The Hormones and the Hair

Back in the day here in Crysti's Condo, you may have recalled my first prescribing HRT doctor telling me to expect a fuller, longer head of hair.  Being similar to most (I assume), I just thought, "Yeah, that's cool, but let's get on to the real priority - breast development."  Now that my hair is reaching the middle point of my back, I'm not so sure my priorities were reversed.

To begin with, I believe as sensitive and feminine as my "girls" are, my hair has become a true treasure for me.  As big as a pain in the rear it is for me to color it and try to style it, my hair gives me a huge step forward in my feminine presentation process. As one of my initial "admirers" (another pain) told me on one of the first nights I went out with no wig, "Look at you, sitting over here looking all natural."  He was one of those who delighted in calling me "Chris" and saying things like "hey man."  From that point forward, he left me alone.

I know there are many very realistic wigs on the market but for me I could never afford them, or had very poor judgment in which wig I purchased.  So when I did go "natural", three doors opened for me, which were hoped for but not necessarily expected.

The first I mentioned.  I just navigate the world as a transgender woman easier.  I need every tool I can get and a full head of hair is an effective one. The second and third are intertwined to a degree.  The so called straight admirer (or whatever he was) jumped off my boat immediately as do gay men and drag queens.  All of them realized I wasn't a cross dresser.  Before you want to rip my hair out, I'm not in any way being derogatory.  We all know there is a difference between being a cross dresser and being transgender and the public all of the sudden read it in me.

Perhaps the whole theory of why goes back to the Janie Black question on defining gender.  One of the responses was (I'm paraphrasing), "Gender is more in the eyes of the beholder, than in the person themself."

Very simply, what's going on in my noggin hasn't changed as much as the world which is viewing me.

"Tranversals" Cyrsti's Condo Cover Girls of the Day

Andrej Pejic

I happened across an eclectic  site called "Anne of Carversville". It's claim to fame is "From Fashion to Flogging, telling Women's Stories."  Of interest to me of course was the "Transversal" page which featured extensive coverage of androgynous and transsexual models such as Andrej Pejic and Lea T.


Go here for more.

Lea T

Bored in Church?

"Back in the day" my Mom literally had to catch my brother and I, force us to wear sport coats and ties for the trip to church most every Sunday. Once we did get there and began the count down to when we could leave, the bigger problem became keeping my Dad awake.  Here is a solution obviously he never thought of:

I ever remember as a kid sitting in church watching the women walk to the altar to communion I would calculate the number of women wearing seamed stockings compared to those who wore the newer non-seamed stockings. Of course all women wore dresses and covered their heads. Many wore gloves as well. My recollection is that by the early to mid 1960s most hose were seamless. Pat.

I agree Pat, with your time sequence on the hose.  While it's true genetic women do value the impact of certain "sexy" looks, they also value "ease of maintenance" and of course comfort.  Girdles for the most part have gone the way of the "body shapers" and seamed stockings have gone the route to a no hose at all - bare legged look. As always, thanks Pat!

Cyrsti's Condo "Sunday Edition"

Greetings all! to another "Sunday Edition" here in "the Condo".  Get a cup of coffee and let's get started!

Weather Section.- Finally the dreaded "Arctic Vortex" has headed back to where it belongs and life is getting back to a semblance of normalcy around here in Southern Ohio as we thaw out.  As I whined incessantly, it figures the coldest weather in a couple decades settles in when HRT has settled in on me! Not a good combination.

Comments Section.- I'm still catching up!  Of interest was Paula's response to genetic men and transgender women:
 As an observation on the sex (rather than gender) front, I have found that all the women I encounter accept Paula, whatever their sexuality, all the gay men I have met so far have accepted me too, the only ones who have any problems are the straight guys, I wonder why, I think this is the only group to who I can represent a perceived threat, Gay men don't care because I'm a woman, gay women don't care because I'm a man straight women don't care because I'm a woman, but some straight men are confused, is it because I undermine their masculinity, or are the confused because they don't know how to interact with me, or are they frightened by their own reaction? One day I will ask.

Thanks Paula, I think your last two points are the best!  Genetic men don't know how to interact with us and are frightened by their own reactions.  In a round about way, I think we see it all the time with all the cross dressing fetish profiles on line with (dare I say) ridiculous pictures.  Of the two genders, men are wired to be the sexual beings who see all women first in a sexual sense. Breasts, booty, legs, face etc are triggers.Chances are, a cross dresser or a transgender woman does present one or more of those "triggers" and the confusion is on about where to take it.  Then again, there is the old story of those who "protest too much." and have long harbored cross dressing fantasies of their own but have never acted on them. When and if they do I think they form a basis of the CD fetish group we see.  Bottom line is Paula, when you start asking, save the answers and start a survey. I think everyone would be interested!

