no boys allowed in the room!!!!

Huh. That's odd because I was always under the impression that body hair (& facial hair) was considered erotic, a sign of sexual prowess in men.

No, it was considered obscene, not erotic.

By whom? By you? By your culture? By this specific time and place?

For gods sake, after 10 years on ILX or whatever, you should have realised that the specific cultural time and place mores under which you live are completely variable and change from place to place and time to time.

Kate, here's a compromise I go with. I haven't been to a hairdresser since 1989 (1987 if you count cutting) so I know your reluctance. i also despise short hair on me so what I do is layers. they're tough to straight cut by yourself but if you pull your hair up in a tight pony at the middle of your hairline at your forehead you can then chop vertically into it at slightly different angles as much as you like. when you undo the pony tail you've lost no length at all but you've gained a whole bunch of volume and a style you can smooth down, shag up or make it straight up punk with enough product A++++++

I wish I had the guts to cut my own hair, but with short fine hair, its a risky thing, I'd mess it up completely.

I cut my own hair for years and I told my self "this looks so no wave" but in reality what it looked like is "I cut my own hair."

When I worked at the donut shop and would have to come to class w/out showering after, with lard and flour & glaze on my hair & person, I also told myself I looked "no wave." Thank god my friend introduced me to the idea of "no wave" in high school or I'd have spent my life thinking I looked like an unsalvagable slob.

Or this one was good too: Maybe people put flour on their hair...at the Batcave.

After the Rephresh party last night, I have pretty much decided to keep my long hair because, like, IDM hair is totally cool, it's long, it's beautiful, you can stick it in a topknot up on the top of your head when dancing or rocking out with your 303 like the dudes onstage last night. After last night, I realised pretty much that all those Rephlex acid dudes are basically just hippies with analogue electronics and super long hair is totally the way forward.

It has to be cut straight, though. Layers are so not IDM.

idm??

Stupid pseudo-genre of electronic music. Basically acid house techno dudes who took too much acid and turned into hippies. They all have incredibly long, gorgeous, flowing hair like out of Breck commercials.

ahh. well long layers can still be a++++. i figure if i can still put them back in a ponytail theyre ok

I've been trying to grow out the layers that I used to have. They're almost gone--they have an inch or so to go. The bangs that I'd had since I was a toddler are almost gone, too, thank goodness. Now I'd like to try growing my hair down to the bottom of my shoulder blades, something I've never been able to do. Got any advice? Regular cutting of split ends are urgent and key, I know, but that doesn't seem to help.

Hey ladies. Birth control question. Is it ok to run two packs of the pill together, for Apri or Reclipsen (both are .15mg desogestrel and .03mg ethinyl estradiol)? I used to do it with Microgynon which I think is very slightly different. Can't imagine there's any problem with it but I thought I'd ask you guys :)

Do you mean skip your placebo week and just start taking the next pack? If so, yeah, go ahead. They're monophasic so it should work well.

I'm a women's health nurse, btw.

Yup, that's what I meant. cheers!

While on the topic, have any of you in the US had any problems doing this or with b.c. pills in general, due to only being able to get one pack at a time (from the pharmacy) and only a certain amount of time after you got the last pack because of the policy of the insurance providers? When I first got here I didn't realise they only let you have one pack at a time so I got stuck HAVING to go and pick up each pack in a two-day window. I tried to get an extra pack so I could have a spare one - AS PER the instructions given with it!! - even talked to the insurance provider but no luck. I mean I did buy one at full price so I had a spare one (and also so I had the option of running them together) but is this typical? What if you're going on holiday and need to take a second pack with you?
In the UK I could get 6 or 12 months' supply at a time (free) and do what I like with them. I may have moaned about this before...

why would you want to take 2 birth controls and skip your placebo week? Is this a common thing, what does it do for you?

so you don't have a period, loads of people do it afaik especially if you've got a vacation or something coming up.

no placebo week = no period

NtRVP, check out your local Planned Parenthood affiliate. They probably won't take your insurance for pharmacy items like pills, but they're usually cheaper than paying full price at the pharmacy.

oh, cool! You don't get weird mood swings or anything? Do you ever miss your period in the emotional sense during those times (this is only 1/4 of a serious question)?

the estrogen is only in the pills to give you a period; it's the progesterone that's doing the actual work of preventing babbies.

as in you regret the bloating, cramps, moodiness, etc?

Oh hey. I should probably know this, but, you know how the leaflet is always v. keen to stress that the withdrawal bleed is not a real period, so don't panic that you're pregnant if you don't get one? Is the reverse true - is it possible (I mean, should be v unlikely if you've not been missing pills, but, possible) to be pregnant even if you've had a withdrawal bleed?

I skip withdrawal bleeds fairly often cz I get stomach pain/nausea/headaches on the week off, but I like the reassuring sense of blood = no babbies even if it isn't true, so I don't like to skip more than one in a row

is it possible...to be pregnant even if you've had a withdrawal bleed
heck yes it is. I've seen women 20 week along (that's halfway!!) with regular periods from their (almost) religious birth control pill use.

