Hi Christina. You are right about years ago it was somewhere between very difficult and impossible to get the quality and availability of professional care that is available today, quite expensive also. I was 41 when I got 6 months of high dose HRT without a counselor or MD. I don't recommend that toady, good help is available but back then it was what it was.
In the six months nipple sensitivity started in the first couple of weeks, breast development was much slower and was just really beginning towards the end of the six months when the supply and source of the hormones ended. The biggest effect for me was an incredible mental peace, overall feeling wonderful and a great joy that something positive, something right was finally happening.
Fast forward 27 years, early this year I finally found a counselor who recommended an MD and I was given scripts for low dose estrogen and progesterone. Almost immediately the same mental peace and overall feeling wonderful returned. Quite a surprise to me was how quickly breast growth was going back on HRT especially considering this time it's low dose, I assume because of the 6 month head start I had. Nipple sensation while already there increased significantly. With a total of just over 9 months combined with HRT I just haven't yet noticed any changes that are often reported such as finer hair, fat redistribution etc. The only noticeable hair change is the near absence of breast hair. I had been using Nair and after restarting HRT it just didn't grow back. The testicles have definitely become smaller and softer, libido has been swinging up & down quite a bit from one day to the next.
I hope this helps answer some of your questions, should I think of anything else I'll post again.