Ok so, I got brave enough to shave me arms today, I feel like these are the only small steps I've taken.

But ooh my arms feel so smooth, it is actually really nice - didn't even know my skin was so soft. Hehe!

Alright so who else is like me that is pre-everything and took another small step in the direction of being how you want to be?

I used Nair all over my body a few days before getting my first E shot and Spiro script.

I used the sensitive skin formula for most of my body. The bikini formula for down there. Worked like a charm and made shaving much easier. Razors like stubble not long hair.

Small steps are still steps! I remember the first (and only) time I shaved my arms.  I still lived with my mom, and she noticed I did it when my arm grazed hers and nearly cut it to pieces with the tiny stubble

Personally I would wait on the shaving arms thing until after HRT starts to kick in and thin all that out (if you're gonna eventually go that route, that is).  I already have to maintain shaving my legs and the other bits, and would hate to add arms to that.  You know.. cause once you shave once, you gotta keep doing it or you end up being sandpaper for a few weeks until the hair gets soft again.

I have taken so many tiny steps throughout the last few years that starting RLE just meant a name change and a facebook post.

I think the arms is where I started as well. They used to have very dark and long hair, so one day I started trimming them. And over time I used shorter and shorter trimmer settings. And then one day I switched to shaving them. The next step was starting to wear nail polish. I used to wear black nail polish every once in a while before that, so no one was surprised to see me start wearing it all the time. After that I had my ears pierced and started collecting earrings. And around the same time I began plucking my eyebrows as well. And while driving to/from work I started doing voice exercises. I didn't really know how I should be exercising, but when I started voice therapy this year I was already half way there.

The last few changes started happening about a year ago when I felt I was done with wearing jeans and t-shirts every day, so leggings and tunics or long sweaters took over my wardrobe completely. And before summer I stopped going out without foundation and eyeliner.

The last two years I had sort of been dreading the start of RLE. What would people say? How well would I handle the transition? Would it stress me out? But since I had taken all those tiny steps along the way, coming out was quite unceremonious. In june I came out on facebook and announced my new name, and that was it. No stress, nothing to worry about, no habits to change. The only thing that really caught me by surprise was when I needed to sign a paper with my new name; I hadn't thought of practicing my signature, so the signature looked like it read something like "Eh--- Amnmn---". It has improved somewhat since then, though

Now on HRT the arm hair is a lot thinner and shorter. It still bothers me a bit when I'm too lazy to shave, but there's plenty of cis-girls who have thicker arm hair than I do.

Quote from: Hideyoshi on November 23, 2013, 11:57:41 PM
Small steps are still steps! I remember the first (and only) time I shaved my arms.  I still lived with my mom, and she noticed I did it when my arm grazed hers and nearly cut it to pieces with the tiny stubble

Personally I would wait on the shaving arms thing until after HRT starts to kick in and thin all that out (if you're gonna eventually go that route, that is).  I already have to maintain shaving my legs and the other bits, and would hate to add arms to that.  You know.. cause once you shave once, you gotta keep doing it or you end up being sandpaper for a few weeks until the hair gets soft again.

Probably, I dunno just felt like doing it today not really sure what compelled me. I've been shaving my hands for awhile with out anyone noticing. I suppose just felt like doing it - since really my only option to feel more feminine currently. 


And Incarlina, I've actually been working on my voice for almost two years now - still not were I like it. But if it wasn't for me pretending to be female online and wanting to present thus I would never came to Susan's and really figured out that I was transgendered and not just some weird person.

  Hey, Aina - Coincidently I did exactly as you did the very same day!  It took me a long time to work up the nerve to do this because I figured it would be really obvious to everyone that I did it.  I'd made this silly excuse to myself that I wouldn't shave it even after shaving most everywhere else on my body because it would be a good measure of how HRT was affecting my body hair.  When I finally accepted the fact that I was just being a wuss I just went for it.  Also I started full-body laser yesterday so I had to bite the bullet and shave the arms anyway.

  Just in case anyone was wondering, body laser is an absolute joy compared to how intense in was on my face and neck.  Now this is going to spoil me rotten just before I dive into facial electrolysis!

I started my new life by vowing not to attempt suicide again and give myself a real life chance at living the gender I really am. Then I made an appt. with the endocrinologist I'd seen for a few months in 2005, and soon got progynon depot and spironolactone. Then I got my ears pierced. Within a few days I was beginning to pluck my eyebrows a bit, and within a month they were totally female. I lost my self hatred pretty quickly once I realized I was going to live as a woman, and eventually live the way I'd felt for my entire life. I have. I've been living, not for one moment existing during my twenty six months of the only happiness I've ever had. I'm down once in awhile, sometimes downright depressed, but it's always about my broken back and knee replacement that went very, very wrong. I'm never unhappy for long though and neither should any of you. Look at you, even you, Aina, who's only to the point of shaving your arms. You, me, we, we're all doing it, some taking baby steps, others who simply couldn't because of their circumstances or the opportunities which presented themselves. God bless each and every one of us, we deserve it! Aina, by the way, I shaved my arms for a few months every few weeks, but I haven't had to in over a year because of hormones. Hugs, Mira

Small steps (forward) need to be celebrated after a lifetime of pushing back and repression. Perhaps it is just me but the funny thing is the small steps take so much effort to work on and to achieve. Some big steps not so much so. Sometimes it suddenly dawns on you that you made a big step and didn't even know it!

