As I was conditioning my hair in the shower today I was suddenly reminded of the way HRT (in my case Spiro plus Estradiol) has affected my sex drive. At the risk of getting to the point of "over sharing" I'll explain.
I have used a particular hair conditioner for some time, going well back into pre-HRT days. It's a kind you work into your hair and let sit for three minutes before you rinse it out. Three minutes... that's important.
Because prior to HRT I would quite often fill that three minute period with a little act of ... ahem... self love. Hey, in a small house with three kids and a chilly marriage, you don't get a lot of alone time for that kind of thing. And... at least in my experience... living on male hormones you feel a pretty constant desire for some physical sexual release. Anyway, that's how it used to be.
Today as I finished working the conditioner into my hair and I was waiting the three minutes, I suddenly remembered those days (they weren't all that long ago). And it was all I could do to stop myself from laughing out loud. I'm not a prude. A little act of self-love doesn't seem wrong or disgusting to me but.... in THREE MINUTES?! I can't even get warmed up in three minutes these days. And it certainly doesn't occur to me to try to squeeze it in while I'm conditioning my hair! When I'm doing that these days I'm thinking about... well my hair.
This little experience made me reflect on the main differences in sex drive I've discovered through HRT. I still have a sex drive, but it's not constantly in "ON" mode. I can go for days in a row without thinking about such a thing these days. I couldn't finish a shower without thinking of it back then.
But the other big difference is in a definite preference for quality over immediacy. The idea of a "quickie" leaves me feeling kind of turned off. I'd prefer to wait and do something sensual and memorable, even if it means it takes a while to find the opportunity.
That's my observation anyway. Too much information?