About going full time

[Bird]

I read a few posts about girls who have went full time before going into HRT or within just a few months after it.

I'm unsure if I should feel I'm doing something wrong by not going full time at the 4th month of HRT. I mean, I could pull it off but I believe I'd be ready fairly frequently and, to add, I have a few male features on my face that can only be corrected through FFS. So like, as all of us, I want to be seen as the correct gender I belong to, but I believe going full time at the moment would not allow me to. I would be seen as a crossdresser I think and that is not me.

When I first started this I had figured I would go full time by the time I was passing even in male clothes. I have much more realistic expectations now, but at the same time I feel a bit stumped that by the time I do go full time, I will still be read frequently and my class mates at university would merely see me as a crossdresser who went to extremes.

[AmySmiles]

Don't feel pressured - go full-time when you're ready, not when you think you're "supposed to."  Only you can know when that time has arrived, but don't rush it or you might regret it later.  I figure I'm an odd case, but I didn't make the switch until I was more than 15 months on HRT.  Nobody has disparaged me for it.

[Sunnynight]

There's nothing wrong with waiting if that's what you feel like doing. I went part-time (everywhere but school) when I did not pass well (I have the photos to prove it, lol). It helped me build courage and not care about passing, which in turn helped me pass better when I started to look more female. Have you been out as female at all yet? You can always test the waters with some supportive friends and a safe location where you wouldn't be recognized.

[mechakitty]

I have been on HRT for 2 months, and I am not pressuring myself to go full-time any sooner than the end of the year. I have seen some prominent trans-girls wait until almost a year on HRT before they go full-time, and some wait until even after FFS.

There's not like some Ultimate Biblical Law of Transgender Commandments that says you have to go full-time before you're ready (or else, you know, you aren't trans and just faking it). This is your transition. You do what you want to do when you want to do it. If you want to wait for a year on HRT so your more feminine features will fill out more before going full-time, go for it!

Do whatever makes you happy! 

[Diane Elizabeth]

I've been on HRT 11 months.  I have not gone full time yet, but very much wold like to be.  It is frustrating that I have not done it yet.  I was planning to this fall but I had a setback with work.  So back to my therapist to get my head back on straight.  Maybe next year.

[Melody Maia]

Yes, as the others said, you set the pace here. You aren't racing anybody. I think you might find also that being read isn't the worst thing in the world. You need to be mindful of where you are of course, but the one thing I learned was that even if I was read, the world didn't end. I held my head high and went about my business. Here is where attitude is important. Look happy and proud. Not embarrassed and ashamed. People respond better to someone who smiles and says hello rather than someone looking at the floor and trying to hide themselves.

[Graverobber9]

People wait till AFTER they start HRT to start living full time? I haven't taken hormones yet, and I already do! Granted, I'm a 19 year old college student.

[Dinky_Di]

Don't worry what others do.  You do what is right for you and when you are ready.  I went nearly two years on HRT before going full time as I wasn't prepared to risk not passing well.  Call it unusual however it was when I was ready.  As is always said, we are all very different.

[JungianZoe]

What everyone else said... there's no timetable, no rush that doesn't come from within, and we're all going to be different.   Do it when/if/where/how you feel appropriate.

I thought I'd wait, but after two months on HRT, I couldn't wait any longer.  I came out at work and to everyone in my private life, then was full time four days after making the decision.  It literally hit me overnight: if I didn't start, I may never get the courage to start.  The first few days were unbearable, and my first two days thrust me into uncomfortable situations when a friend dragged me out to clubs because it was her last few nights in town (it my first time clubbing in over 10 years).  But within a month, everything felt so natural.

That was five months ago and every single day is still a learning experience and a chance for further growth.

[AbraCadabra]

* I read a few posts about girls who have went full time before going into HRT or within just a few months after it. *

One of them must have been me. I was just 'gatvol' (fed up) to wait any longer and took the bull by the horns.
It is entirely up to your self. I had enough of even further thinking... boy guise or girl?
Screw it all I thought, know where I'm going and so I went.
HRT came MONTHS later and I'm a kinda old auntie! (hate that, but what can one do).

Actually a granny, no less --- eish, eish.

Axelle

[jillian]

My qualm is only that of passing.

Lately Ive been totally insecure.

If I go out, I am insecure in boy clothes as well as femme.

Ive pretty much just been working on getting my confidence up, which I think will make it easier for me to pass.
My biggest hang up is my 5 oclock shadow, but I am getting laser, so I figure all in due time, why rush, might as well make it as comfortable as possible....right?

[LilKittyCatZoey]

Dont scare yourself sweetie i mean just build up the strength you will need first some times the sooner the worst because you need to be comfortable first or whats the point  just wait till your comfortable.

[justmeinoz]

Like the Fijians say, "when the coconut is ripe it will fall out of the tree." 
Take your time, and do it at your own pace, and when you feel comfortable  you will make the change a lot more easily than you would have thought possible.
Karen.   

[Janet_Girl]

More than 20 years ago I was in transition.  But the therapist I was seeing, pushed me into going full time, and it drove me deeper into the closet.  This time I took control and from the time I began transition to full time was 9 months.  And I could not be happier.

Let no one push you into full time.  YOU are the one who will know when it is time.

[Bird]

Well funny enough...

I went full time this weekend!

LOL.

My hairdresser's son was staring at me and went "Is she a boy or a girl?" and he keep asking all sorts of questions then eventually concluded "Ha, I know. It is a girl who wants to be a boy, why else would she wear boy clothes?"

Upon this, my hairdresser went "And why the heck do you keep hidding yourself? Take this jacket off NOW!"

I was wearing a male jacket over female clothing. So she took me out of her house, I was wearing jeans and a tight blouse, all obviously feminine. We walked on the street and no one gave me a second glance. I was totally freaking out!!

Furtherly I went to friends, to mass and have lunch. Some people notice, most don't.  Those who do notice look at me with curiosity, that is all. I went shopping on my own for female clothes yesterday and was sent towards the female changing rooms to try my clothes.

I don't know what to say of this, it just plain happened. I have a lot of subcouncious things going on I think.

[JungianZoe]

Congratulations!!!   That's the way these things happen... you take a leap, you get little confidence boosters, you gain confidence, you get more boosters, and the cycle continues.

[Janet_Girl]

Well funny enough...

I went full time this weekend!

LOL.

My hairdresser's son was staring at me and went "Is she a boy or a girl?" and he keep asking all sorts of questions then eventually concluded "Ha, I know. It is a girl who wants to be a boy, why else would she wear boy clothes?"

Upon this, my hairdresser went "And why the heck do you keep hidding yourself? Take this jacket off NOW!"

I was wearing a male jacket over female clothing. So she took me out of her house, I was wearing jeans and a tight blouse, all obviously feminine. We walked on the street and no one gave me a second glance. I was totally freaking out!!

Furtherly I went to friends, to mass and have lunch. Some people notice, most don't.  Those who do notice look at me with curiosity, that is all. I went shopping on my own for female clothes yesterday and was sent towards the female changing rooms to try my clothes.

I don't know what to say of this, it just plain happened. I have a lot of subcouncious things going on I think.

This is how it always seems to happen.

[LilKittyCatZoey]

This is how it always seems to happen.

Haha really??? wow that gives soooo much confidence!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Yay great to hear it went well !! sounds like a pretty good weekend!!!!!

[Bird]

Yep

Now I have to clean my upper lip ASAP.