a crossdresser, but as the conversation continued it became obvious that she had not.

When she went to trim my fringe, I mentioned that the biggest problem that I have with my fringe is that some hair is sometimes in the fringe and sometimes not, and that I often end up with some hair that is too long for the fringe but too short to tie back.

In the ensuing discussion about the fact that the shape of my hairline meant that the sides could not be brought forward into the fringe, I commented that I trim the hairline and when I wear makeup, I shade the hairline to make it more rounded. She asked why I wear makeup!

"Because I'm a crossdresser."

As has been the case so many times before, she had no idea until then. Apparently when I made the remark about the 1940s 3-roll, she just didn't believe that she'd heard straight and ignored it.

Of course, this led to many of the usual questions. How did my wife feel about it, did I dress in front of my son, etc..

As usual, there was no negativity, just genuine interest because she hadn't had the opportunity to ask these questions of someone who is openly a crossdresser.

Coincidentally, the hairdresser is the mother of one of the women at Price Attack in Charlestown, where I bought the hair donuts and green nail polish for my Tinkerbell outfit last year. The daughter has certainly seen me in girl mode before, and I think that she has also seen my Tinkerbell photos from last year.

01 October 2013

Were you at IMATS?

If I go to get Subway for dinner, I often also go to the Woolworths supermarket in the same building while I'm there. The vast majority of the time, I'm in boy mode ~ including tonight.

And so it came about that tonight I grabbed a few things and took them through a self-service checkout. After realising that there was nobody minding the self-service area, I walked around to the service counter and asked if they had the Aussie Animals cards that they are currently giving away with purchases, as my son is collecting them.

As she handed me the cards, the woman behind the counter asked me "Were you at IMATS?"

It's not something that I expected to be asked, and it seemed like it took about a second for my brain to process the question.

After I confirmed that yes, I had indeed been there, we had a brief conversation about it.

She complimented me on my presentation, and seemed quite genuine in her compliment. Considering how unhappy I was with my presentation, I was quite happy with the compliment. :)

It turned out that it had her first time at IMATS. She recognised me from the supermarket, but she was with a friend who didn't even read me. She was surprised that I was there mostly for the presentations, as she had apparently spent up big while she was there and wasn't really aware of the presentations.

It was apparently her first time there, and she seemed surprised (possibly even impressed) that it was my third time there.

I guess I tend to sound like a broken record on this point, but I find it interesting to note that, contrary to the claims of many crossdressers who won't even set foot outside their door in girl mode, there is once again no negativity at all in a relative stranger's response to me.