Everyone else has covered the important stuff, just want to say good luck. I'm similar age, I have similar worries, I've had similar questions, I'm starting hrt soon.
I've caught up on your replies to others in this thread and I have a fuller picture of what you're dealing with. Shit is fucked. I'm genuinely going to celebrate when your vial comes. Solidarity sister.
Jeez. What is the background level of transphobia like there? Like the public discourse etc? I live on TERF island so i assumed things would be significantly better there.
:( that sucks. I don't know anything about Norwegian customs. The private service I use just writes prescriptions for you so you can get them filled in your local pharmacy but obviously that can get costly. I'm willing your vial to your door with all my might.
If my initial GP enquiry gets stonewalled this week I'll DM you about your specifics. I'm guessing it's really a pot luck as to whether your registered GP is cool like that or not. In my experience, usually if I can actually talk to a doctor they can be helpful but the front desk is so adept and efficient at triaging people out of their service it's a nightmare getting the face-to-face in the first place. Thanks for your response <3.
Got surrounded, harrassed and threatened by a bunch of rabid zionists and fascists while supporting a peaceful pro-palestinian group in my city yesterday. They were carrying IDF flags, calling us terrorists and Jew hunters and on top of all their usual depravity, were being virulently transphobic, attempting to single out any of us who were gender non-conforming and loudly, repeatedly agressively misgendering us. The police stood and watched as they got in our faces and threatened us with violence. But if we'd have raised a hand in self defence they would have immedaitely beaten and arrested us. My comrades were brave, composed and unyielding, but it was a horrible experience. I've been part of enough anti-fascist action to develop a pretty thick skin but yesterday was fucking horrible.
Today i have been trying to sort out blood tests for my GAHT and running into the standard NHS "we'd rather you just die" approach to healthcare. I don't have any transfem friends in my city to ask for advice from, but I'm gonna go to a social this week to see if I can meet some women who might be able to signpost me.
So not a great start to my week. But I will never let them crush me. I will fucking thrive out pure spite if I have to.
Girl I'm sure you've been through your options, but if you need numbers for other DIY sources you could try while you wait, DM me. Either way we're all rooting for your delivery to arrive! Hope you're doing okay.
This is really hard. I'm so sorry that you're parents are not willing to believe you when you tell them what you need. The whole gatekeeper model of trans health care is broken to its core. Affirming care and informed consent are all we need, anything else is transphobia.
Idk if your folks would respond to this sort of study, but if they're the kinds of libs that mine are, studies can be helpful to soften their approach. The science is on your side,whether anyone will listen is another matter ofc.
When I sought councilling at the beginning of my gender journey I looked explicitly for queer friendly and queer run orgs. Wishing you all the luck going forward.
Firstly, yeah it's really hard. The only thing you really want is your hair back and everything short of that will feel like its not good enough. I'm not trying to change any of these feelings, just talking aloud here. Take whatever you want from it.
Dont underestimate the power of hats! It took me a while but i've found a few cute cap styles that are more femme than your standard baseball cap but still very casual and not too "dressy" so i can wear them everywhere. It gives me a bit of a tomboy look and maybe that's not something you want. But im way more confident in them than i would be without them.
Everything you're feeling about wigs is valid and I'm not trying to tell you to feel differently, but I'll share some of my experiences with wigs in case any of it feels relevant to you:
A huge thing for me was realising how much internalisied crap was knocking around in my head that made me feel things like "it's not real therefore its bad / cringe" or "everyone else can tell and they all think its cringe". Examining those feelings in me revealed that they were nothing but internalised bullying, phobias, and other unhealthy social bullshit around what a "real" woman should look like. This poisonous attitude that says only those who win the genetic lottery are deserving of beauty and self-acceptance, and anyone using anything "fake" (fake hair, fake nails, fake tan) is somehow delusional or pretentious or cringe. I do not feel those feelings about other people, even if i did, I'd immediately recognise them as coming from a bad place, but for some reason I expect the rest of the world to feel those things about me. I'm trying to kill my internalised misogyny, transphobia, etc because if i let them win I'd never transition.
Imagine how you'd feel looking at another person who was trying a wig out. Would you sit there and think about them what you thought about yourself? Would you even notice? If so is that a feeling you'd want to nurture or a feeling you'd try to understand and minimise? If your hair looks like a wig, but still makes you look and feel better than rocking the bald look, is that still a bad thing? Why do we feel this way about wigs? Is that coming from a good place? Every person who confidently and unashamedly goes about their days wearing wigs makes it safer and more accepting for all the other people who want to or need to wear them for any reason.
Finally, I don't know if you've tried this already but some wig specialist places will give you an appointment a lot like you'd get at a hairdresser. You can try on a bunch of stuff, get stuff fitted specifically for you. There are a ton of people in your situation and these places will have helped many of them. The physical sensation with a wig will always be a bit different, a bit intrusive maybe, but my brain can get used to it after a few hours and I even forget I'm wearing anything. Everytime i catch myself in the mirror it makes me happy. Obviously i wish it were just my real hair, but feeling better than i did before is better than feeling shitty constantly, even if it's not the perfect solution. Small improvements are better than no improvements for me.
None of this is easy, wishing you every happiness in the future, rooting for your intrepid little hair follicles on their journey back, and wishing you smooth sailing in your recovery too. <3.
Hey thank you so much sister. I just realised I had already read your injection guide with great interest and saved it because I knew I would have to come back to it. Thanks for posting, I'm sure it's helping a bunch of folks.
Have you ever used an auto injector? I'm kindof curious about them but I haven't heard many women talk about them in here. Maybe I should make a post to ask about it.
<3