I'm new here, so please excuse if I miss the tacit stuff of how to post in the right place etc...    I tried some searches and found only a few more or less semi-relevant threads, so figured I would get bold and try to start one.   

I am 60 years old MTF and several months into the hormones which seem to be working well, got started on laser hair removal also a few months ago, and launched right into a targeted exercise regimen, and have an excellent shrink and positive support from friends.  So basically I have a real good start and doing all the "right stuff" as far as I can figure. 

Most important is attitude and how you carry yourself, ok yah I get that.  Appearance is also important, even if not to the extent that our youth oriented marketing culture drums into the collective social consciousness.  None the less, facial appearance is important to me too, within realistic possibilities. 

I have seen various mentions of advantages of transitioning later in life, but honestly it seems like the reality is that the physical limitations become quite harsh at a rapidly increasing rate.  Seeing all the fabulous transwomen out there nowadays is simultaneously encouraging but also a bit depressing as they are mostly much younger.  Yah ok typical expectations for any 60 year old woman's appearance are ... um ... "different" than for younger women, but that is kind of a double whammy in many respects. 

I would love to see/hear some success stories of others who have boldly challenged both the gender/age preconceptions of contemporary society.           

Hi Member061817

Welcome to Susan's

I am in my 50's and started transition a couple of years ago. I think the younger you are the harder it is until a point and then it gets way easier if you can do it before puberty gets a hold. There are many kids growing up today who will not go through what you and I did quite simply because of education.

As far as physical transition goes I try not to be too concerned with "passing" as its so subjective. You need to decide what you are happy with. I go about my daily life and people are polite and respectful to me. I get the occasional ignoramus but you get those trans or not.

As we age we tend to become more an more androgynous and really most people do not care or notice. It is easy to live in the bubble that is the internet which leaves you very unsure about even venturing out in public. I have not found the reality to be like that.

You can see by my pic that I am not exactly hugely passable but I don't have any hassles unless I dress in an ambiguous way in which case I tend to be misgendered. I have found with most people so long as the clues are obvious they will be fine. My voice has made a huge difference...it is good enough to make a difference. They may be suspicious but the moment I open my mouth (if I use my fem voice) you can see the change in their eyes almost as they gender you correctly.

So you are able to get the very best from being here there are a couple of links we give to all our new members

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ElizabethK
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Hi Member061817, welcome to Susan's Place! At our age the one thing we know we can't transition to is a nineteen year old girl. Having said that, I'm 55 with the breasts of a sixteen year old. Gravity hasn't had time to work its magic yet. Is it hot in here...... heck no, that's me!    See you around the site!

Hugs, Devlyn

Well, hon, I'm going to turn 60 in August, four days before my SRS surgery.  Would I rather be 40, or even 20?  Well, sure, but that wasn't an option. The way life worked out, the only choice I had was to start transition at age 56 or not transition at all.

Best case was I was going to get old anyway, and be a sad, resigned old man who wished he had the courage to at least try to pursue his dreams. My bargain with myself was I wanted ten good years as a female out of all this. So, I figured this was realistically my last chance to do something. As you can see from my avatar I'm not doing too bad for an old broad, and I am finally, after nearly six decades of existence, happy with who I am.  That's priceless, and to me it has been worth the pain, expense, and anxiety of transition.

Yes, there has been a price, and not just financial.  Transition is really eff-ing hard - there is no way to sugar-coat that. There was a friend or two lost, and estrangement from my family, but I fared far better than some.  Hopefully there will be enough time to reconcile with my kids when they are older, presuming I am still around. All I can do is let them know I love them and hope they let me back in their lives at some point.

On the plus side of transitioning so late in life, I had the benefit of a lifetime of male privilege, which translated into a good career.  That means I have good health insurance to help cover therapists and endocrinologists, and hormones, and whatnot, not to mention the financial resources to drop $35K on FFS and around $7K on electrolysis.  If you also add in the personal growth accrued from a lifetime of experience, it is not surprising that now was my time.  I was strong enough and resourceful enough, medical and mental health treatment had evolved enough, and society had changed enough for it to happen.

So, consider me a success.  All in all I am very happy and amazed that I somehow found the strength and courage to change my life in the face of great fear and trepidation.

With kindness,

Terri

Well I have to stand between the lovely younger ladies. I'm 64 and transitioned when I was 57ish. The best time to decide to take this on is when you are ready and there is no time like the present!

Welcome to the site!

wow!  I am so glad I got the nerve to join this forum and open my mouth, this is wonderfully encouraging. 

Elizabeth, yah I was kind of thinking maybe not to even worry about "passing", and I hadn't thought of it but you are right we do become more androgynous at this age anyway.  For me it is really all about how I feel inside my own skin. 

