my face
snap and hair!! when I work out how to post pics then you will see :o
FACE. Most definitely.
My brain. I am at ease now. My hair it was thinning pretty badly. Not bald but thinning. Now it is long and luxurious. Much better than a wig.
Face and hair
Conform and be dull. —James Frank Dobie, The Voice of the Coyote
so if my avatar works you can see what I need
Face.
darling it looks fine to me, swop any day!!
I would have to agree with Dawn. Though having a feminine face is highly desirable to being accepted by myself and others, I feel my own mind is the most important aspect for my successful transition. How can I expect others to accept me as a woman until I can fully accept myself? It takes being comfortable with myself and my decision to become a woman in my own mind before I will be able to be a woman.
I envy those younger ladies that have gotten fabulous results from HRT and other medical procedure that make them look so much like cis woman. Oh yes, I envy them. Good looks could make this so much easier. At my age I cannot expect anywhere near their results but than does not mean I will be any less of a woman provided I am one in my own mind. I'm working on that.
Hugs,
Jeanette
I should add mental acceptance is probably the most important thing
Body Size/proportions ...
Even with not great HRT results FFS can feminize the face. Hair can be dealt with multiple ways... But with unfortunate body size/proportions even after being on HRT a number of years, not much can be done. I'm a firm believer that if one has to dress a certain way to "pass" ones does not really. IMO to be able to get past transition one needs to be able to get to teh point one does not need to think about how they present to be taken as female, and just are.
Another big factor which is partially physical and IMO there is no good solution if training does not do the job, is voice.
- Karen
I'd say the skeleton...
Body, mind and soul. Honestly though, its the mind, if that is in good shape all else doesn't matter.
Brain and mind. No contest. If you can't be comfortable with and accept yourself no one else will either.
I got to agree with Karen_A that it's all about proportions. After two years + on hrt the thing that clocks me are my hands. They're huge. At 5'10 I can easily grip a basketball and they're bigger then most guys. Wish there was a way to shrink them.
Socially, there are so many things about presentation I could list. If I had to say one item that is most important, it would be GCS. If I could have, that would have been first on my list to do. That is the thing that will make me scream into my pillow in frustration.
Moni
The Heart is my romantic favorite and seemingly where we feel this experience called transition. Seems essential to have the heart to be committed to your goals and the heart to feel what is genuine and right for you. The heart to love and accept ourselves with all our flaws and fears. That's a big part of success to me.
A lot is just our lucky heritage to be born trans and some are also gifted with physical fortunes. I have a couple of friends who are male and gay and only need to put on a wig and a dress and they could pass with very pretty faces and petite physique. Some of us also have the good fortune and/or means to get into therapy, HRT, GCS, FFS you name it...if we need it we find the way. :D
I think everyone has their own opinion on what makes their own transition successful. Mine occurred when I no longer suffered from dysphoria. Since that dysphoria centered around having a penis and lacking significant breast development, I would say that BA and SRS basically helped me achieve a successful transition. It helped me to feel better about myself while improving my confidence. Now there were other things that helped, like FFS and my recent VFS, but ultimately relieving my dysphoria helped me achieve a successful transition.
My 2 cents. :)
Definitely brain.
My mind, my sense of self
I think your mind, you need to be that woman in your head.
For the physical side.. there are easy things that can help you pass.. and no huge budget is needed
Shaving your legs and body, you lose that hairy look
Growing your hair, I feel I never looked female until I grew my hair and had it styled in a female style.. this one can make a big difference.
Nail polish - when you wear colored nail polish, it makes your hands and feet look so female..
and to go with your long hair, some earrings..
For body shape and breasts, they are important, but not critical as cis-women come in all shapes and sizes and so do we.. The must important thing hormones gives us is our feminine skin. We will all get some sort of hips and breast growth.
I think us trans woman are very hard on ourselves.. we all don't need to look like models, as not all cis-women look like models.
I think it is a toss up between face, voice, and mind. How about just consolidating it as saying THE HEAD. :)
Boobs help a lot, too. Just sayin'...
For me, my face is the biggest obstacle to a successful transition. I try to present as femme as possible when out, and have been ma'amed a few times, until they see my face. Regardless of hair and make-up, my face will always give me away as male in the minds of others. That's why FFS is a surgical priority for me, and I'll be getting it done as soon as possible after going full-time.
Head, barring that, a nice set of tits to distract everyone from it. (I kid, I kid.)
For me, body weight. First to get my BMI down to a number where I could have surgery, then continue weight loss to look more feminine.
Brain. I've known I'm female for a very long time. I'm not lessened as a person by the fact that my presentation runs pretty masculine. I do what I can and I'm thrilled to have breasts bit the main thing there is they feel different since HRT.
The last thing will be the vagina. To have my "primary sex characteristic" match will be the most affirming thing I can do and I'm excited to be rid of that bulge that wants to affect the line of clothing. I've always (and I mean including 35 years that I didn't even realize I was trans) envied women the ability to wear a skirt and when I do, that <shenis> usually ruins the line.
The next thing on quasi passing will be working on voice which is a big tell of the effects testosterone had so long ago.
Quote from: Daniellekai on March 07, 2017, 04:25:30 PM
Head, barring that, a nice set of tits to distract everyone from it. (I kid, I kid.)
A good friend of mine told you can cover up any makeup mistake with an extra inch of cleavage.
Quote from: Estelle_maybe? on March 09, 2017, 09:07:24 AM
A good friend of mine told you can cover up any makeup mistake with an extra inch of cleavage.
I had a guy tell me in high school that you can put a nice set of rims (Cragers where the rim of choice back then lol) and tires on a car with rust, bondo, body damage, etc., and make it look great!
I think it depended for me on where I was in transition... Early on, the fact that I had thick wavy almost waist-length hair was the biggest help (I'd been mistaken for a woman even when I was living as a guy and had 3-day stubble). Midway through, it was a tie between the face and the fact that accenting 38DD boobs to distract from everything else seemed to go a long way. Eventually, I felt as if GRS was the key to finally being read fully as a woman, because nobody could argue if I even looked like a cis woman naked.
Now, a few years in... oddly enough, it's my voice. I look like a boring, ordinary cis woman, and I'm fine with that, but I take great comfort in being able to convince anyone as soon as I open my mouth.
The voice. Ursula, the drag queen, wanted Ariel's voice lol.
I want to say the face, but I think the body comes first before the face, because a handsome (rugged) female face with feminine body is more desirable than a feminine face with a handsome body. Men look at the body first.