I'm a small step person too  , but you do get there soon or latter

Thanks everyone, the response mean more to me then maybe you could imagine. It is nice to have an outlet for my little victories, even if they are months and months apart.

  I'm curious if anyone noticed you shaved your arms.  Nobody, including my family, said anything so now I'm super-extra-happy!  So smooth, surprisingly not gleaming white and no dry skin.  That said, applying moisturizer is now substantially easier.  Re-growth is not causing any skin trouble or ingrowns either.

Waxing while on HRT is the best way to reduce it.  Cutting the hairs with a razor does nothing to the solve the root of the problem (so to speak).   If you are on HRT, the hairs will come back finer, if at all.  I just waxed my arms for the 2nd time and I'm hoping for even more progress.

I have been shaving my arms for about a month iv almost forgotten what my arms looked like with hair

Shaving my arms was a big small step for me too, so I know how you feel. I did mine about 2 weeks ago, and I love it too.

I've been taking lots of small steps recently. On Sunday I ventures out for the first time. It was quite reassuring how little attention people paid me. I guess everyone's too busy living their own lives to be too concerned about whether I'm a man in a skirt or not

But you are not a man in a skirt.

Celebrate the small steps, they are steps!

It might help if you remember that you are a woman with hormone problems which caused sex characteristics you'd rather not have, and you are taking steps to claim the appearance you were meant to have.

Some other fun things to do include filing your nails.  If you need to present in boy mode, put a clear coat on.  Lots of CIS-men do this with manicures to neaten their appearance, so no one should raise an eyebrow.... speaking of this, trimming and shaping your eyebrows can be a big help, too.  Or, for around $10-15 you can have them waxed.  Another thing many CIS-men do, so you don't have to worry about standing out when you are in guy-mode. 

I've been having to do a lot of this "small step" stuff... I've been shaving my chest, legs, and armpits for years because even while I was denying my transexuality I finally got to the point where I realized that if I didn't like having hair on my body there was nothing wrong with removing it.  It was *my* body.  Now that I'm no longer in denial I see that it was an attempt to transition as much as I could allow myself at the time, to stave off the dysphoria I was frantically trying to supress.

*hug*

Quote from: Violet Bloom on November 25, 2013, 06:22:13 PM
  I'm curious if anyone noticed you shaved your arms.  Nobody, including my family, said anything so now I'm super-extra-happy!  So smooth, surprisingly not gleaming white and no dry skin.  That said, applying moisturizer is now substantially easier.  Re-growth is not causing any skin trouble or ingrowns either.

Well I am pre-everything, and since its cold no one has notice because of long sleeves. I didn't do it for anyone but myself really. I guess just a mental deal. 

Quote from: Aina on November 26, 2013, 11:04:00 AM
Well I am pre-everything, and since its cold no one has notice because of long sleeves. I didn't do it for anyone but myself really. I guess just a mental deal. 

I did exactly the same thing... as soon as I was guaranteed long sleeves 'til spring I shaved it all. There's not much I don't shave now. Only the back 'cause I haven't had any luck with it.

Yes... you need to keep up with it, but my arms were the most important shave I've done yet! They look soooo good and they're easy to do (every day, with my face... arms, and chest - though I'm trying to learn to epilate the upper chest, ouch).

Arm pits are every other day or so.

Legs are every 2-3 days... I could probably do them daily - it grows too fast.

Rear is weekly. I need to be careful, so I usually do it Saturday or Sunday. Sometimes if it just feels too long I'll do a quick shave back there mid-week... but I usually don't have TIME for all this!!!! If only SPIRO will act quickly (but I realize it will be months 'til I can stop/slow the regimen).

I remember when I was pre everything and I am only like 4.5 months on HRT. It started with me shaving my arms and legs before I even found my LCSW to talk to. This may be a small step, and small steps are better than major ones. go at a pace that is comfortable for you and dont rush it too much. As long as you are taking steps in the right direction, you are doing fine. WIth that said, for me, even the small steps, like shaving my arms and legs seem momentus! I remember the first time I went into work with my legs shaved, I wore shorts to work during the summer since I am around pools all the time and I thought everyone's eyes were fixated on me, people talking about me, and really it was in my head. I created the paranoia that that is what was going on. Sure people noticed but it didn't cause any harm. Also, one way to look at it is that because I did a whole lot of baby steps, each one of them were until recently with me having paranoia that I was the the spotlight of the gossiping committees topics, everyone was able to warm up to it and when I come in with something else different, no one bats an eye. Also, when I came out at work, no one had a problem with it because they were all warmed up to it slowly first. Everything fit together quite well, and it was very well orchestrated and I didnt even really plan it.

The point is, a baby step is a step, and sometimes baby steps are what are needed for a healthy transition, as not only you need to transition, but the people around you in your life too.

I never had very hairy arms and I don't think this is the right time for me to shave, but I have been cutting the longer hairs so my arms seems less hairy now (there are a lot of women with medium hairs on their arms).

But I shave everything else! Chest, armpits and legs. With my legs things are more complicated as it is summer in my country and it is hard to exercise with pants! I don't want to be a man with totaly shaved legs, so to avoid people staring at me I wear pants for a week until my leg hair is a bit noticeable and then I am free to wear shorts! When my leg hair is growing back I repeat with shaving and more one week of pants.