Devlyn, you make a delightfully ironic point.  I had not thought of the inverse aspects of gaining new growth that has not been subjected to the forces of gravity for decades, hehe yes that is a pretty perky advantage.

Terri you are amazing.  I am in somewhat similar circumstances as you, a long and successful career has set me up well to go as far as I decide to go with all of this.  I have considered FFS, and I look at it from the perspective that it would be comparable to what I paid for my teeth, and just as important to me.  Seeing a few photos of what the first week or so of healing/recovery is like kinda frightens me (well ... ok ... it really scares the ___ out of me).  Maybe we can PM a bit when I gain access to that feature of the site.

... and yah, Cindy you make the most important point of all right there in one sentence. 
In fact the only time that exists is "Now".

I hope more others continue to chime in here, this is a priceless goodness for me.

Age is just a number that has been and continues to be my motto. Blessed with good health and a positive attitude I have found there are no limitations. I was an outstanding male in finance, a playboy of renown, and a world class age group triathlete, surfer and club champion golfer. I waited until I fufilled all my family obligations and have the approval of 4 ex wives and 4 children from 5 years old to 33 years old. For me dying and living a life unfufilled was not acceptable.

I started my journey at age 61 and started HRT at 63 and ffs, srs, ba at 67 years old. I live a wonderful life in Bangkok, love dressing up for social functions, have a fab body, have georgeous young toyboys. I continue to be an investor in startups, exercise daily and recently won my age group in a 5 k race, posting a time of 26 minutes which was faster than any female over 40 years and faster than any male over 55.

To maintain my facial youth I have botox and fillers, weekly facials, massage 3 to 4 times a week and review new modern medical advances that can preserve my youth.  Now at 69 years old and a devout bhuddist I continue to live each day appreciating the beauty of life and giving back to the community. Life has no practice runs, we have this one go, so make the very best of it.

Quote from: Member061817 on June 07, 2017, 07:48:12 PM
wow!  I am so glad I got the nerve to join this forum and open my mouth, this is wonderfully encouraging. 

Elizabeth, yah I was kind of thinking maybe not to even worry about "passing", and I hadn't thought of it but you are right we do become more androgynous at this age anyway.  For me it is really all about how I feel inside my own skin. 

Devlyn, you make a delightfully ironic point.  I had not thought of the inverse aspects of gaining new growth that has not been subjected to the forces of gravity for decades, hehe yes that is a pretty perky advantage.

Terri you are amazing.  I am in somewhat similar circumstances as you, a long and successful career has set me up well to go as far as I decide to go with all of this.  I have considered FFS, and I look at it from the perspective that it would be comparable to what I paid for my teeth, and just as important to me.  Seeing a few photos of what the first week or so of healing/recovery is like kinda frightens me (well ... ok ... it really scares the ___ out of me).  Maybe we can PM a bit when I gain access to that feature of the site.

... and yah, Cindy you make the most important point of all right there in one sentence. 
In fact the only time that exists is "Now".

I hope more others continue to chime in here, this is a priceless goodness for me.

Member061817,

You are welcome to PM me when you can.  I got help and support from others on this forum, and I am here to pay it forward.

With kindness,

Terri

Hi Member061817,
   I like the name, sounds kind of like a sexy Russian spy or something. I am following some serious trans heavy weights here( not a weight reference girls.) I will try to to give a little different angle. I will be 60 in a few days. It is an event that freaks a lot of folks out, but in my case I feel like a youngster in many ways. I am so happy to be finally walking through the world as a female now. I could care less about the age things. I ran from myself and buried myself in shame, guilt, and denial for so  long. I am happy to know that I am no longer a pretender. I am real. I pass sometimes, other times not. I think it is an advantage not to be freaked out if someone knows you are trans. It takes off some of the pressure. It is a process to get to that point.
   Another thing about transitioning later in life (then I'll shut up)is that you have beat to death any of the male things that you might have needed to do in your life. Not that I have to give anything up, but I am more into my new experiences. I don't agonize over losing any previous male experiences like maybe some younger trans people might do. Bottom line is if you worry about what you can't do in your transition, you ruin the enjoyment of what you can do.
   Good luck. I am Moni. Glad to see you here. 

