Tiny little milestones

[Mirrabooka]

So, something happened today, something that I found unachievable until now. Such an insignificant thing but still, a milestone. I need to provide some context first.

 

I seem to be free-falling towards femininity but I have not yet made a commitment to myself to transition. I very well might not, but time will tell. But one of the things I started doing last year was to grow my hair. I didn't know it at the time, but with the length that it is now, it is actually encouraging me to accelerate my journey to the next stage, whatever that is.

 

Growing your hair is an absolute PITA until it gets to a certain length as many of you would probably know. It is now long enough for it to remain tucked behind my ears most of the time and I have a lot of fun styling it different ways. A few months ago it was at a very awkward stage and every day was a bad hair day. One day I became frustrated with it after I just started mowing the lawn and my wife offered to tie it up, which helped at the time, but it wasn't something that I normally needed to do if I wasn't engaging in a laborious task otherwise. At work, a hard hat controls my hair nicely. Anyway, later on I tried to tie my hair up by myself. Hair tie on one hand, grab my hair with the other, pass it through, give the tie a twist, pass it through again...then disaster! I just couldn't apply the required dexterity to make the tie tight enough to be effective.

 

Randomly, today, I tried again. Bingo! Maybe because my hair is a bit longer again, but I managed four twists and everything held in place. I was gushing with pride!

 

Such a small thing, but just another thing that girls normally do. 

[April Marie]

Sometimes it is just those small wins that make life wonderful!! I'm at the awkward stage of growing my hair out - and still it's longer now than it has been since the mid 70's. Too long to look good....not long enough to do anything with. 🙂

 

I do keep trying to style it a bit, trying to get an idea of how I want it eventually, although I am in love with the look I have with my wig.

 

As Dr. Leo Marvin said in "What About Bob?", baby steps. 🙂

[Mirrabooka]

As my hair was growing I simply parted it in the middle and tried to keep it behind my ears. Now that it's a bit longer, I can part it off-center and keep the short side behind that ear and the long side either behind or over my other ear, depending on my mood. After I shower, which I do in the evenings, I normally brush it all back. Out of bed in the mornings on my days off, I let it drape messily over my ears before I tidy myself up. On a workday, I dampen it and part it how I like at the time. Any outing is prefaced with hairspray. 

[Mirrabooka]

Speaking of small wins, one thing I discovered last year when my hair was growing, was the simple pleasure of feeling it getting blown around as I drove a car with the window down. After 30 years of buzz cuts, this was a very enjoyable sensation!

[Mmindy]

7 minutes ago, Mirrabooka said:

After 30 years of buzz cuts, this was a very enjoyable sensation!

I'm the same way with my hair, and the way it feels around my face, the visual affects when I lean over a project. That being said, I had to learn the proper way to de-tangle, and care for my hair. Working in the shop has also changed because of all the mechanical things I'm around. So now I have to consider ponytail, or bun locations depending on the face shield or welding helmet tension adjustment. Then there's the scarfs and dew rags. Oh... I also started wearing mechanic's glove to protect my nails. I enjoy everything about being the woman in the shop.

 

Hug,

 

Mindy🐛🏳️‍⚧️🦋 

[MaybeRob]

It's a win to be able to grow longer hair at all.  Some of us (Me) have to rely of wigs. lol 

I have tried to make the reverse mohawk fashionable - but no success yet.

 

Rob

[Mirrabooka]

So, I just achieved another tiny little milestone, even though it was never on my to-do list to begin with. It is so trivial, but a huge leap for me.

 

Long after I started letting my hair grow out, late last year I started growing my nails, just because it’s what girls just do. So, I did, stealthily at first. I kept them shaped and in check by filing instead of cutting them and I never let them get stupidly long. A friend suggested that I should apply polish to make them look pretty but I said no, that’s just not me, it’s not the look I’m after and anyway I would never get away with it. I was also warned about splitting and breakage but I didn’t think that I would let them get long enough for that to be an issue. I just wanted a slightly more girly look. 

 

But of course, they did split and break, and it was annoying me. They were at their longest about 6 weeks ago, most of them protruding past my fingertips by a few millimetres but probably 3 out of 10 of them had major issues and they were uneven. I commented to my wife that I needed to apply something to them to prevent damage; I even suggested superglue to try and hold together one particular nail that was severely split laterally! Since then, I cut them right back to start again and because their length ended up being totally impractical at work due to an increased amount of required manual labor – I had been hiding in an office, but was required to ‘man up’ for a few weeks. That won’t be an issue soon, so I am letting them grow again now. I wanted to prevent splitting now instead of dealing with it when it occurs, but I was confused by the plethora of products available and didn’t want to use anything too noticeable. An ad on TV set me on a path to get some nail gel. Honestly, I knew nothing about that product previously.

 

I applied it for the first time yesterday. My first reaction, is that it felt completely natural to do so! It felt normal to pamper myself in this way! The nails immediately appeared shiny and stayed that way. The tips also appear whiter and the main part of the nail, pinker. I love how they look! Such a tiny little change, but so affirming! Why didn’t I do this years ago!!!

[Birdie]

3 minutes ago, Mirrabooka said:

An ad on TV set me on a path to get some nail gel. Honestly, I knew nothing about that product previously.

I have never heard of "nail gel" either. I'll have to look it up.

My nails are just long enough that they get abused by daily chores. 

[Birdie]

I found some products online, but they require the UV light curing. 

I might ask the salon about doing my nails with gel coat on Saturday. 🤔

 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BWDY74JG/ref=sspa_mw_detail_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9waG9uZV9kZXRhaWwyp13NParams

[Birdie]

A rather large milestone for me has been that my nickname "Birdie" has been used by pretty much everyone at the day-centre now.

If not "Birdie" they at least call me "Bird".

 

It took months before I could get everyone to switch over. 😉

 

[Mirrabooka]

22 hours ago, Birdie said:

I have never heard of "nail gel" either. I'll have to look it up. 

Here's a link to the product I bought. The before and after images in it are a pretty good representation of the subtle difference it make to the appearance of the nails. I can't see myself wanting anything more than that:

Thin Lizzy Pink Armour Nail Gel

 

[AllieJ]

Mirrabooka, taking the supplement Biotin can make a significant difference in the strength of your hair and nails. There are supplements which include Biotin, but they tend to have very small doses, so straight Biotin is best. It can cause incorrect blood tests which can be a problem for those on HRT, so we need to stop it a week or so before.

 

Hugs,

 

Allie

[Mirrabooka]

Thanks for that @AllieJ, I'll check it out.