Oh great, a new thing to worry about! Well, thanks anyway, I've been wondering that for a while.

sorry to terrify you.

I've never had a pharmacy let me get only one pack at a time...that sounds like a pain in the ass.

Haha no, it's ok. It was not a question of immediate relevance (although, maybe...).

(xpost)

Do yourself a favor and never watch the show on TLC "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant".

sounds like it's more the insurance company's rule re: one pack at a time, right? you'd think it would be in their best interest to have you not pregnant and consuming costly prenatal care.

Do yourself a favor and never watch the show on TLC "I Didn't Know I was Pregnant".
does this show have it's own a thread yet? holy living god, this show.

Hahaha, have I discovered the one benefit of not having health insurance?

Actually, I just discovered I got state health insurance today for $0.00. Oh yeah.

x-post

It should, right?

Btw now that I've reminded myself that it exists I'm totally going to go and see if it's on On Demand.

I've met some women who experienced that and it still blows my mind. Like exactly how do you not know in at least some way that you have a PERSON GROWING INSIDE OF YOU!? I know it happens and there are many reasons but it's so hard to comprehend.

When I was in the midst of gaining puberty one of our close family friends would talk about the menstrual cycle as this beautiful thing that connects you with the universe and other women and that we are moon children and stuff so I don't know. Also this book I read once had a little part dealing with periods that made them sound totally sweet to have. This little boy was actually jealous of his friend for getting to have a period.

I know they have low estrogen cycle ones but can you get a 0 estrogen one? I could google I guess but I'm not actually going to start using bc again anytime soon so it doesn't really matter.

http://www.babycenter.com/0_birth-control-pills-the-minipill-progestin-only-pills_1472113.bc

omg awesome

i've never been on the pill because it just seems scary adding extra weird hormones and things like "withdrawal bleeding"

peacocks, Depo-Provera is also progestrone-only.

i was on and off the pill for a few years but came off it permanently not long after moving here - it really fucked with my head, and i could never remember to take it at the right time, and i was constantly paranoid that it wasn't actually working and that i could be pregnant at any time.

oh and also: as someone who has gone a year without getting a period, i can tell you that it's totally possible to not know you're pregnant.

and also: this happened to my husband's co-worker's gf (she's a pretty big lady, and despite doctor visits for certain 'issues' the dr never once gave her a pregnancy test). one day she started feeling really bad pains, rushed to hospital, an hour or two later there was babby!

I know it does happen it's just sort of mind blowing esp if someone was experiencing weird symptoms that pregnancy wouldn't cross their mind.

sounds like it's more the insurance company's rule re: one pack at a time, right? you'd think it would be in their best interest to have you not pregnant and consuming costly prenatal care.

That totally scares me about being preggers without knowing. Is it harmful to keep taking the pill if you're pregnant? I know they tell you not to in the instructions but if you don't know... :-S
Just had a bit of a weird situation with my brother and his gf. She apparently announced she was 4 months preg but had had a couple of negative preg tests. She went to the GP a couple of times (alone) who apparently told her there was another heartbeat (she had a 'bump' too). But at a later time he did a blood test and it was negative. And hadn't ever written in her notes that she was ever pregnant. They went for a scan and she was definitely not pregnant. She'd previously been in hospital for tons of tests for something unrelated and they'd been giving her all sorts of drugs. I'm completely at a loss as to what actually has happened, sounds like my brother is too (he's young and not exactly in tune with 'women's issues').

yeah the not realizing you're pregnant thing is up there with the waking up in an ice-filled bathtub minus vital organs thing ... it just seems like an urban legend

I mean I have BEEN on the pill and had weird symptoms and freaked out that I might accidentally be pregnant, never mind if I was using any other non-medical method and felt the smallest thing to be different/wrong.

i've never been on the pill because it just seems scary adding extra weird hormones

this is why I quit.

jees! I read an article in a seventeen mag when I was like 11 about a girl not knowing she was pregnant and giving birth in a toilet. I got a little nervous every time I went to the bathroom for a while after that (even though it would be impossible for me to be pregnant).

I find the pill great btw. Periods are lighter and less painful, plus you have control over when they arrive! Before my cycle was all over the place. I never forget to take them either. But I'm in the lucky position of kind of not minding too much if I get preg right now.

i was creeped out by the biblical story of the virgin birth at a relatively young age.

This sounds totally new agey bullshit but the one time I had a pregnancy scare, it was like just the slightest change clued me in. Just the teeny tiniest. It was so almost nothing, nothing but a very subtle change in discharge and a giant feeling of dread. It was just like I "knew." I knew and I thought, "oh fuck." I wasn't even yet to where my period would have been late.

NTRVP: well, they do say that a high number of young/first pregnancies are spontaneously aborted/miscarried before the women are even aware of them. It's possible, I guess, but probably not at 4 months wtf. Maybe drugs caused miscarriage somehow? Seems like someone isn't telling something, in that story, but maybe that's just cos it's third-hand on the internet.