Eau

n. – water

P.S. I went back to the salon and had my color corrected ever so slightly. A friend visiting from New York came along for support and a wash and blow dry. We maneuvered our way around the Parisian grand dames, their small dogs and large Hermes bags. I had to wait at one point for one said bag to be removed from a chair before being seated. I realize now why they have little tables for your handbags in the ultra elite restaurants. If you’ve spent the equivalent of a down payment for a house on your purse, you don’t want to put it on the floor.

My favorite part of getting my hair done is having it washed, which brings me to a topic I’ve become a little obsessed with here. Bathing is something I took for granted in the US as a relatively simple task and one I enjoyed immensely. I like both baths and showers – sometimes one after the other, which I know isn’t very green. Here there is no concern for my over-indulging in this ritual, though since the act of washing myself has become a complicated chore.

Because the small loft we have is located over the kitchen and bathroom, the ceilings in both these rooms are quite low. Even if the shower head were attached to the wall, it would be impossible to stand and get our hands over our heads. The whole concept of showering as we’re used to is practically non-existent here. Out of the two dozen apartments we’ve seen (and no we still haven’t found one) only one or two have the shower attached to the wall. The shower head in cradle concept that forces you to crouch down and use only one hand at a time is baffling to me.

I read somewhere that the French have a complicated relationship with water. This doesn’t surprise me. It dates back to the middle ages when the church actually frowned on bathing since it was considered a form of birth control. Again, it was the middle ages. But while we may now find ourselves in the 21st century, traditions, superstitions and really anything of the past are much harder to let go of in a culture that’s so much older.

If I could afford to go to the salon every time I needed to wash my hair, that would be lovely, but I don’t think they’re set up to wash any other parts of me, regardless of cost.