Who dressed full time - and then decided they did not want to?

[heatherdress]

Just curious if any girls moved to a full time femme status - and it did not work out? Were there unanticipated challenges? Was it not as fulfilling as anticipated? Did you miss being "him?"

[Marcelle]

Hi Heather,

I can't respond as one who dresses all the time as I only spend about 80% of my time fully en femme. However, I say if you have the opportunity why not try it and see how you feel. You may decide to continue or realize that being "boy mode" now and then would be great.

Hugs

Isha

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Heather, As great as dressing 24/7/365 sounds I wouldn't want to give up my guy side.
I'm happy to have the best of both worlds.

[Tara D. Rose]

I agree BLUE, 24/7 does sound good,

Tara

[KayleeTaylor]

For about 2 months, I was dressing about 80% of the time. But now, I have been dressing full-time for the past week. I have found that I am a little bit happier and more at peace with myself. The amount of acceptance and support I have received is really overwhelming. I have only lost one person in my life - my mom. I have known since I was a child that she would never support me.

I have found that I am a much more sociable person, I meet new people everyday everywhere I go and I have found that the "looks" I used to get are gone because now I am socializing with everyone and they realize that I am no different than they are. SA's remember me when I return to their stores and they rush over to help me, they realize that I am a person like everyone else. At some stores, I have even got their employee discounts. i have even gotten free stuff for absolutely no reason :)

I could go on and on, but I will say that going fulltime is something I shoulda done a long time ago.

[Helen Grandeis]

My dressing crushes my wife therefore; therefore it is stolen moments as Helen only.

[Diane Edwards]

As I've mentioned in a couple of other threads, I've had the opportunity to dress full time for a few months at a stretch while I was doing some consulting work out on the West Coast. Honestly, I felt more comfortable as Diane 24/7 and should the opportunity present itself again, I will do it again.

[miaTX86]

A couple of years ago, I was really on the fence about where I wanted to take this dressing thing. I went on a 4 day vacation, leaving the house en femme and returning en femme, living as a girl that entire time.

I decided being full time was not for me. It is hard. I had body and beauty issues. I was sad and lonely and knew that in many ways I would be limiting myself and my options. I was thankful that I didn't have a burning desire to be full time despite that experience.

It was a fun vacation though ;-)

[Kate Simmons]

I tried it for a about a month once. For myself it's just too much high maintenance with the continuous shaving, etc.:)

[Adriana Moretti]

I came close...but yea the maintenance .......fuhgettaboutit ......I can do a few days in a row...but mama needs a day off too!

[Lynn Marie]

Ten replies to the OPs question and not one of the replies answers the question! Dressing for a week or 80% isn't dressing 24/7. Oh, I'm not qualified to answer either. I love the transitions in both directions and have absolutely no desire to dress 24/7. I dress for a week straight at Esprit each year and that's plenty!

[Vanessa Rose]

I will answer this directly. No I have not dressed 24/7 and decided that I would not like to ... why, because I have to attach body parts, hair, etc. If I could just dress and go, as a woman does, no problem.

I think, this has less to do with the desire to dress 24/7 vs. having to go through all the fakeness of putting on all the stuff to pretend that we are a woman, but are not.

So...there goes...

Vanny

[Tiffanie]

I barely am able to find the time to dress, but I agree with you. I think that dressing 24/7 would just constantly remind me of the fakeness of it. In my short bits of time I can mentally keep the illusion that I am a beautiful woman. Either that or I would find ways to start to "enhance" the image to make dressing quicker and more realistic. I tend to go whole hog or not at all, lol.

[Beverley Sims]

I find 20 1/2 X 7 works for me.
I do have a boys life as well.
I strike a balance...... Somewhere. :)

[cdterri]

I started to transition in the middle seventies, lived as a woman for almost 2 yrs. Eventualy realized that full time was not what I wanted. Too much work for one thing, but also hard to find work, brought pain and embarresment to those I loved, Lost many childhood friends, what was really funny is that most of them said they "had no problem with me wearing a dress but to claim I felt like a women was insane" I considered myself a lesbian but hrt interfered with any sexual gratification for myself. Still prefered to be a male much of the time. Became sloppy with my hygene, would not shave for days at a time. Would lay around in shorts and top doing nothing constuctive. There were many other reasons, but to make a long story short I finally realized that wearing the clothes was more important and satisfiying than transitioning. I still dress almost daily but love being a husband, father, and grandfather much more than living as a female.

