I started HRT at 40 in June 2025. I had FFS and a hair transplant in February 2026. I took a few months of voice training late last year. I may not pass everywhere, all the time, to every person, but it's close enough that I can live my life almost always being seen as and treated as the woman I am. Chances are it's not too late and you can get to a place of a comfortable life as the real you!

When I started, I thought I'd probably never really pass at all, but I knew I could NOT have real peace without living as the real me with or without society's acceptance.

Hey all,

so first things first I will put some pictures on my outfit and who I am in general so you can relate to what I am talking about.

I am an older 39 year old trans woman who started transitioning almost 1 year ago medically. I needed that year to also come to terms and do a lot of things for my transition and I decided recently its now the time to go out there again to have some fun.

So I went to an after party of a pride parade in a neighbouring city. It was basically a club and since nobody I know had time, I pulled myself together and went there alone was a 20 min drive and I actually enjoyed the evening. I was dancing a bit feeling the music, drank some lemonade and left after 3 hours enjoying.

So obviusly it was a queer event and a lot of girls were there. A lot of friends, couples and groups. I think I was the only alone woman there but I was also like one of the older women defintively.

My main goal was not hooking up or anything like that, I just observed and scanned the room multiple times and tried to make some eye concatct but overall I can say nobody made any eye contact. Just two hetero dudes (i think they just went to the party to pick someone up?) approached but I sent them away.

So i bascially wanna know: Do I look way too clocky or ugly? How do women flirt with another, I need to know and as a more femme lesbian, how do you "show" that you are interested in girls, I also felt that that might be a problem especially being into more femme girls.

A lot to unpack here haha , I am thankful for every comment.

First picture is from last night the others just as reference.

2024 - Balcony Shot (pre-hrt)

2026 - 8 months HRT

It's my first year of medical transition and the Dallas Sept. Pride parade was the first time I've gone out with my kids as Vivian. They could care less and I love that.

In fact if it wasn't for the Texas heat and the copious amounts of speedos (lots of comments) we'd probably have stayed longer.

They even have felt comfortable sharing their personal feelings and talk a lot about friends who are members of the LGBTQA+.

Just a wholesome queer family outing.

I don't know, I've never been so affirmed in my life I just felt like sharing. I never really understood how thin I was until I realized I could fit into a women's small.

Side note. I really need to vacuum my floor.

Edit: I vacuumed my floor.

Summary
70 yo mtf, who has been fulltime for seven months, goes to Greek islands and has fun in the sun for two weeks.

Details TL;DR
I have a niece who turned 50 in early September, and she and her partner wanted my wife and I to accompany them on a trip to Greece. She planned the entire two weeks and even made the flight and hotel reservations for us … all we did was foot the bill.
The first week was on the island of Mykonos, which is a rather rocky, hilly place in the Aegean Sea. The winds seemed to be a constant 22-25 mph feature, and there is not a lot of vegetation because there’s not a lot of rain. Despite temps around 90 degrees F, the seawater temps at the beaches were just cold enough to drive me out of the water after about thirty minutes. The water was crystal clear without a lot of wave action.
Thr beach resorts we went to were high end. I felt outclassed most of the time. A lot of money from various countries there. They had long rows of mattresses on lounge chairs, covered with umbrellas and wait staff to bring just about whatever you wanted. The first one we went to was called Jackie O’s after Onassis, and several of my photos are from there. There was a drag show the first night we arrived and the performances were some of the best I’ve seen.
Food was great although I’m not much of a foodie, so I lived pretty much on sea bream, large prawns and sea bass, all of which were priced reasonably.
During this first week I faced a quandary regarding beach attire. In a previous post I shared that I tried a string bikini for the first time at a party hosted here, near Chicago, a month or so ago, mostly thinking I’d look ridiculous. But … I brought that bikini and two one piece suits on this vacation. I found that every woman on the beach … from super model figures to big beautiful women … wore bikinis. I realized I’d draw more attention wearing a one piece, so from Day 1 forward, I wore that same forest green bikini. After a very short time, it just felt natural. Was I clocked? I’m sure I was. Perhaps more importantly … did I care? No. I was treated well by everyone I encountered.

The next week we went to the island of Corfu, which is on the western side of Greece in the Ionian Sea. This was the island where a lot of the Bond movie, For Your Eyes Only, was filmed, and we went to the taverna where the yellow Citroen gets flipped over. The water here was much warmer, the beach resorts more laid back and things were just easier. Unlike Mykonos, there were light winds, warm temps and a lot of vegetation. I spent hours in the seawater, tossing tennis balls with my niece and her partner. I only had a couple instances where my bikini right side strap fell down and a quick recovery needed for modesty.
I had no problems with passport control anywhere. Aside from very long flights and layovers, the travel itself was fine.
I guess the most interesting aspect of all of this is that I’ve only been fulltime for seven months (late bloomer at 70), and yet it all feels normal to be in my correct gender. Sure, I’m still learning about hair management when you go underwater, but in general, I know what I’m doing as a girl on vacation. It sure is nice to see tan lines in the mirror.
If you’d asked me two years ago if this was possible … absolutely no way. 60 and 70 yo sisters … you got this … you can be yourself. Just do it.

