A thread to share the tricks we learned as we progress through our lives as trans individuals. From people who are cross-dressers, FtMs, MtFs, the gender neutral, the bigender, and anything I've missed that falls under the transgender umbrella. Any tricks at all you've picked up that could help your other trans allies ___ My tip is that if you put some red lipstick on your finger and spread it over the shaved portions of your face (not too much) it makes the dark hairs that are left when you're done shaving almost disappear. Then you can add some foundation if you used too much lipstick to offset the red.
I don't know about anyone else, and in some cases this isn't really possible, but I wear my favorite outfit every week. The one that makes me feel the most at home in myself. The one that represents the inside me the very best. That way, one day every week I feel really really in tune with who I am and I know I look the way I want to look--at least as much as I can. And even just one day a week really helps me.
This may sound REALLY weird, but I buy pads & use those. Why you ask? As crazy as it sounds, it hides the bulge in my crotch in my pants & gives a smooth flat look down there. Since I have no reason other than aesthetics for wearing pads, I just buy cheap ones at the dollar store. They can be a bit uncomfortable at times, but it helps with my outward appearance until I can have GRS. Another thing I have learned is, for me as a MTF transgirl, when it comes to makeup, less is more. If I try to wear as much makeup as I can, then I really stand out. I figured out early on that if I wear nothing more than foundation & a little mascara, I look much better than if I added eye shadow & lipstick or lip gloss as well. Hope this is helpful
I'm a closeted transgender ftm and just got some dark blue-gray cargo pants that seem to be the start of me REALLY coming out one piece at a time and I love 'em! When I put them on I actually got a confidence boost! So yeah I'll be wearing the cargos as often as I can without it looking creepy.
I thought I was the only one that bought pads. One of my most fun and embarrassing memories from when I was a teenager was my mom finding one in my underwear doing the laundry :lol: Oh man it was so so so much easier back then. I got ma'am-ed even when I wasn't dressing up. Why didn't I just come clean back before my male hormones kicked in? For me I've found that shaving in a steamy room, and then using cold water to rinse when I'm done, gets me a way closer shave. I'll use foundation that matches my skin tone, and put a little on my nose and forehead after I've smeared it everywhere else so that the tone matches. I use a lot of tone correcting powder after that and I find I can even things out a little bit with the brush during that step, and get rid of any stray cotton that caught on my face too. I'm a huge fan of flavored lip gloss but that's just for fun. Recently I figured out that carpenter jeans can be worn as guy's jeans when out and about, and then when you want a more feminine appearance and you're already tucked, you can hike them up and they turn magically into mom jeans. Hopefully after I graduate I won't have to keep going back and forth. But in the meantime I've found I can get away with walking around in light make-up in guy mode and then keep everything else under a jacket until I get where I'm going. I really like the way a necklace makes my boobs look. Well okay, my lack of boobs. But it helps give what little natural cleavage I have a little more prominence. Women's shirts are all designed to kinda help with that illusion too so there's that. I really had a much easier time back before I cut my hair and I don't really feel like I can look very feminine right now for that reason. I usually go for androgynous more than anything. But one thing I've found, even though it never stays that way for very long, is if I brush the hair in the back of my head straight up with a wet brush I get a more feminine looking haircut. My hair grows pretty fast and now that some people know I'll be able to grow it out again so hopefully I won't have to keep this trick up. Also doing pretty much anything with your bangs is more effort than most guys put in. Also one thing I've found is, it's kinda counter intuitive, but it's way easier for me to fit in girl clothes and at least look somewhat feminine if I've been working out. Like more muscle kinda shrinks everything down 'cause there's less fat. I'm still kinda chubby and still nowhere near confident enough to expose my tummy yet but fingers crossed I'll get there soon. I really need to figure out some tricks with my voice and timbre 'cause that's still a dead giveaway for me and often I just kinda give up but I'm slowly working through a youtube video series on it. The one I'm watching, the woman has chopsticks in her hair and drops down to her male voice when she's being funny. I dunno I don't feel like I do an awesome job yet but it's a journey right? The day I can get rid of my huge bushy eyebrows and my hair's grown back a little I'll be way happier.
