Sasha

It does the same thing as laser, it kills the follicle using a burst of heat. Even laser is in some sense temporary and you'll have regrowth, but in either case that process takes months and it's very gradual, it's why laser clinics say you need to perform maintenance.

I stopped doing IPL for nearly year and I can count the numbers of chest hairs that came back on my hands. I had a similar experience when COVID lockdowns interrupted my facial laser sessions for a couple of months, except that grew back faster. I think a large part of it is related to growth phases though, as in you've gotta kill the follicle at the right time for it to stay dead or something, I'm no expert.

At home IPL absolutely works, it's definitely better for dark hair on light skin, I've had pretty good results. Still struggling with facial hair, but so did professional laser. I've gotten rid of almost all my body hair with my little IPL machine. It's slower, but you can also do it more frequently so it isn't too bad. It's also an option for maintenance once you've done laser rather than going back every 6 months or whatever they recommend. (Also IPL doesn't hurt)

At home electrolysis is apparently a scam according to a friend of mine :/

What you're experiencing is relatively common in my experience. Transitioning sucks, even with support. It's slow, expensive, often disappointing and it takes an absurd amount of both bravery and energy to live genuinely. You're doing great.

I've always struggled with transition timelines, especially before I started transitioning. Thinking about it now, I'm actually surprised that I don't find they trigger dysphoria any more. Certainly still jealousy, but it makes me happy to see people enjoying life. I'm not really happy with the physical changes I've made so far, it's been slow and subtle and I can't really work out how to stop boy moding, but I like myself now even if I still want to much more.

It's too bad that transition timelines often focus on meeting stereotypical beauty standards, because imo transition is about so much more than that. I get to talk to a lot of people at different stages, and the truly inspiring thing is how much happier people become. It's definitely a fight, but it's one you can win even if it's in ways you might not expect. I'm sorry it's so damn hard and I wish it was possible to ease the burden.

Celebrate your wins as they come, you're working hard as hell and deserve to feel good about every step forward.

The speech is a chance to say everything you want to say, as long as it comes from the heart and celebrates their marriage, you'll do fine.

IMHO it's totally fine to joke about yourself, as long as you aren't generalising there's nothing anyone can say. Transitioning is your story, and you get to tell it how you want.

I have a playlist called "Loud Sleep" I put that on, crank the volume up enough that I can't hear my thoughts and wait around until I'm so exhausted I either fall asleep or get sleepy enough that I take them off and pass out. I specifically use Skullcandy crushers so I crank the bass waaaaaay up and let it vibrate my skull.

It's just a bunch of They Might Be Giants' more aggressive/loud songs and a couple that mean something to me. It's not really about avoiding feeling stuff, it's all intended to make me feel more, just without as much thinking. It's kept me alive on some really bad nights when I felt like all I could do was die.

Imposter syndrome because the people around you beat you to coming out is real and sucks so hard. It happened to me, I watched a couple of my friends go through the exact same thing after I came out and it happened in reverse to an acquaintance when I heard someone angrily complain about said acquaintance coming out after them (it was unbelievably toxic and nothing I've seen before or since).

One of the closest people in my life literally hit me with the "just asking for a friend" to see if they're allowed to be non-binary without taking hormones like I do. Even with all the reassurance in the world it can take a long time. It's so so hard, being trans often means overcoming an enormous amount of self doubt and all sorts of internalised nasty things.

You've done an amazing job navigating everything. I'm so proud of you and it only gets better from here, I promise.

Thank you for existing ❤️

I've got unclockable's bra buds and they're pretty good when they work but it's been hard to find good bras and they can be a pain to keep in place. I've come home a few times only to realise they'd completely left the cup without me noticing.

They're supposedly like implants and tbh they're pretty convincing when you get them in something good, I really like them I just wish I had more than one bra for them...

Yeah that's it lol, I like feeding people.

It's not really the reason, but she was at least part of what drew me to it, and it's really funny tbh

I wish it was the avocados, literally a daily thing for me lol. I'm just genetically cursed lol

Damn, that's a great new trick

Oh wow, it's been a year and half and I'm almost up to an A lmao