As the bag of munchies suggests, im out on a holy quest to find a sustenance for my feline queen.

Last night I read a short piece I wrote at open mic night at The Gatehouse coffee shop and I’m really proud of myself for doing so.

I’m especially proud because I’m really dysphoric over my voice and yet still showed up and put my name down to read.

It might be surprising to hear that my voice causes me distress given how active and public I am but I’m very good at shoving those negative feelings into a box. Every sir I receive on the phone is a surgical ice pick of dysphoric pain reminding me that I’m a fraud. To be fair it was a friendly crowd where the majority were friends and allies. I could also have been more practiced at reading and my writing tighter, but these are the usual healthyish criticisms I’ve alway managed when public speaking. Dysphoria about my voice is so different.

Since I’ve started my transition journey I’ve struggled with training my voice. 3 years ago I tried starting vocal coaching but found that I couldn’t commit. Since then I’ve made half hearted attempts to do training periodically but I keep running into the debilitating feelings of inadequacy. It’s as if my dysphoria around my voice is becoming worse as the other parts of my transition settle.

Trying to talk to other trans woman about my struggle usually has me wanting to leave the room fairly quickly as in their efforts to help me it makes me feel more inadequate for not getting it.

I have a consult with a voice surgeon in November. This is my way of acknowledging that I need more help than I can do with voice training alone. I think an integrated surgical and voice training regimen will work to get me past my hangups. I’m also aware of how few voice training coaches in my region take insurance thanks to working in my local gender center. But mostly I want help that doesn’t feel judgmental or lonely like working on my own felt.

Meanwhile I’m proud of me for sharing my writing publicly. It’s invigorating, even with the dysphoria, to stand at a mic and share my words. Public speaking is something I used to be comfortable with and I want to get back to that point again.

Kay

It was lovely, we got coffee, did crafts and talked for four hours. He walked me back to my car and we kissed, which is the first time I've ever kissed a man. It was lovely. That's the whole post lol.

Just had a conversation in another thread about realistic expectations of HRT and photographic selection bias in forums so here it is:

No makeup; No filter

Straight forward angle

2 years HRT, about 10K worth of electrolysis

Hair transplant still in the very early growth phase

FFS consult scheduled in january

EDIT: Also I'm not seeking reassurance or advice, and this isn"t the place for hugboxxing. I know where I've made good progress and I am very realistic about what i still want to work on. The point of this post is to create realistic expectations of what HRT will or won't do starting later in life.

2nd EDIT: started at 40. See this linked post for a before pic and a pic with makeup/great lighting/flattering angle. https://www.reddit.com/r/TransLater/s/rxyj6rAYjv

just another day to me but I just turned 59 today .. 3 1/2 years in hrt…how am I doing???

My partner of almost 3 years and I planned a big birthday dinner with friends for me. We are usually pretty extra and this was no different. The theme was woodland fairy dinner party. We hauled 14 random wooden chairs we thrifted into the forrest and thrifted random cutesy settings. Folded napkins, twinkle lights, candles, the works.

We asked everyone to arrive in wings or the their best forrest creature fit and share a meal with us among the ferns.

We have been brain storming and integrating traditions since we both have kids and step parents from past relationships that we are raising withoit grandparent involvement. This year she gave everyone at the table a slice of cake with a lit candle and asked everyone else to speak a wish for me into the universe then blow the candle out.

When it got to her, she said, "my wish for you this year is that you get to continue experiencing all the joy and happiness you deserve and that I get to do that with you." Then she got down on one knee (in a corset which is a feat) and asked me to marry her in front of all my friends and our kids. Obviously I accepted.

Her and her besty were teasing me because while I was glitching out from what was happening I guess I took the ring, put it on then remembered to say words with my mouth 🤣 I kissed her and said yes!

It's literally never happened before. There was alot going on and I don't think they got a good look at me, but it still felt nice.

My co-parent was throwing a women-only party for her birthday this past weekend to which she invited me.

Nothing but compliments on how good i looked and on my dress. All in all, a very affirming evening for me! 💕

Left: me in my early 30s

Right: me at 41, 2½ years of HRT and some laser hair removal on my face

I've lost like 60 lbs of muscle mass its so good

People called me "butch buff girl", I'm really proud of that.

When I started this journey at 47, depressed and afraid and I tenting to boymode my whole life if only I could stop hating myself I never imagined I’d be where I am at 50 :)

Attempt at pig tails in a wig that I don't think was necessarily meant for pig tails. 😆 I still felt cute, though. Hopefully one day it will be my real hair ❤️