I ask this because I'm planning on starting RLE once at the end of this summer (August 29th) for the next year of school.  Just wanted to know how long some of you girls were on it before going full-time.

I'm sure this is going to be all over the map. Some people go full time without even starting HRT. My answer is about 3.5 months.

I have been on HRT nearly 2 weeks. As I will be finishing-up at my current job around the middle of next month, I will be asking my therapist whether it is worth stating after that.  I am passing fairly well at the moment judging by the reaction, or lack of it, when I am in town.
Karen.

I was on HRT for 11.5 months before going "full-time".  But even then I still have yet to get my name changed.

Everyone's path is different.  Whenever it feels right to you would be a good time to go full time.

3 years for me

over 11 months of RLT before I got the girly drugs 🙂

a few months then I went full time

*counts on fingers* ....seven months. Would have been sooner but things got delayed....

Going by my current plan, it will have been 15 months before I go full time in June.

4 or 5 years full-time before starting HRT

Quote from: RabbitsOfTheWorldUnite on April 21, 2011, 11:52:47 PM
4 or 5 years full-time before starting HRT

basically my story too. The question is backwards for some of us.

Wow, a very wide spread here!  I think I'll be approximately 9 months by my deadline, so does that seem do-able given my current appearance?

Hi Emily,
I started HRT then started um...(whatever we call it these days, being like I am now, RLE, full time, etc) eleven months later. I basically was identifying to people as a boy then had name change, FFS, and got a job as me now two months later. It happened pretty fast but the HRT to RLE point was eleven months. I think that's what you are looking for 🙂 Meghan

OH! Meant to add that when you go full time is really up to you. I would encourage you to weigh what you are hoping to get out of going full time. Are you expecting for society to see you as a girl? Do you feel like you are you presenting in such a way that they would? How would you feel if they didn't see you that way or if you thought you'd get a different reaction? Does any of that really matter to you? If you figure out what you are hoping to accomplish and weigh out all the "if-this-happens-then-I'll-do-that" issues, you'll be fine for whenever you decide, Emily. I think the hardest thing for a lot of transpeople if feeling like they are going to get a certain type of reaction from people and they don't and they never considered that so they are stuck in this kind of "what the heck do I do now" kind of place, if that makes sense. I think it's awesome that you are thinking things through. And welcome to Susan's!  🙂

Been full time for just almost 18 months, still no official HRT (spiro for almost a month but it's not proper to go into details in the open)

Would be trying to get HRT started already but that takes more income than i have. Next job will be followed very quickly by HRT.

I was 3 years RLE before HRT.

Quote from: LordKAT on April 22, 2011, 12:47:41 AM
basically my story too. The question is backwards for some of us.

Yep, it's just a matter that you don't need drugs to be yourself. I'd have been content to keep off them, but my hair just kept on falling out more and more so I had to take action to make all that nonsense stop.

Quote from: EmilyElizabeth on April 22, 2011, 01:06:45 AM
Wow, a very wide spread here!  I think I'll be approximately 9 months by my deadline, so does that seem do-able given my current appearance?

Given what I've seen (I've lurked around these forums longer than my post count would suggest) the answer to your question is a resounding "most definitely!"

As for my own timeline, I started RLE five months after HRT, but my first three months of HRT were a waste as my T levels were out of control (650 on the regimen my doctor prescribed).  She even told me earlier this week that I shouldn't even count those months, and if that were the case, I started RLE two months after starting an HRT program that actually had some effect on my body.

Then again, as others have stated, it's all very individual.  Some may wait for sweeping HRT changes before having the courage to go out.  I was more fortunate: despite being 33, my body never masculinized all that much and I was fortunate to have many feminine features going into the process (no adam's apple, sparse facial hair, not a single hair on my body, no balding, etc.).  So in echoing again what others have said, do what feels most comfortable for YOU.

Being older i wanted the hormones to soften my features before going full time, i also wanted my hair to get longer and more electrolysis to clear my face, when i started getting ma'am'd all the time it was time, so it was around the 1 year mark i was living full time.

Paula

i'm probably going fulltime for the next semester, if not earlier. i'll probably have 7-9 months of HRT before RLE then

I went full time outside of work 2 months before HRT. Then 2 months after HRT, I went completely full time.