Keeping A Topic Current In The Listing To Get Answers To Questions.

[Guest Jaquie Lynn]

I am curious as to how a topic can remain current to get answers from more than a couple individuals. I am at a loss for how to take a large male body and make it look female. Secondly, how to get past the wrinkles with facial make up? I rode motorcycles for 35 years and was on ships for 10. In my 20's I got frostbite in at sea rescues in the north Atlantic.

I do not look old for a man. But I am afraid that a woman with age lines looks battle weary and worn. It just seems to go that way. The old saying a man looks distinguished, well, I look distinguished!

HELP, since I am new here I am not sure how this whloe thing works yet, I would appreciate any advice, Jaquie Lynn

[Sally]

Well, first of all welcome and second a pst stays alive as long as people are answering it. Without responces they just fade away - like old soldiers!

I think that this one faded because so many of us are at aloss for what to do and were hoping that someone else would supply - "The Answer"!

No one did! I was looking for it too! I'm well over 6 feet tall and had I admitted at an earlier age that I needed to become a woman (physically - I was always a woman in denial - Hey! I was Cleopatra! ) I would have taken better care of my skin!

As to the large male body, accept that you will be a large female and observe them in shopping malls - if you adopt the movements of a 5 foot, 95 pound cheerleader you will draw attention to yourself!

Move like a lage, older woman and you will blend right in.

As to the wrinkles, I'm not going to be a huge help, but use a lot of moisturizing lotions and crams at night, wear a liquid, moisurizing base and soft colors - blend all of your make up avoid harsh lines - feather your eyeshadow out at the sides and use a very light blush. In other words while the temptation is to reach for the Tammy Faye make up trowell loaded with Bondo auto body putty - you will need to go very lightly on the makeup or it will draw attention to exactly what you are trying to hide.

There are about a hundred wrinkle removing creams, don't waste your money on them, just start a reasonable skin care regimine and keep your skin moist - that's about the best I have to offer.

We're both in the same boat (although mine were cruise ships).

Love ya,

Sally

[Guest Elizabeth K]

Like Sally I am a mature matron. I haven't worked outside much so I am lucky to have fairly good skin. But I have another problem, I am very tall. So we all have challanges , I suppose - especially us older girls.

I talked with my therapist on this very subject. Her advice? Look at the world around you - look at the women. They vary in size, appearance and attractiveness. She said the problem many of us MTF transsexual people have is we don't see women as they really are. I am going to fit in - I won't be a Catherine Zetta-Jones, but I "will be an attractive, if large, woman." Her words, I swear.

My attitude changed immediately - I can be a woman! My whole life was how -how - how can I be a woman.

BUT then I realized I am already a woman, now, as I write this, as I live and breathe. DUHHHHH

Now I know I AM a woman, just have to polish up the appearance as much as I can. I have just started HRT - I am close to being 100% female in chemistry. So I am waiting to see where that goes. I may need a few additional steps - may need a lot - but at least I have started. Electrolysis - I have an exremely light amount of body hair (Amerind ancestory) but I need my face cleared. Surgery - yikes - possibly - probably - hummmmm... who knows

To your question - yes I have wrinkles. But I am now a woman with wrinkles, what can I do about it? Possibly a face lift, if I feel I just haveta! I try to keep my skin lightened. I try to focus attention on my strongest femine attributes - legs and breasts (yes you read that right - pretty breasts keep both sexes cueing you as female - the men are obvious, the women are comparing themselves). And a beautifully accessorized outfit cues you as a classic woman - and rich women may be old and wrinkled, but look GOOD in their clothing choices - ha.

I just know now to avoid putting on make-up with a trowel. I try to be reasonable with my presentation so I am not only gender appropriate (which is of course female) but also age appropriate, season approriate, and fashion appropriate. I had to throw away all my style magazines - I went to the Mall and watched women close to my age, and close to my size (yes there are a lot of women 6' + -wow). And they weigh less than I do - duhh - I can lose weight!

They pull it off without thinking - they are womanly. I watch and learn - watch and learn - watch and learn.

We gonna make it - justa lotta work and practice.

[Guest Evan_J]

....

To your question - yes I have wrinkles. But I am now a woman with wrinkles, what can I do about it? Possibly a face lift, if I feel I just haveta! I try to keep my skin lightened. I try to focus attention on my strongest femine attributes - legs and breasts (yes you read that right - pretty breasts keep both sexes cueing you as female - the men are obvious, the women are comparing themselves). And a beautifully accessorized outfit cues you as a classic woman - and rich women may be old and wrinkled, but look GOOD in their clothing choices - ha. .....

I hate to admit it (only because it makes men and myself in particular "sound bad") but she's right. Not that long ago I was parking in the lot of my local grocery store and there was a woman walking across the parking lot -a considerably older woman (60?)- who, because she had a great body, saw fit to showcase that body in a somewhat....highlighting .....outfit. I know she was older, I know there were wrinkles involved, but the only thing I can clearly picture about her were her breasts. Same thing goes for my support group - which has several older MtF in it actually- I remember the good figures. At the point boobies start to grow I do the same thing I do with ALL women

[Guest Jaquie Lynn]

Interesting that you say, when the boobies begin to grow. This started to happen to me with puberty. But a lifetime of neglect and sleeping on my stomach and sides at 250 lbs. managed to push the glands and the fatty tissue to the sides. The glands developed under my arms and have only recently with the help of a bra and progesterone, which aids in the connective tissue development that will maintain the shape and texture of the breast tissue as it develops, the breast tissue and the glands have begun to reform, relocate, and increase in mass. The glands and the fatty tissue were never flabby or even very noticeable. But now they are between C & D cups Breasts, BOOBS, Breasts, Taa Taa's, and the cool thing is they are the BREASTS of a Teenager. At 55 years of age I have full, firm, perky breasts, and they are MINE; all MINE!!! I love them.

I have severe lung disease from a bout with Tuburculosis in the Phillipines, and so I get chest X-Rays regularly. About five years ago mjy house was burned to the ground by a drug addict burglasr and it left me homelss for 2 1/2 years, and I went without a chest X-Rays for a couple of years. When I finally did have them my Doctor nearly had kittens, she came flying into the exam room and held up previous X-rays to my new ones! Low and behold there was fully developed milk glands where they are supposed to be, and they had been on the side for years. They were never noticed because of my size. The ability to move the tissue back to where it belongs has taken 3 years of constant attention and sometimes it has been a little more than uncofortable, when in fact it has down right been painful. Even now they are still pointed a little to the outside but concentric and look like breasts, not humps of flesh under my arms.

The hair on my body has all become much thinner and lighter. Except on my face and the backs of my thighs. I have always had thin hair on my body and so male clothing has caused serious problems with hair breakage below the skin surface and in turn in grown hairs. Exacerbated by the reduction in Testosterone due to age. Are there any known, from experience hair removal systems besides Electrolysis?

This has been a real experience for me because for the most part this has all been a natural process! I am disabled and have no funds to invest in a future as a woman, so I am stuck in this endless circle of doubt and desire!

Jaquie Lynn