I I was going to take my boys for a haircut and I decided I would get a haircut myself since I am losing so much of it. I have worn my hair long the majority of my life so I had to mentally get ready to chop a lot of it off. So I have some pics of haircuts I like and I ask the stylist if any of them will work on me and she says yes absolutely. So I explain to her that I'm losing hair since I had 'surgery' without mentioning what kind or for what reason. She proceeds to tell me about her friend's Mom who had that 'tummy surgery' and how you look at her and you 'can see right through her hair to her scalp'. So as I'm sitting there horrified that I could end up in that same situation she continues to say how the woman has lost something like 120 pounds so overall 'she traded the weight loss for hair loss' and maybe if she had just really 'tried on her own by eating less and hitting the gym' she wouldn't be dealing with it. Then she switches gears to say my hair is still thicker than her own hair so she can't imagine what it was before it started thinning and therefore she's jealous of me. I was literally SPEECHLESS!!! First of all, I'm far from normal weight range yet even given how much I've lost so why she would openly discriminate against fat/overweight/obese people I don't have the first clue! Secondly, to then not miss a beat and use the expression that she's jealous? Boggles my mind that she would say that to a relative stranger. I haven't had a stylist for a long time because I've kept my hair low maintenance so long. This was a random stylist just on the fly.

It's so disappointing to experience that kind of discrimination and small mindedness. A friend warned me about those kind of experiences since she had RNY but to experience it firsthand is something else

I guess the silver lining is while I'm losing hair, it's not as bad as I perceive it and the cut looks good. I had to focus on that to not get visibly upset and lose my temper by debating the woman about the choice to have WLS.

Frustrating - that is why we don't tell people.

People who have never been obese will never understand that its not just eating less and moving more. They don't understand the complex metabolic problems we go through, the disordered eating patterns and thoughts surrounding food. They don't understand because they've never had to learn about it, and probably never will. Rest assured that if she had been in our position, she would be looking into surgery as well. I don't think people try to be offensive, I just think they truly don't understand.