Style?

I get many questions asking my opinion on how to pursue a mystical MtF gender transition. You regulars around here in Cyrsti's Condo know, I disagree with some and place appearance as the second or even third most important transition factor for a transgender person. Learning the lifestyle of one's non birth gender-better be a bigger priority. 

To get to appearance though, one has to wade through the complex and murky world of style. 

My definition of style is "understanding the direction you want to take at any certain occasion. Once you do, factor in budget and buying constraints to present the most consistent, attractive self  you can- without acting as if you are trying.


So, there you go, I'm sure when you look at the number of different styles the cis women of all ages in the world are consumed with-you can find your niche!

Good Luck!

Cyrsti's Condo "Woman of the Day"

Our feature over is feeling blue. She is  Ketrine Lakrine MtF transgender woman from Russia.

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl" of the Day

Our cover feature person today is Danya Khalabuzaris, androgynous MtF model.

Cyrsti's Condo - "The Sunday Edition"

Good morning kids, ker plunk! another "fabtabulous" Sunday Edition is hitting your front porch.  I like to refer to this type of Sunday morning here in Ohio, USA as a soft Sunday.  It's mild, slightly overcast and quiet, except for the hot pot "o joe" brewing away in the coffee maker.

Page1.- The week that was-or wasn't.  For no particular reason (like so many other things in my noggin), last week we discussed interactions between transgender women and transgender men and even journeyed into the lesbian culture too.  I went into my theories on a very complex subject and received several thoughtful replies from your end.  Including this one from Diane Michelle Ryan:

Susan Herr

Hi Cyrsti
Love your Blog. I have never had an problem with older lesbians but younger ones can look at us with tuff looks. I live in the Bay Area & see a lot of FTM's out here.

hugs 
Diane

Thanks Diane!!!!  You are right and I think the younger butch's or "soft studs" are in a situation where they "out" and "feeling their oats" so to speak.  Perhaps the "tuff looks" we see are a reflection of that and the older lesbians have mellowed.  Several I know have worked through the "how you identify" stage into the "person you are" stage.

In no order of importance, came this comment which spoke to the possibility of trans guys and trans women interacting and growing with each other.  From Shelli Anne Mulka:

I'm a transwoman myself and know three transmen fairly well. One of them and I go out for a dinner and a movie every month or so and really enjoy being a "couple'. It gives us each a chance to "fine-tune" our image to the real world, and we often end up laughing about each of us "running in opposite directions and side-swiping each other". It gives us a feeling of mutuality which might even lead to romance some day, a concept that really doesn't bother me all that much ! We just may have as much in common as most couples, who can say? Peace & Love, Shelli Anne

Peace and love to you Shelli Anne!  I find it very interesting when you look into the dynamics of a trans woman/man relationship.  I have two friends who went on a very bumpy ride.  I think through no fault of their own, both were experiencing natural changes during their transition and will come out of the process as difference people than at the beginning.  Difficult to negotiate at the best!

Page 2.- Trans dar!  "Oh no she dident"- Go there again!  We indeed did go there again here in the Condo.  I asked the question, what would you do if you had the chance to speak to another cross dresser or transgender woman you had never met before:

Again, we received several quality responses including Jen Smith:   If my trans-dar goes off I do often glance casually her/his way, and if we make eye contact I just give a slight friendly smile as I would to anyone. 
I really just make the glance to see what I can learn (good or bad) from how she is presenting.

And Pat:

My T-dar is almost always on and I think that the same is true for my wife but I sense her acute sensitivity towards potential T-folk may be due in part to her over all sensitivity to everything in her environment as well as having lived with me for all these years. I tend to think that most people tend to be oblivious to the fact that we live among them.