HI Member061817,

   I'm Laurie, I'm 64 and unlike all these old heavyweight ladies (now now girls I only mean you ladies have more time at this than I, and are far more experienced at it) Now where was I? Oh yeah. These ladies are far more experienced at this journey than I am having started way way before I did. I started HRT last December. on the face of it I made the decision on the spur of the moment and started taking the hormones as soon as I could. It's been 6 months now and I have no regrets. 2 months before I started I hadn't even heard of gender dysphoria and I knew nothing of hormones. I came across the term while surfing the net and began my research into it. The more I learned the more I felt I was reading about me. By the middle of November I had decided to give HRT a trial. My HRT meds arrived December 4 2016, my start date. I later did the right thing and told my doctor and got a gender therapist as recommended by all of these wonderful ladies you have already heard from. They have helped me every step of the way.
  When I think back on my life I can see that though my decision seems quick it really wasn't. It was 55-60 years in the making. I began experimenting with female things at a fairly young age. With 5 sisters I had plenty of things to try. I was almost caught so many times. I can't remember actually being caught though. I always wished I could be a girl like my sisters and be able to have and do everything they could. But I was a boy and knew I couldn't, I knew it was wrong. But I didn't stop, in fact later in life I knew I couldn't stop. It became a part of me. I became a lifelong crossdresser. I never lost that desire to be more, wishing I could be a woman. At 64 I accepted that I was a woman inside and started the process to become one on the outside.
   I just at the beginning of the process, not yet out to all that need to know, but have come out to most of them. I'm starting to appear in public as myself but it still a work in progress. I've started electrolysis on my face to rid myself of my old grey whiskers. And I'm growing boobs :-) YES!! I have ALWAYS wanted boobs and now they are growing. I think I could die now and be happy with what I've done so far. But I'm not ready to go just yet there is much more to do and experience in my journey.
  So Member061817,  you can see by all these testimonials that it's never too late to start and to realize your dreams. You can be happy in just beginning and whatever else comes your way is just icing on the cake. Beginning the process to become who you know you are is the real prize.

  Hugs,
   Laurie

Hi, Member061817!

You are doing all the right things, taking care of yourself as you move through your transition.

Yes, it is true that we won't be a gorgeous 21 year old when we are well into transition.  We are older, and there are physical challenges that a young transitioner does not face.  We have decades of damage from running on the wrong hormones.  That said, we can be the best we can possibly be.

I'm 63 years old and have been on HRT about a year.  Much has changed, and much has not.  I set a reasonable goal back when my therapist was checking to see if I understood what HRT would actually do to me.  Some folks have unreasonable expectations, but I don't think I did.  I told my therapist "I expect to be a weird old lady after transition."  We both laughed, but it's true.

I am already the happiest darn weird old lady I know.  And that is what I need to be.

I do try to be the best I can be.  Many hours of electrolysis, speech therapy, conscious effort to study details of presentation and physicality of women my age who look their best, monitoring diet and weight, and maintaining an exercise program are all part of what I do.   It works.  After a year I can pass under certain conditions.  (Moonless nights with really loud music playing so nobody can hear me, for example.)

I've dumped almost all of my transition and real life experience over in this thread.  It's sort of huge...

Hi, Member061817:

I started at 59 and now consider my transition complete at 61. I think one of the pluses of being older women is that we aren't expected to be "super models" so we get a bit of a break in the looks department. Don't discount attitude, being positive and "owning" a room when you walk in can carry you a long way! And 60 years of life experience doesn't hurt either.
Welcome to the journey. I hope you find it wonderful and exciting!

Just starting my self , I have cross dressed for ever and feel like my brain has a memory of being female in a previous existence. Being in the UK and waiting for the dear old NHS to get its act together looks like it will be 4years till I get any ware to the position  I want to be for when I retire at 66. To "speed " things up I plan on coming out in November to give me the required 2years RLE needed by the NHS (18 months till first appointment ) and no HRT till then. So with my best wig on and a bit of lippy brace your self world

Quote from: Maybebaby56 on June 07, 2017, 08:10:37 PM
Member061817,

You are welcome to PM me when you can.  I got help and support from others on this forum, and I am here to pay it forward.

With kindness,

Terri

Member061817,
    You will find no better help and guidance than Terri can provide. She's awesome. If you need any direction, and you will,  you can do no better. She is strong and smart so if you have questions, contact her. She has been a godsend and awesome resource to me, all with nothing in it for her other than to be of service.
     I want to tell you, good luck on your transition. I'm roughly your age and will tell you that although you most likely will not get the results physically that the kid's get, Emotionally and psycho-socially, it has made made my life 1000 percent better. Actually, worth living. It was my only option and I'm so pleased I took it as opposed to the alternative. Be well and seek your bliss!

Hey Member061817 - 

I am a little younger than most of these beautiful ladies since I just turned 56.  Like my friend Terri, I have the benefit of being in a stable job with the same employer for almost 30 years.  I started at 53 and I pretty much completed my total transition in about 18 months.  I started HRT in March of 2015 and was full time at work by June.  I had FFS and breast augmentation surgery after 6 months on HRT and then one year later GCS.  I have maintained my employment, friends and most of my family except for an uncle and my step-mom.  My biggest fear was that my 5 kids would not support my decision and I am happy to say that they are all supporting me.  I had to pay out of pocket for my FFS, BA and electrolysis.  My insurance covered almost all of the cost of GCS which I had done here in Los Angeles.

