Same! I know there must be some kind of selection bias, but it's encouraging.

Given that I currently look like a recently-shaved walrus in a dress, if I'm not supermodel-grade this time next year, who do I speak to about a refund?

 🥺
👉👈

Aww, that's so sweet! What a kind gesture. The outfits look super natural, and I bet they feel great! Love the hair, too.

Congratulations, and best of luck for the future!

Woah, that's a lot of info! Thank you!

I know! This could be a really good bonding experience.

You just blew my mind. I mean, I realize it must take a lot of knowledge and practice to get a good result, but...

Wow, if I could get whatever design in exactly my size...

No, you're right - a large part of my recent panic has been "what if this destroys my family", and I know that's still on the cards. I thought about how I'd have reacted in the past if she'd come out as a trans man (probably very badly, although I'd be fine with it now), but eh, we've had our crises in the past (more than a few caused by my unhappiness) and pulled through. Que sera sera, and I'm cool with that.

Seconded. I had a great time at university, but geez do I wish I'd come out then rather than waiting till now. That's just present-day me talking of course; please don't take it as pressure to do something you're not ready for.

OP, you have all the time in the world. You're not going to miss out on anything, so stay safe, OK?

🤣 Damn it, I thought I hadn't posted any photos online...

Disaster incoming...

I'm wondering if that's going to change once I get on E. It's possible I just have (literally) thick skin.

You look so good, I'm jealous!

Thank you so much for posting the progress pictures. I'm facing losing a similar amount of weight as part of getting to where I want to be, and you give me hope.

Hooray! Good luck!

Hello! Totally get it about the body hair. Up until recently I was very anti-hair removal (anything cosmetic really), but now I realize that was just jealousy :P In the before times, I'd shave my pits every so often, but I didn't really know why and felt shameful. This week I've been taking long showers with a razor, and it's fabulous!

Since I'm new here perhaps I should share my story (I'll save the "so obvious in hindsight" episodes for another time).

T minus two years: Follow a link to Contrapoints for analysis on the alt-right, end up watching pretty much everything. Huh, gender philosophy is quite interesting.

T minus one year: one of Azul Crescent's comics pops up in the global Mastodon feed. It's cute so I start following. Wait, is this a trans comic? Probably shouldn't be reading this, but ...

T minus two weeks: strangely fascinated with the daily posts. Huh, so this is what trans women are like? Must be nice to grow boobs (SUPPRESS THOUGHT). Still don't really get the comic though, perhaps I'd better read it from the beginning.

T minus one week: aww, that's so sweet, wish I was like Cheryl (SUPPRESS HARDER). Oh, hey, she has a youtube channel talking about trans stuff. What's egg_irl?

Google.

Scroll.

Oh. Oh no. Oh noooooooo.

Today: egg fully cracked.

Looks good to me! I think I'm going to try for the first time this weekend, and if the results are even half as good as yours I'll be sooo happy :3

The label's in Chinese, but the internet tells me it's 60% Rayon. (I got it as part of my shotgun "buy everything cheap and girly on Amazon" experiment)

Now that you mention it, the collar might be why I don't feel too stupid wearing it. I'm used to seeing my face sitting above a collar, but the whole thing is obviously feminine which keeps the dysphoria at bay.

Thank you! I guess I can't avoid the hairdresser for ever - I've been dreading the "yes, I actually do want it to look girly" conversation.

Looks like the CG method and moving off my current "don't care" brand shampoo is a good place to start. Here's to some experimentation :3

Cool, Shea Moisture seems to be available where I am - I'll check it out!

I guess I've been having thoughts of "if I was a girl..." or "if I was trans..." for as long as I can remember. Definitely had a few times of "please let me wake up as a girl tomorrow" when I was 12/13 or so, but I got quite good a suppressing that. The "if..." thoughts were fine, of course, since I clearly wasn't trans or a girl...

Fast forward to about six weeks before my 40th birthday; following quite a few trans women online and starting to question my gender. But since I'm perfectly happy being cis, that's fine, no problem. I'll be an Ally.

Two weeks or so pass, start looking at egg_irl. A day or two later, everything comes crashing down and it's panic time. That lasts a few days and now I know: I'm a trans girl, and I want to transition. Came out to my family, started growing my hair, painting my nails, buying neutral-to-fem clothes etc. Stopped wearing obviously masc-coded stuff pretty much right away (even when going out). Made appointments for laser and HRT consultation.

About six weeks later, research indicates the doctor is probably going to make me wait 6 months to a year for HRT, so I order DIY. That arrives two weeks later (yesterday), and here we are.

Not using new pronouns or name yet, but I feel that might happen fairly soon.

Thanks for the kind words. To be fair I framed it more as "I'm thinking about trying this out" rather than "I'm gonna be a girl now", but here's hoping she comes around.

Fingers crossed! Let's show that beard the door 👉

Sempai, that's awesome!

Thank you (^-^)

There's an important difference between recognizing that things are better / easier now, and ridiculing people who transitioned in a less supportive environment, particularly for their appearance. The latter would seem like a pretty bad attitude to me; perhaps your comments come across with a nuance that you didn't intend?

Hopefully future generations will be more understanding and look at us with sympathy and compassion rather than mockery.

I have already altered the deal gender; pray I do not alter it any further.

Oh! Good idea!

I should get some pretty belts 🤩

Looking at a chart I guess maybe ash blonde? It started almost white when I was very young (and bits of it are heading that way again). Facial hair is a bit more of a dark reddish-brown.

If I end up prepping for SRS, I think that's going to have to be electrolysis (TMI? sorry)

Oh!!! That first page was posted on egg_irl, and really resonated with me too! Thanks, I'll check it out.

The comic I read is I want to be a cute anime girl.

Edit: Oh, and the "silly scribbles" such as this one

Yeah, it lets the cats come in and out of the bedroom at night without having to open the door for them.

🐱 (cat)

"What, these? No, they belonged to the last guy to misgender me."

Woo, that's encouraging :) I really like the photo in the CG doc; hopefully I can get something similar.

The hairdresser tidied it up for me (I think they got the idea that I really do want to grow it all out), but it's looking pretty masculine still. I guess I'll wait a few months and bring a picture next time!

What a wonderful smile! And congratulations on the hormones!

Haha, alright. I'll try to get a shot with Blåhaj :3

Wow, that eye makeup is on point! Can you share what products / techniques you're using? I've found it almost impossible to get anything other than gel eyeliner to stick.