Of course Pat, my warped sense of humor loved the "we live among them" comment as a Halloween reference to Vampires - where she was going anyhow:

Alexander Bekker

Last year we were simple spectators at the Asbury Park Zombie walk. While there I gave a pint of blood at the bloodmobile outside the legendary Stone Pony. I just got a mailer from the blood bank about this year's Zombie walk. I think that perhaps my wife and I may do the dual ghoul walk and perhaps she would consent to me doing it in fem. I will be planning to give another pint of blood so it would be interesting to be a guy dressed as a dead woman getting my blood drained in broad daylight.

Thanks Pat!

The Back Page.-  As they say in the "old country" (where I live) we are out of space, time and maybe luck! Thanks for stopping by the Condo and especially participating!  I get sooo tired of asking my dog!

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl" of the Day

Our feature "cover" today is the beautiful androgynous German male model Marta Styuart.

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover WOMAN" of the Day

"LOTZA" curves define mtf transgender woman Ashley Eliese !

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl" of the Day

Our feature cover goes back a few years and spotlights transsexual French singer and actress Marie-France Garcia - Parisian pop icon of the 1970s.

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl" of the Day!

Our feature cover today is the Turkish mtf transgender beauty Yakici Guzel!

Attitude Versus Appearance

It's no secret the number of times we have kicked around the idea of "attitude" versus "appearance" here in Cyrsti's Condo.

Your attitude as you begin to explore your femininity in the world in many ways ranks above how you look. My example goes back several years and continues to this day in one of the places I have been stopping at for adult beverages and sports. It's close to a big research air base and normally has it's share of 40 something groups of defense contractor/professional guys.  The bar itself is straight (not gay - no I meant the bar shape!) and seats approx 25.  Tuesday's are the big 2 dolla pint night.  Your choice on any of 30 different drafts-2 dolla, and the place is packed.

I learned years ago the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat of having to walk to the other end of the bar for a seat...through primarily men.  I went from being flat out laughed at at one end of the spectrum to guys just glazed over.  I always wondered what the glazed ones were thinking.  Largely now, I'm ignored except I did have two last night who followed my every move until I found a seat.  Moral to the story is, I learned to always keep my head up, and shoulders back to keep the human sharks in their place. Come hell or high water I just had to let the world know, I wasn't doing anything wrong.

While we are on the subject of attitude. Several posts ago, I re-posted one of my old woman less pageant  pictures of "Spencer".    Spencer was gorgeous to be sure but his attitude was just as amazing to me.

I also think some of these younger woman less  pageant contestants first time in drag was that night and two things happened...one, they were impressed on how well the mtf transformation worked and two.- the joke was on everyone else when they saw him.

Example on left.

Curves Ahead!

No real secret the HRT feminization process adds curves and the Ftm transition adds angles.

I have been mentioning my trans man friend who just went through long awaited top surgery (well I understand!!!!) and how dramatically angular he is becoming.

The other day, I happened to find some ancient pictures of me which were actually proofs taken at one of those "specialty" photo places in a mall.    The paper and proofs quite naturally were in less than stellar condition, but the one thing which did stand out to me was how angular my face was then.

Just another example of how you have to look behind you to see how far you have come!

Transgender Transition

Our feature cover today is a Mtf gender transition documented in pictures in Cyrsti's Condo:

LOVE THIS!

If we are ever fortunate enough  to meet...

This is me!

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl" of the Day

Our feature cover today is the androgynous model from Singapore Andrew Semuel.  As a sidelight, I wonder if Andrej Pejic's coming out as transgender will encourage more of the male to female models these days to do the same?

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl" of the Day

Our feature cover today is the striking MtF transgender woman Kayla Ward.  HRT and a little surgery here and there has been kind to Kayla!

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl" of the Day

Our cover feature today is the gorgeous transsexual Mtf woman Susany Biancco. 

It's Never Easy

My friends just love to call me cheap and easy but I know most of the time one doesn't apply-I think?

By the time I finished my second mammogram today, I ruled both of them out.

