Cross Dressing⁄Trapping

Hi. Just like the title says, spiro vs androcur. Which should i go for? pros and cons?

too long/don't read:

I am currently taking spiro(300mg) as an anti androgen and I'm quite pleased with how its working on my body overall, been on hrt for like a year. Now the problem is that the doctor I'm seeing only wants to prescribe me androcur (i live in Sweden, Europe.) and while i do have a prescription on androcur atm, I am still buying spiro from the internet and using it exclusively.

I know that both spiro and androcur have side effects and dangers related to it, but I feel as i can cope with spiro. It hasn't made me depressed or ill and Ive had no problems(other than the obvious to expect from a diuretic >< which isn't really that bad).

So the reason to why I'm considering to switch to androcur is because spiro gets way to expensive for me having to buy it on the net. The cheapest and yet still reliable online pharmacy that ships to Sweden gets me 100 pills for 130 USD.. and even if it was less expensive, buying prescribed medicine from a Swedish pharmacy is still cheaper in the long rung, because the price gets reduced the more I buy, and eventually I would get it for free (Swedish health care ftw! and btw i also get my srs payed for).

I'm going to be moving to Toronto for school this fall (just in case anyone lives there and knows where to buy). Is there anywhere to buy cheap wigs? I've seen places where you can buy life-like hair for hundreds to thousands of dollars, but I was looking for something kind of crappy and cheap. I figure, with halloween coming up, I have the perfect excuse to get a girly wig.

Also, is there a name for the hair style that is long, but the bangs are cut short?

example: http://www.cross-dress.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/267_Basic.web.full.jpg

I'm 18 and I live at home and I probably won't be moving out anytime soon. I don't get the house to myself very often either. Has anyone else been stuck in a situation like this? If so, then what did you do? Is there anyway I can discreetly buy any clothes, shoes, etc?

If you have means to get to a store, the easiest thing to do is just buy it and not worry about what anyone else thinks. They don't know why you're buying, probably won't see you again and will probably forget about it almost immediately. If you're worried about someone you know seeing you, just go to a store a little further away. If you're nervous about the cashier, some bigger stores like Wal-Mart have self-serve checkouts. Granted, you probably won't find anything too great, but it could help you become more comfortable. I personally haven't told anyone about my dressing yet, but have bought several times and haven't had any problems. It becomes a lot less scary after the first couple times.

Unless you live in a big city, it could be difficult to find shoes. You're probably going to have to go online for that. It will probably come in a discrete package. A lot of women's clothing does as well, actually, and you can always inquire if you're not sure. If you're worried about your family asking questions about what you ordered, the only thing I can think of is General Delivery. I think the service is still used, but maybe not everywhere and it might be called something else if you're outside the U.S., so you'd have to check. Anyway, if you have the clothes mailed to General Delivery at your local post office, you can pick it up there as long as you provide ID. It's mostly intended for people who move or don't have a stable address, so again, check first if you plan on trying it, but I don't see why it wouldn't work.

Hope something in there helps!

EBAY, turns up on your card statements as paypal too

goodwill and the salvation army. certain times of day theres barely anyone there, and alot of the people who shop there are poor and crazy so no one is going to think anything of you looking at women's clothing there. im sure they have to put up with alot weirder things. also, you can get 2 or 3 full outfits for 10$. carrying around a list with what youre looking for and the sizes it needs to be in makes it look like youre shopping for someone else too.

ebay works too, but its always obvious when a package shows up that's from lydia's bridal online shop or something.

then there's hiding your stuff once you get it home...

Just go to a girls' clothes shop - most store attendants are nice, and that way you can try on different sizes etc. before you spend heaps of money on clothes that might not fit you.

In reference to what Mindy said, I know it's hard to not worry about what others think. I mean, for me at least, going to a store to buy girls clothes is the scariest thing ever. But if you find you can't bring yourself to do it alone, bring a girl with you. That way you have a perfectly good excuse to be looking at woman's clothing. Or if you're by yourself, remind yourself that it's perfectly reasonable to be shopping for your girlfriend, and then if anyone asks you about it you have that as an excuse as well.