[Anna H]

I'd go 1-2 months or so at a time 15 years ago. I didn't go out, so
that may not count.

It was fun then...as I didn't have to go out and be seen. But it
just became habit more than anything else. I wasn't trying to
be anything more than myself, which at the time was maybe
a little uber-fashioned with strange things I'd do with my hair
and sewing up weird outfits. (wish i still had them!)

Now, it's more of a feeling inside, so i don't even try to look
"female". But I go about dressed fully all the time with just
plain stuff. I have very few guys clothes left.

The feeling is what matters to me. If I feel OK, then I can
handle anything. But looking at me, nobody knows...or they
don't say anything if they do. And I never feel like I'm being
looked over.

It's just the right balance for me. They think I'm a regular guy.
I feel like I want to feel. Works Great!

I do like to get dolled up, but that's for "in time". ♥

[anna warren]

I've only ever been an occasional dresser, and I always dressed in spurts. I could go 6 months pretty frequently, be really into it, but then whatever need I had was filled and I went a year or two at a time without the desire. Granted, some of this dealt with a need to date (not a problem anymore), but I just didn't feel it. I've read stories of people purging, and while I did ditch some of my older stuff, I am fortunate that I kept most of the useful items (wig, pads, bras, etc). I dressed for the first time since 2009 the other night and I forgot how much effort went into being beautiful...and I didn't even do my own makeup...so fulltime or part time, or however often...kudos to all of you beautiful ladies...

[MsVal]

I would think that dressing full time would be self limiting. When one dresses full time, it loses the excitement of anticipation. Getting up and getting ready for the day becomes just another routine task. A task, I may add that is quite a bit more difficult than getting a guy or even a genetic woman ready.

I still don't know what I'm talking about. I've never gone full time for even a day.

Best wishes
MsVal

[Jess West]

I did what was about a week once. Wife (who's supportive) was visiting family, I work from home, it was winter... I dressed up the first night and had a "what the hell, lets see how long I could keep this rolling" moment. The excitement of something new was fun for a few days, but maybe 3-4 days and it was starting to be more work than fun and I'd admit that the last 2-3 days were more like 85% dressed.

Interestingly, my "relationship" with CD'ing changed after that. I did about all I'm interested in doing, and pretty much maxed out the limits I'm willing to go to (not that far - going to a store, walking the mall etc) and I dont think I realized what those limits were or that I had them prior... In fact, one of the first days I took some time going to a fairly local Macy's and remember looking in a mirror and thinking "wholly s**t, I'm having fun "pretending" to be a woman in a store". I was standing there thinking about how crazy (in a good way) this was, and thinking about how exciting it was (the old "what if I'm caught") thing... followed by, "Yeah, what if you get caught? Job, family, friends? How does this impact them?" Some how that moment looking at my self devised fem alter ego in the Macy's mirror I affirmed that 1.) dressing up is fun and I am happy I do it, 2.) it's not the most important thing in my life by a long margin, 3.) It really could have negative consequences for others in my life - like it or not - and that's not cool or fair to put on them...

If I go out now, it's mostly to places solidly out of my normal orbit. And more pertinant to the OP's question, that brief experience showed me that for me, this really is a form of play and I'd dare say art. So I dont give to much question to the way that it disapears and reapears now based on life and my general vibes towards it. It's about fun, so I'm not forcing it to explore it like I may have initially (early years). The only down fall is that my make up skills suck after a good hiatus!

So - I guess I didnt "really" try to be full time, just made it a tad under a week in an impromptu self challenge and it helped frame this whole relationship with my self for me.

[deebra]

Well it looks like most of the posters don't want to be full time, to much work and maintenance, that being said wouldn't you think women would be coming over in droves to be female to male crossdressers; an easier way to live and much less work and expence???????

