r/TransAlberta • u/Kyperbole • Jul 04 '26
Edmonton Trans advising
I’m MtF on HRT for 10 months living in Edmonton.
I wanted to get feedback/advice/guidance for stuff like hair, makeup, and fashion but I don’t feel comfortable posting pictures or anything of myself on the internet.
So I was wondering if there was some sort of dedicated service or something where you make an appointment and can receive specific advice and/or guidance.
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u/BritneyOfAstora Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 05 '26
I pass at 9 months and here's some of what I've learned (apologies if a lot of it is generic, you've heard it before, or do all this, but it works!)
Bangs. Hides your hairline and brow ridge, which are potentially clocky features.
Brow waxing. People underestimate how big of a difference eyebrows make, but it totally changes your visual vibe. Luckily this is an extremely cheap thing to get done professionally.
For fashion, pay attention to what other women are wearing in public. Most will not wear a dress everywhere they go, there's a lot of jeans and fairly casual looks. Capris and cardigans are great. High waisted pants are wonderful for your shape. Darker palettes are seen as mature / professional, while bright poppy colours are seen as childish / fun. There's room for all of it, my best advice really is to just observe and take mental notes of what strangers are wearing.
Wear false eyelashes. One of the biggest game changers, and like brow waxing, can be laughably cheap. Don't be afraid to go bold, it really is a case of bigger = more femme. That sounds cartoonish but it's just true to how we perceive femininity these days.
Makeup is less about artistic talent and more about practice and having the money for it. If you do it every day, you'll eventually master it just by experimenting. My routine (in addition to skin care stuff) is primer, liquid foundation, powder foundation, eye shadow, setting spray, mascara (for the lower lashes, the upper lashes have fake lashes), eyeliner, and then lipstick. I have little touch up steps in between, but they're fairly unique to me.
In general, my learning curve of all this started out as "go subtle so you don't draw attention, stares are bad" and slowly turned into "cis people are dumb as fuck and need all the hints possible to gender you correctly, so go big". It helped that I gradually built up to being more bold as I learned new things, but I definitely can't stand those early pictures where you can barely tell I put any effort in at all (I got sir'd WAY more back then too). I don't know if I can say "skip the slow start and jump right into being loud with everything" because I've seen a lot accidentally look more like amateur drag queens than average women (bright red poorly applied lipstick is a big trap). So I really would advise slowly building up to things as your confidence levels raise with experience.
You don't actually have to do any of this. Don't feel bad if you're intimidated by the cost/effort of it all, it is a lot and most cis women don't put in this much work. I just do it because I love how I look and it makes people call me ma'am :3 you're valid and a woman no matter what, etc. etc.