Also, if you bought clothes from an online shop that sells clothing for both genders, then no one would know whats in the package unless they opened it. (Hopefully your mom isn't so nosy that she goes through your mail too...)

everything they said :) I've done them all. When I first started out I woudl drive an hour away to shop and be scared to death! Even then I had my girfriend story ready, even though I never had to use it. After a while I realized no one really noticed, so I just started shopping (I LOVE sales racks!)Honestly I can only say I've had one real event and that was buying some super frilly undies dressed as a guy. The checkout girl kinda smirked at me, but she may have been i a mood and smirking at everyone, I just picked up on it because I was feeling self-concious. Anyway, I never saw her again so who cares?
It gets easier, I swear. And don't repress it for years because you're scared of what people will say/think. It breaks somethign inside you. There is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.
:)

For a while I was super afraid to go and buy things on my own. So the clothes that I had all came from Ebay or such. That worked pretty well, but as you might guess I got a bunch of things that ended up not fitting because I wasn't 100% sure of my size.

Then I came out to my closest friends, who are so amazingly helpful. I just go shopping with them now. Having a girl there totally helps boost my confidence. I have no problem trying on clothes or buying shoes or anything anymore. The only thing is that I'm still a little afraid to buy underwear for myself, I usually have a friend check out it for me. One day I'll be able to go alone. :[

So if you have any friends that are girls and seem pretty cool, come out of the closet and tell them! I was horribly lonely in my little crossdressing world until I opened up to them. Now we go shopping, try on clothes, and when we hang out at my house and such I have no problem dressing the way I want.

tl;dr, come out to your friends. It could help a lot!

So what feels better for people? I'm still in the closet on my transitioning, and I'm not full time yet, but I like clothes shopping a lot. So would you guys say shopping while dressed up works better?

I sometimes feel more people look at me when I dress up. (then again, I sometimes suck in my taking care of my facial hair).

But I'm glad a lot of people don't seem to care about us buying clothes.... underwear always seems to be a bit harder though >.>

I remember seeing something where this really ugly girl/guy, fuck if I know, does shit like glue his eyelids and apply foundation or something, and the end result was a really passable Japanese camwhore thing. I'm pretty sure that it was translated. It may be a video, I don't know. You probably know what I'm talking about if you've ever seen it.

http://members.asianbeautyblog.com/entry/Incandescent/64123/How_to_be_an_Ulzzang__makeup_magic.html

Ok, So I'm really starting to think of hormones seriously. But the problem is, I'm not sure where to start. Who should I talk to about this? My family doctor, some sort of specialist or maybe a physcologist? Those that are on MtF hormones, where did you start out?

I'm thinking my family doctor is a good place to start with questions about the drugs (pros & cons). But on the other hand I don't want to get bad infomation or a incorrect referal. I trust my doctor and all, shes awesome, I just think this area is...trickier. Maybe I'm just being self conscious.

I got in touch with my college's Gay Lesbian Trans center and they gave me a list of psychologists who are well trained and have dealt with Gender issues before.

Mostly, if they are respectable in Trans issues, they want to follow the Harry Benjamin's Standards of Care. Meaning:

"# Eligibility and Readiness Criteria for Hormone Therapy for Adults

1. Three eligibility criteria exist.

     1. age 18 years
     2. demonstrable knowledge of what hormones medically can and cannot do and their social benefits and risks
     3. Either a documented real life experience should be undertaken for at least three months prior to the administration of hormones Or
     4. a period of psychotherapy of a duration specified by the mental health professional after the initial evaluation (usually a minimum of three months) should be undertaken
     5. under no circumstances should an person be provided hormones who has neither fulfilled criteria #3 or #4.

Thank you very much :)

I know there are many threads about these..but they dont awnser the questions i seek.....I am thinking about srsly buying an epilator for my legs...but would it work on my face? and other body hair? i have some cheast hair growing in (thanks dad and gradpa) anywhos, would using an epilator be good for total body hair removal?