I have all of my records changed to reflect my new name and my correct gender.  My birth certificate, Social Security Card, Passport, Drivers License, Work ID, college and law school diplomas, credit cards, credit history, mortgage checking and savings accounts, retirement accounts, etc, etc, etc have all been changed and updated.

I have had a relatively painless and seamless transition.  Sure I wish I wasn't 6'2" and 225 lbs but I am making do with what I have.  I would not trade the last two years of my life for anything.  I have met and got to know some of the most amazing people in the world. 

Good luck with everything and if you have any questions or need any advice please feel free to PM me.   

And another late transitioner here.

I am 67 and started my transition at age 65. I have had 2.5 years of HRT, SRS. FFS, a tummy tuck and a brachiaplasty.

As long as you have a healthy heart and no other conditions that would be a problem for major surgery, you can transition at any age.

ohh this thread just gets better and better ... you are all doing sooo very much good for me ... omg such amazing success stories ... you are all helping me move past my formerly despondent resignation of hopelessness per prognosis of transition at 60 ... and showing me glimpse of the very good possibilities for the prospects of spending this part of my life in my right-gendered self outwardly as well as inwardly.  Thank you all

... and others please continue to add your voices to the thread it is very much appreciated   

Member061817,
A key thing that made me start to move in my transition was going on line and watching people who were happy as they transitioned or after they did. It is possible. I had been under the impression that success was for a rare few. When I saw people who were successful it gave me strength  to take  chance to be happy. It has been hard, no doubt. Each day living as a woman is so much better than that other experience I had lived.
Moni

Quote from: Cindy on June 07, 2017, 06:41:02 PM
... transitioned when I was 57ish...

Heya Member061817,

I totally copied Cindy and transitioned a month ago, just as I was about to turn 57.  While there are things about it that are more difficult than it would have been earlier, I don't sweat it, because I really wasn't ready to do it until this year. So in that sense, I did it as soon as I could. 

Now, there were some pretty significant benefits of waiting this long.  One, I was relatively successful in my career, and had very good insurance and medical care, as well as resources to permit things like laser hair removal, electrolysis, hair transplants, all of which will ultimately make this far easier for me in the long run. 

Second, I am well-established in my career, and have a position of some significant responsibility, giving me a little more stability and control than many people dealing with this at younger ages.  I guess time will tell if there is any loss of influence with this change, but thus far it's been business as usual. 

Third, everyone I work with has known me for literally dozens of years, so there's very little pressure for me to actually pass.  I couldn't hardly pass with everyone already knowing me anyway.  I also didn't see any good reason for me to try to alter my voice or mannerisms, significantly, thinking it might actually work against me, with people thinking I was trying to become something, rather than just expressing myself in a comfortable way. 

This story is way too early to tell how it turns out in the end.  But I'm very encouraged, energized and enthusiastic about my new life, living freely as I've seen me all along. 

Erin

Back in my early 50's when I dropped the T-Bomb on my wife one of her favorite lines to me was "No one in their right mind WANTS to be a 50 year old woman". She's hasn't said it in a while. (I also haven't been 50 for a short while).

Back in my early 20's I twice experimented with transition. Both times utter fails. As another old dinosaur you know what the world was like in the late 60's early 70's. A lot has changed since then. Yet I am still living in the same 6ft tall, big everything, deep voiced, even more balder, body I was.

I wouldn't call it "Attitude" which I see is more what you project externally to the world. I spent many months trying to heal myself on the inside back then. Any sort of transition was totally off my RADAR. Been there, done it twice. I started loosing some of the shame and guilt. Joined a fantastic support group. Had a couple of angels always there for me when I needed them the most. By affecting how I thought about myself, that glow shone to the outside world. The walls I put up to protect that beaten woman locked away in the deepest dungeon began to crumble. I began to feel and see that the real me just might be a real person.

Back in my 20's whenever I tried to venture out in the real world, that dark cloud of "Some Guy in a Dress" enveloped me. I now feel there was no way anyone could have missed it. I know many sure responded in kind to it. Some 30+ years later when I first dared to once again venture out into the real world as the real me....... I was exactly that. When a too long of a look came my way at first I freaked, but nuttin. No negative response. I came to realize the looks were all for the none to shabby for an old dinosaur smartly dressed since she stands out in a world filled with 5'6" women in jeans.

Like a fine wine "I got better with age".