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Transfem
A community for transfeminine people and experiences.
This is a supportive community for all transfeminine or questioning people. Anyone is welcome to participate in this community but disrupting the safety of this space for trans feminine people is unacceptable and will result in moderator action.
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This community is supportive of DIY HRT. Unsolicited medical advice or caution being given to people on DIY will result in moderator action.
Posters may express that they are looking for responses and support from groups with certain experiences (eg. trans people, trans people with supportive parents, trans parents.). Please respect those requests and be mindful that your experience may differ from others here.
Some helpful links:
- The Gender Dysphoria Bible // In depth explanation of the different types of gender dysphoria.
- Trans Voice Help // A community here on blahaj.zone for voice training.
- LGBTQ+ Healthcare Directory // A directory of LGBTQ+ accepting Healthcare providers.
- Trans Resistance Network // A US-based mutual aid organization to help trans people facing state violence and legal discrimination.
- TLDEF's Trans Health Project // Advice about insurance claims for gender affirming healthcare and procedures.
- TransLifeLine's ID change Library // A comprehensive guide to changing your name on any US legal document.
- Rainbow Railroad // A non-profit international humans rights organization helping at risk LGBTQ+ people relocate to safety.
Support Hotlines:
- The Trevor Project // Web chat, phone call, and text message LGBTQ+ support hotline.
- TransLifeLine // A US/Canada LGBTQ+ phone support hotline service. The US line has Spanish support.
- LGBT Youthline.ca // A Canadian LGBT hotline support service with phone call and web chat support. (4pm - 9:30pm EST)
- 988lifeline // A US only Crisis hotline with phone call, text and web chat support. Dedicated staff for LGBTQIA+ youth 24/7 on phone service, 3pm to 2am EST for text and web chat.
Are you looking for a longterm strategy? Something more short term, or maybe just for the day?
Wrinkles come with age anyway. Not sure if yours are age related or skin issues or what. Good moisturizers can be useful to smooth them a bit, ones with estodiol help some people. But if they're age related, there's not a lot you can do outside of plastic surgery and I'd they're not, they'll be back with age, lol.
I have bangs to cover up my receding hairline and age related wrinkles. But I don't want them forever, so it's a medium term solution.
I moisturize a lot as a long term reduction strategy, but they will never get better, only get worse slower. I like the MAC Hyper Real SkimCanvas balm, but I don't use it daily since it's a bit pricey for my taste. I use it in combination with a more traditional facial moisturizer from Cetaphil. But I also have really sensitive, combination skin, so I have to be cautious. If you don't, then experiment...
Make up can help as well. I'm not a great makeup artist, but a good primer and foundation can go a long way. There are products specifically designed to reduce the visibility of wrinkles and techniques that real makeup artists use for it as well.
Another immediate strategy is to practice more muscle control of your forehead. If you tend to skruch your face with stress like me, then learning to relax your forehead muscles helps reduce visibility a bit.
Eventually I plan to get facial feminization surgery once I'm through the wait lists, which will help a bit when they straighten my hairline as well, but again, just a cat and mouse game with age. There, however, are completely cosmetic procedures that can do a lot more to stretch out the skin combined with skin relaxers, but yeah, you have to do them multiple times as you age and it becomes effective for a shorter time each time. And they are very expensive. Mostly just rich people do that to stay looking younger.
Anyway, these are the options I know of and some I have used. If your hairline is really too receded for bangs then facial feminization may be your best long term bet if you have it available. Otherwise, try some moisturizers and/or consult a makeup pro. I've found even the workers at the MAC store are sometimes really good at the basics, too, even if they aren't seasoned pros. Videos exist online as well. All of that is essentially free. But it's sometimes hard to cut through the marketing nonsense to find products that really work, so consult older women around you. We all have to deal with it eventually, even if yours are probably more visible than average from the receded hairline. 😁
Edit: oh, forgot, wigs. I have curly hair so it's taken a couple of years to get it just down to almost collar length. I have a couple of wigs, just cheap, costume quality ones, but I only really have worn them out when I was dressed up. It's also nice because my hair is dark and so it's difficult to dye it and I can change that up with a wig, too. Wigs get a bad rap, but even cheap ones aren't too uncomfortable unless you are sweating a lot. Not good for all day. But more expensive ones I've heard can be comfortable for all day use and they typically use real hair so you can style the hair some, too. If you don't want a wig, you could look into extensions or other options that might require gluing down the hair, but they won't look as natural of course. We've all seen Trump's comb over 🤣.
Thank you for the recommendations! I’m 29. So not super young, but I don’t think I’m wrinkle old yet. I do work outside though and fear the sun is aging my skin.