ATM i use a dull razor for everything and that does the job well, with little irritation...though i sometimes cut me legs up a bit ;_;

TL;DR epilator for all hair besides on yer head

i've had a few:
the panasonic wet/dry
the epilady legend
and the braun caress
of all of them I preferred the epilady legend, it seemed the most durable. Watch out trying to take it apart to try and clean it, it's a bitch to line up all those little disks, and it's all springy...
Surprisingly i liked the wet/dry the least; it was much nicer feeling using it wet; but it didn't work as well dry, and even wet it left a lot.

I've got dark-colored but sparse/moderate body hair, a little patch on the chest, bit of a "happy trail", nothing on the back, but a crazy viking beard. I've also been on hrt for a couple months. As far as the legs, abdomen, chest, even arms go it's great; but it's kinda dangerous in the bikini area and armpits (at least, for me). Not only does it approach my pain threshold (and I've gotten an apadravya, google it) it's really hard to keep the skin taut, especially with dense hair as well, sometimes the skin can get caught in the tweezers, it can draw blood. I prefer to wax those areas. I've been too chicken to use it on my face so far; I have a very thick beard though, I find that shaving is really the best; laser if you can afford it.

I have the body hair of a 23 year old Scottish dude. :/

I have a Braun Silk Epil X'elle that I got recently and its been great for body hair. I use it fairly regularly, like as soon as theres a reasonable amount of hair that would be long enough to epilate on a part of the body, I epilate. So I never have really dense areas that need doing. Keeps things fairly simple and relatively painless.

I have a great pain threshold- I do my bikini area, armpits, tummy, chest, legs and occasionally my shoulders without any issue. But, I would never ever use it on my face. I mean, I tried ever so briefly one time out of curiosity, and it just didn't seem like the pain vs payoff was worth it.

I see women talking about using an epilator on their facial hair, but IMO that's nothing like a guy using it for facial hair. Those hairs are something else altogether and that would just be torturous.

Make sure you exfoliate regularly as the hairs regrow, otherwise they'll grow along under the surface of the skin. This is more important than if you shave, cuz the tips of the newly growing hair seem less capable of pushing through the very top layer of skin.

find another solution for your face. epilator on male facial hair = certain death. please don't test that statement.

hmmm..op here...thanks...aye, I dont mind shaving my face with my razor...though with all this pain my Mistress just might use it on my face XD

What they said. Epil on boy face is bad. Laser is best if you have 1000 dollars to spend. I use epil on face a bit now after laser, mostly very light fine hairs. Come out ok with little pain.

I epilate my face when I can, but it hurts.... BAD.

Sideburns stung badly. Shaving and foundation is how I go usually. Also, using a set of tweezers and doing individual hairs hurt less in my experience.

I don't want to be fully female, but can a guy take hormones to become more feminine/androgynous/prettier, as well as staving off future masculine development? I kinda just want to be in the middle than either gender, currently feeling awkward being completely male.

Oh, and also, would a doctor even buy this? I get the feeling I wouldn't be taken seriously in this position.

I agree with you there, that's more or less what I want to be. TBH I have no idea, mine just stalled constantly until I gave up.

Protip: Doctors dont ACTUALLY care about your well-being most of the time. Like everyone else, they care about getting money, which happens to coincide with your well-being. If you honestly feel you need to be a eunuch for your well-being, and can present the case, they will happily prescribe you whatever pills you need.
Here's a page all about living as chemically castrated (the only way to achieve androgyny, sorry):
http://www.eunuch.org/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=87970&postcount=1
You can try taking just duatasteride (Avodart) to block DHT, this will prevent hair loss and maybe thin your body hair a little bit, and "probably" won't cause ED.
Actually I tried what you're thinking of OP, for about 2 years I took only Spironolactone, drank a lot of soymilk and took saw palmetto pills hoping to be "neutral" and androgynous. It worked, but it is VERY unhealthy to live as hormonally neutral. Eventually I started taking estrogen because I just couldn't live with the possibility of masculine features advancing, and just being hormonally empty was literally hurting my health. So be careful with this.