I've been on testosterone for 13 months exactly as of today. The most noticeable changes I've experienced have been my voice deepening, bottom growth, and increased body hair and muscle mass.
However, I feel like I still look pretty androgynous and not very masculine. I do look more masculine than I did pre-T, of course, but it's not as drastic a change as it seems a lot of other guys are after a year. I had a hysterectomy a couple of months ago, and I'm on a standard dose of testosterone and according to my doctor, my levels are in the normal male range.
My face still looks pretty androgynous and I don't have much facial hair. My body fat distribution has changed a bit, but not significantly enough to give me a completely masculine shape. I'm not a big guy; I'm relatively lean, but my hips/thighs are still pretty femininely shaped. My face is also still puffy, which I know happens to some guys, but it feels like the puffy-face stage is lasting a lot longer for me. I feel like on some days my face looks way more masculine than on other days.
Is this normal? Am I just a late bloomer? I know changes aren't finished after a year, but I sort of feel stuck and like I'm going to be in this weird in-between, androgynous stage forever.
MTFs wonder why breasts don't sprout over night and why it takes years to fully develop. It's much the same for a FTM. A teen boy may take as much as 10 years to become fully masculine though many changes occur relatively early in puberty. I was fortunate that about 15 years never produced a full beard though what I ended up with was far more than I wanted. I would guess over the next 3 or 4 years you will continue to see changes and they may occur beyond that. Just relax and realize things will get better with time.
I have been there and know how u feel, try not to compare, it truly is different for each person. And perspective is a funny thing. After a year on T I thought I passed pretty well and was pretty happy with my appearance at that point, fast forward 5 years later and when I look back at pics of myself during that time I looked pretty damn androgynous, shocked that I passed as often as I did then lol
So yes, it does take more time than you would hope. It really truly is years before all the changes settle in. I couldn't grow a decent beard until just last year really, and now I get annoyed sometimes at how often I have to shave lol.
And like you I get my levels checked on the regular and I am within normal range, some thing happened quickly and other things just took longer for me.
All I can say to help reassure you is that there will come a time very soon where you will laugh at yourself for being so impatient, as all this worry will be a very distant memory for u.
It already is for me.
All the best on your journey my friend
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You might be a late bloomer. It's all up to your genes. When I went through puberty I used to compare myself with other boys and most of them already had hair everywhere and looked like adults. I was pretty skinny and mostly hairless. It wasn't until years later that I was able to grow a full beard and gained weight. So be patient :)
When you see popular trans men on social media they all somehow look super masculine with facial hair with 6 months or so; but this isn't the case for most trans men starting T. I didn't start passing 100% until I was 8 months on T and even then the water retention was bad so I didn't understand how. The retention went after the one year mark.
No luck with facial hair either apart from some chin scruff but I'm likely a late bloomer. There's a trans you tuber called Jammiedodger who looked pretty androgynous on T for a while and who didn't grow facial hair until roughly the 3 year mark. And now after 5 years on T it's still filling in.
So I'd just be patient. I didn't start to actually like my appearance until a few months ago.
Also my levels get checked regularly and I'm within the normal male range.
You're probably just a late bloomer, it happens. I feel like my face didn't change very noticably (at least to myself) until about a year in although I did go for 6 months on a lower dosage then raised it until my T levels were in the average male range plus there was a time my pharmacy and former doctor's office screwed up my prescription so I was off of T for nearly a month thanks to them so that probably has a bit to do with it. My face is still changing a lot. It's been about 18 months now and everything seems to finally be speeding up. My facial hair is taking its sweet time filling in though and it's really frustrating.
I'm 5 months and 3 weeks on T and I'm an extremely impatient person myself and I struggle with waiting in general what doesn't make the whole transition any easier with all those waiting times.
My voice has dropped significantly so that everyone I knew from before has noticed and my voice – the one thing that just wouldn't pass pre-T – passes now but I think it's not enough, I want it to become much deeper much faster.
I have grown some facial hair but it is not a true, full beard and I'm getting impatient about that as well.
What bugs me the most and drives me nuts sometimes is that the fat redistribution didn't kick in just yet at all as far as I've noticed and it makes me really angry, aggressive, disgusted and hate filled about that body even though I know that the fat redistribution is probably what takes the longest to complete.
My face might have slightly changed, or at least someone said so, but I'm not sure about that because I still think it looks too 'baby-faced' and the cheeks are too full for my liking as well.
I hope that I will get a great boost after hysterectomy and everything will go more smoothly and faster. I've heard and read from quite many cases where the hysterectomy has also helped a lot regarding that matter.
Those organs are merely a pain that slows everything down and has always in all aspects of life worked against me.
One thing I learned recently from cis men is that it can take till they are in their 30s and 40s to reach peak visual masculinity. Which is not what I especially wanted to hear but, there it is, some of them wait a very long time for their characteristics to come in enough to satisfy them. Us expecting them in a year or two is probably pretty unrealistic in light of this.