Leanne sent in a comment on the "Drag Queen" New Years Eve video:

Cyrsti, Every TG person needs to watch this video; not to emulate the drag queen but to watch the lack of reaction almost everyone you see in the background has towards these two girls. Most people these days have seen it all and just don't care anymore. Thanks for posting.

Thanks for responding Leanne!  Great point!  Certainly the world is changing around where I live and peeps kind of treat me as a curiosity if they notice me at all.  I know novice girls just heading out of their closets are positively paranoid of the world but as one of my genetic friends once told me "Relax ego girl, it doesn't all have to be about you!"  Those people weren't even talking about you.

Media Watch.- Last week the ever "cutesy" Katie Couric hosted two transgender icons on her show, possibly for the last time.  The main reason is the show is being cancelled because Couric is moving to Yahoo is some sort of major move.  The other is the push back from the line of questioning. I have of yet not seen the show with transgender women  Carmen Carerra and Laverne Cox.  Critics are saying essentially Couric was more interested in how many operations both women had went through rather exploring their lives in depth and the pressing issues facing the transgender community as a whole. I am reserving my final thoughts on the issue until I see the show because I know our community is a tough group to please-and should be. There is too much wrong and we desperately need transgender icons such as Laverne and Carmen to speak out! How great is it though to finally have more "icons" to speak out!

Well, it's time to take the dog for a walk. Even she feels the deep freeze is over for at least a week or two and it's time to work off some of our lingering extra pounds from the holidays.

Take care of yourselves and thanks for taking the time to stop by Cyrsti's Condo!

Cyrsti's Condo Transgender "Woman of the Day"

Beautiful transgender model Nicole Gibson is featured in the Condo:

Gender 101

Lesson #1 when you cross dress pretty boys in pretty feminine clothes- you get great looking cross dressed boys as seen on the Cyrsti's Condo big screen:

The Purse Monster and Muscle Memory

This will seem like such a small piece in the huge transgender MtF transition puzzle but then again it's not.

For many years I have noticed with interest how women approach moving and grasping items with their hands.  Regardless of the inherent size difference in the hands, most genetic women just seemed to have more dexterity working for them.

Now, as I work my way through counters and clerks with my purse and it's wallet, I find I need more coordination to accomplish all the moves.  Gone are the days of picking up the change and shoving it into my pockets and moving on. Plus, just tossing everything into my purse doesn't work either.  If I don't keep some sort of basic organization going in my purse, then I am doomed to carry a stylish yet deadly "bottomless bag." You know the purses I'm talking about.  If you have lived around a woman for any length of time, the "changing of the bags" is often not pretty.  No one knows what is living down there and how the hell did the purse get that heavy? Things were breeding similar to how life began on Earth.

As I transition into more and more full time "purse living", I know now. I'm developing the "layers" of "stuff" women accumulate over time.  It's comparable to an archaeological dig when you uncover that old lipstick you loved and couldn't find. It disappeared into the bottom layer of my purse and was waiting patiently to see the light of day again. Forget the "boob pinch" pain I felt a couple nights ago, the real pain could be lurking in the bottom of my purse and will it attack with no warning?

Look, the last thing I want to be doing is holding up a line at a counter while I dig through my purse, get attacked and lose a finger.  People do have a tendency to care less if I am transgender in line but care a lot if I'm slow. Just imagine if they had to call the paramedics to reattach my finger?  How would the peeps behind me buy their "cigs" or lottery tickets?

I have a plan though to combat all of this, I call my new "dexterity" a slide move.  At the counter, I know the basics of what I'm paying with, what kind of change or receipt I am going to get and where it's coming from and going in my purse.  The smoother I can accomplish all of that, the more feminine I appear or at the least fit in.

In order to insure success though is repetition and committing the moves into my muscle memory.  Now if I can keep my purse from sliding off my shoulder at the wrong time and messing up the entire process- life will be better!  "Sigh" Who would have thunk it that all this "girl stuff" would have been so complex! Women make it look so easy and they still have all their fingers. It's because Mom warned them to beware of what could be lurking in their purses!

Cyrsti's Condo "Cover Girl of the Day"

Our "cover girl" is a bit different in that he shows pictures of himself as a boy with his girlfriend on the site I'm going to give you. No mention of being transgender or transsexual, he just happens to be a make up artist who happens to look great in make up.

 The 18-year-old cross dressing beauty, Yiming Zhao, is attracting of attention on Weibo, China’s Twitter, particularly after his photos were mistakenly listed in a photo collection of beautiful Chinese girls on a Korean forum. Wonder why?

I've selected a couple for you to take a look at here.

Cyrsti's Condo "Quote of the Day"

Credit for this quote goes to Janie Black and my shower.  Janie asked on her blog today what gender means her readers and/or how they would define it.  I came up with a short version in the shower, where I do some of my best thinking.  (can't sing)

"Gender is simply what is between your ears and how you decide to present it to the world."