Recently in a few pics without makeup or sunscreen on, I've noticed that my skin tone has become paler with MTF HRT.  However I have also been finding that my skin is also drier.  I've been using up the moisturizer that I have had, however I'm finding that it's not moisturizing as good as it used to.  Like on my face there's one spot where my foundation will appear flaky even after I have applied moisturizer, sunscreen (with minerals) and primer.  The rest of my face will be fine, but that one area will be flaky looking.

For my body (arms/legs/torso) I've been using Vaseline's Cocoa Radiant, while for the face I have been using some of Lancôme's Hydra Zen creams. 

So do you find there are any creams that you find moisturize good with HRT?

Quote from: LoriDee on Today at 04:38:10 PMMy ex-wife's father told me a story.

His grandfather was a farmer in Illinois. Behind his farm was a battlefield during the Civil War. After the battle, the local farmers designated an area to be used as a temporary cemetery to bury the dead. The farmers all pitched in carrying bodies to the area and the local Illinois Militia arrived to help out. One of the militiamen was Abraham Lincoln when he was a young man. I have been to that cemetery. There is a monument there and only six or eight graves remaining. I had taken a picture of it which is how it came about that he shared the story about his grandfather.

Those kinds of stories, passed down through generations of a family, are wonderful.

What's actually a bit ironic about the whole Abraham Lincoln thing is, it's on my mom's side, through her maternal grandmother whose great grandmother was Abe's mother's (Nancy Hanks) sister. I believe.

The reason I say this is all ironic? Is that this wasn't a story passed down lovingly through the family... well, at least not for the first 40 years of my mom's life. She was an orphan. Her parents both lived... but her father left during the depression and her mom decided that having two kids was too much for her, so she just sent my mom and uncle to an orphanage.

I mean, could you even imagine. Her mom came back into her life intermittently ... and her dad re-emerged when I was like 16... he actually showed up for a visit after all that time. We only saw him once or twice before he died.

But over the years my mother slowly cobbled together family history, which is why the things she learned were so precious. Even last weekend, for example, one of my sisters gave me a photo of my mom as a child that I had never seen. There are, as you would imagine, VERY few of those. This one is her, with a cowboy hat, riding a pony.

We are trying to image the world where orphans got ponies... but we think it's because her mother did have money, she was just a POS person and didn't want responsibility.

Anyway, not sure why I'm sharing that, other than the fact that its a Dickens tale come to life. But it had a lovely, happy ending. My mom ended with the big family she always wanted, and she and my dad were one of the all-time great couples.

Love,
Allie

You are very brave, in my opinion. The idea of vocal surgery sounds scary and intimidating. I'm glad to hear that your results were ultimately rather good.

sooooooo yeah quick update.  I'm exactly 2 months out from SRS.  Yikes, getting nervous.  I'm a huge surgeryphobe.  Never had so much as stitches in my life. I have no doubts or anything and am getting excited but surgery itself absolutely terrifies me.  I just try to remember I'm going to take a nap and wake up with a vagina

Having lived for nearly 40 years as a woman, I only apply a touch of eyeliner when dining someone fancy or attending a party. And I brush my hair too for special events.

"You look so nice," people will say because when you're so rough and ready like me, the slightest improvement impresses.

Danielle, you offer great advice.

Awesome! I am certain it involved some work to get there.

I aspire to be properly gendered on the phone. My training starts this Friday!

My ex-wife's father told me a story.

His grandfather was a farmer in Illinois. Behind his farm was a battlefield during the Civil War. After the battle, the local farmers designated an area to be used as a temporary cemetery to bury the dead. The farmers all pitched in carrying bodies to the area and the local Illinois Militia arrived to help out. One of the militiamen was Abraham Lincoln when he was a young man. I have been to that cemetery. There is a monument there and only six or eight graves remaining. I had taken a picture of it which is how it came about that he shared the story about his grandfather.

Quote from: Northern Star Girl on Today at 03:49:28 PMI think it is best to attempt to fit in with how other women
appear in whatever setting you find yourself in and NOT standing out
with skin-bearing flashy clothing and overdone makeup and appearance.

Danielle

Exactly this.

I see so many of us with dresses and makeup way over the top. Formal gowns are for formal events, not business meetings or reading stories to kids at the library. If you want to be accepted as a woman then look and act like a woman. Even cis-gendered women don't approve of what you are describing. In my day, they would call them floozies and look down their noses at them.

You can't be a target if you can blend in undetected, what we call "passing".

Hi, I went to a laryngologist and speech pathologist at Penn to have my vocal folds reviewed a few months ago. My vocal folds look good. I have some vocal fry. My HZ is 230 to 270.

So all in all I am done with my voice. I am 100% gendered female on the phone all the time.