[Lorileah]

:lol2: Some of you are funny. So many complaints about how "we" can't dress, how "unfair" it is that women can wear what they want when they want but when you can...it is too much work, to hard, too boring :brolleyes:

I always thought that anything worth having was worth working for

[Stephanie47]

I have had the opportunity on several occasions to dress 24/7 for up to ten days. It sounds great, but, it really costs dearly when my male side wanted to return. As an in home cross dresser it really did not even come down to being bored or having no place to go. I suspect in my case there is too much male influence. Today, when I have six plus hours to be en femme, I'm banging away on the keyboard totally en home and not even barely missing girl time.

[anna warren]

I think for me it ultimately comes down to if the opportunity arises...if it does, sure, why not...if not, I don't really give it much thought...thats not to say I don't miss it, but I agree with some of the other ladies...if we did it all the time, it would lose its appeal...of course this train of thought doesn't apply to everyone, but for me, that's kinda where im at with it...

[reshma]

I have been dressing full time since september 2009. Although i call it full time, it comes with the ocassional guy mode, going out in guy mode and visiting family. Being full time has made it uncomfortable to wear male clothes , thats something i noticed. It is fulfilling, when i see whats in the mirror and no, i dont miss being him.

Lets say, i dress 90% of the time ;)

[illusiongirl]

Now that I finally moves out of the parents house I feel a sudden urge to be more myself without fear, and I look forward to dressing more, more than just at Halloween. I can't wait to get a makeup kit and now I have privacy to practice more without having to hide it around the folks. I'm glad its more acceptable these days compared to decades ago :-)

[Barbie Anne]

I myself during a time of confusion dressed full time for about 2 months straight....not just dressed but lived as a female for about 2 months straight, on the advice of a counselor, to whom I'd confided in about my GD. The object was for me to examine my feelings because I was seriously considering transition/hrt/srs at the time. Well long story short I eventually realized that while I love being a girl, I also find the idea of being in a relationship with a guy to be repugnant for me personally. I don't have anything against gay men/women, it's just not for me. I guess I just want to have my cake and eat it too, err so to speak >:) Took me a while but I now have been married to a lovely lady for 11 years and we are both husband and wife......and best girlfriends that love to go shopping and do each other's nails......Heaven and yes I know I'm lucky.

[Patty F]

Nice post Barbie, I have been married to a wonderful woman for 40 years now, while she is accepting and sometimes we go out together with me dressed, she is reluctant for me to do it full time and I respect her wishes for that. She is more concerned with what people might think or losing friends and family if I were to go full time than I am, I have always been, "hey this is me and if you don't like that's your problem", but I love her and so I keep Patty under control as much as possible. I like having a guy flirt with me when we go out, but that's as far as it goes, If I were a GG or transition I would be a lesbian.
So to answer the question I would love to go 24/7 and have done so for several days, I don't mind the work that goes into it, but I respect the wishes of my wife.

[sherri]

Like so many gurls, I came to cding relatively late in life and had already built a life and relationships I'm not willing to jeopardize for the sake of my own gratification. Consequently, I am and will always be a part-timer, and I accept that and try to make the best of it. The longest stretches I've ever spent 100% gurl have been a few long weekend getaways -- 2 to 4 days -- and those experiences have taught me a few things. First, gurly is my most natural state and it kills me when the extended times come to an end -- I find myself almost grieving. If I had only myself to consider, I absolutely could go full-time and never look back. Second, I can handle all the other "worky" stuff, but facial shaving becomes a huge issue after a couple of days. I know I would have to seek permanent hair removal on my face if I ever wanted to go full-time. Third, even though I am quite content with being a gender bender and have no interest in SRS, if I ever chose to be full-time I would also want to blur the gender line even more with breast implants and maybe some hrt. Fourth, it is very important to me that sooner or later (perhaps when a couple of life circumstances change) I get to spend a month or more without ever having to revert to boy mode. I just have a deep-seated need to experience that.

[BillieJoEllen]

I've been in a few situations where I've been able to dress for fairly long periods of time. I never wanted those times to end. In fact when they did end I cried like a baby every single time. It was like giving up who I really was.

[Felicia Dee]

I have been cross dressing since I was a kid. When I got into my twenties, I went full time for a while - even started HRT (8 months!), thinking I was going to go all the way. But I found that I missed my guy self, which was kind of surprising to me, considering how comfortable I feel in a pencil skirt and heels. Ultimately, I decided on androgyny and being a part-time woman.