Per the sidebar:
This community is supportive of DIY HRT. Unsolicited medical advice or caution being given to people on DIY will result in moderator action.
I know OP literally asked for advice on DIY HRT, but her post clearly states her intention to take it. She didn't ask for counter arguments about why she shouldn't take it.
It's never too late. You're very young. Your happiness is worth it. And if you're waiting for your life to be perfect to transition, you're setting yourself up for failure. Dysphoria causes distress, and it makes it that much harder to succeed in other areas of your life.
When I was seeking bottom surgery I was gatekept a lot for not having great mental health. Needless to say, bottom dysphoria was a significant contributing factor to my poor mental health. I am healthier than I have ever been post op.
What I'm really trying to say by that is that you deserve to feel joy about your body and your gender presentation. You shouldn't hold yourself back. Forcing yourself to exist in a body and presentation that causes you distress has a huge impact on your well-being.
When doing injections your level of hormones does not remain consistent over the period in between your shots. This can definitely lead to hormonal days on both ends of the week when your levels are very high or getting lower. I haven't experienced this directly myself though, so I'll let someone else chime in with some first hand experience with it.
For me being pre-op was the thing that caused a mental dissociation the most. I did struggle to rectify my anatomy with how I felt. Not that that necessarily is it for you.
I don't have a lot to add that hasn't been said. I just want to say that I used to think I'd never pass and used to deny myself all the things I wanted for that reason. Preventing myself from being overtly feminine made me feel more detached from who I was and less confident in my presentation. It's hard to pass as a woman if you never present yourself as one. You have to develop your presentation. It takes time. It can be awkward.
Very well said. I despair at the growing sense of violence looming on the horizon.
You can post a gofundme here. In the post please describe what the money is for and who it is going to. Doesnt have to be legal names or compromising information. Just like, it's for my rent and prescriptions or you know anything like that. I have previously considered more rigorous verification process, but as long as you are transparent about what the funds are being raised for its fine.
I'm not sure how to open this. It seems to be decrypting but it's just stuck there not doing anything.
In any case, you're allowed to talk about suicide, suicidal feelings and so on here. If there's anything rule breaking in there I don't really have any way of knowing.
It depends on where, your skin varies across your body. I shave after showering and exfoliating. I use sensitive shave gel and moisturize right after shaving. I try and do so around once a week or once we every two weeks and find that I dont get many ingrown hairs maintaining this routine. I also change the razor blade frequently, once every month or so.
I'm glad that you've chosen to separate yourself from what is ultimately a very toxic community of people who have a very, very black and white view of society and gender.
Looking "like a woman" doesn't mean one specific thing. I know it's hard to think that way, but gender is a construct as much as it affects our lives. Women, passing women specifically, come in all shapes and sizes. Look all different ways. There is no "shape of a woman" or "face of a woman" or even "voice of a woman". That's simply not how human biology works. I say this not to dismiss your dysphoria, but to point out that you're probably comparing yourself with a very specific construction of womanhood and femininity. Comparing yourself to an imaginary figure in this manner is bad for you. It has direct consequences for your mental health.
Women look all kinds of different ways and still pass. Stop hyperfixating on the specific feminine ideals of beauty that are spread across all levels of society and notice the way women look in your own community. Follow influencers and content creators who do not fit societal conventions of physical femininity and yet are undeniably women.
Passing is possible for us. It's a combination of many factors, but chiefly among them is self-confidence and assuredness. Gender is socially a performance. It's a set of behaviors, presentations, and attitudes. What determines whether you pass or not is chiefly how clear your performance is. Hence why people who have bodies very well aligned with social conventions for women can still be misgendered or treated differently if they are gender non-conforming in presentation or behavior.
If passing is something important to you, then it is absolutely something you can do. Learn to do your makeup, get a feminine hair style and take really good care of your hair, start taking care of your skin, wear overtly feminine clothing that makes you feel good, notice the way that women around you talk and move and start to emulate it. It might not be possible to pass literally 100% of the time, but there's a vast difference between passing 5% of the time and passing 90% or even 80% of the time. It's not satisfying, and I know, I get it, the desire for it to just happen for you to just immediately be always seen as a cis woman is strong. But that's not in line with how gender works.
And I'm not saying that I agree with it working this way, I would call myself a gender abolitionist who thinks everyone should be entitled to have whatever body and presentation they want. However, whether we like it or not, that's how society views and treats gender. If your goal is to pass as a cis woman, then you have to seem like one when someone meets you. Which is more than just your face shape or your fat distribution or so on. Not that those things aren't factors, but lots of cis women have different face shapes, broad shoulders, narrow hips, and so on. They also perform gender a certain way. And lots of women have all the things women are socially told their bodies should have, and they can still be misgendered when not performing gender the expected way.
That's not always an option.
The gofundme has been open since early 2024. It also provides consistent detailed updates, pictures, and screenshots of bank statements and wire transfers.
I have no reason to suspect this is a scam. I understand being cautious about sending money online, but this seems verifiably legitimate.