First of all, the good news.  After getting told my breasts were dense (like my noggin), I was told this time the procedure was going to be a "bit" more painful.  The nurse put the pressure on - and yes, I got crushed. But it was worth it because I was given a clean bill of health and sent on my way. With no ultra sound!

Those of you who haven't been through any HRT (like I used to be) believe me, any extra pressure to your breasts can be painful.

Today was my second time around with the same nurse and she was very cool about the whole procedure. On the first go around of course I was very sensitive about the size of my breasts to start with-not to mention having to "bare it all" to her.  She put me at ease by saying I would be surprised by the women she see's who have "less than me."

When I went today, she said "take your top and bra off."  I said "what if I wasn't wearing one?  She said no problem, a lot of women don't.  Quite frankly, in this hot humid weather, having enough breast development to show but not enough to wear a bra isn't such a bad deal.

So, that is pretty much how this episode of doing this gender transition thing went down.

Like the great philosopher "Randy Macho-man Savage" said, "If it ain't tough, it ain't worth it."-or did he?

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl" of the Day

Our feature cover today is the Mtf transgender beauty Rebekah Shelton from Brazil:

Cyrsti''s Condo MtF "Before and After's"

Some MtF gender transformations are nothing sort of amazing.  They can entail SRS surgery HRT and/or Facial Femininization Surgery or perhaps the skillful use of drag makeup.  Here are a couple of at least two million floating around on the web:

Would You-If you Could?

The past couple of days, I've been as sick as a kitty who ate a rotten mouse, so I've refrained from doing anything much on line as I have a tendency to become rather "snarky" with the world.

Today though, I did get bored enough that I climbed out of my death bed and to my computer...priorities-right? Who says blogging doesn't become a lifestyle?

Makeover Example

This morning by accident I ran across one of the many quality MtF cross dresser makeover services.  This one just happened to be across the pond in the UK and is called The Makeover Room .  Over the years, I've known several individuals who have taken advantage of similar services. Depending on your reason's for going, the results can be fabulous

My example from several years ago, had nothing to do with me but involved a couple other cross dressers I know.  One of them went to a makeover specialist and ended up with a positively knock out set of pictures. So good as a matter of fact, the other CD ended up putting up one of the pictures on his gym locker where he played tennis and golf.  No one ever knew and in fact wondered if the "woman" in the picture was his mistress.  I certainly can't document it, but I just have to believe that somewhere/sometime there has been a guy who has put a picture of his "sister" up in his office somewhere- who of course was him.

As with so many of the other layers of the cross dressing community, from simply wearing panties at work, to shopping at the mall-the culture of makeover pictures fascinate me.  On one hand I wonder if becoming the "feminine person in the picture" becomes a priority until one just decides to be her. Or, is the person in the picture good enough?  Not unlike the first time participant in a womanless beauty pageant who happens to look great.  Does he want to go back to the well for another drink?

As a point of reference, the cross dresser I knew with the "hot" pictures never had the where withal or desire to live as a woman at all. He would have a tough time presenting as a woman in public. Instead, for the longest time, he had a very active Flickr account (and always looked sexy) until recently he disappeared.  I just think all the different aspects of how gender plays in our minds is just fascinating.  Including one person I know who corresponded back and forth for years as a genetic woman with a cis guy who never knew.  I always told him, how did he know the guy he was chatting with wasn't a woman?

At times like that, the old lines of communication don't seem so bad. Until,  I remembered adding just a touch of my perfume to letters I was writing to a man "back in the day" ( He did know I was a cross dresser.)  I also remember wondering what would have happened if my wife would have caught me doing it or his wife getting the letter before he did?

One benefit of age is, you can gloss over the spots of your life you weren't really proud of or think, just what the hell was I thinking?  Most of the time, I would have-if I could-and did.

Slip Sliding Away

On the Cyrsti's Condo big screen, a video MtF transition video from Asley Jones.  A classic example of one gender sliding away and a new one beginning: