So, how many years now?

[CarlaWestin]

At first I thought about maybe 55 or so but I definitely started at about 10 borrowing mom's bras so that makes it....

59 years!? OMG!

How 'bout you?

[evadan]

50 years?the last few years have been the best!

[DanielleDubois]

Carla, have you beat by at least 2 or 3 years... also started for me at about 10 years old when I found a gorgeous angora sweater dress and corselette/girdle in a cedar chest in the basement. To this day i have no idea why those two particular items were stored away with a bunch of random papers.

[JesseVF]

Since I started at I think 5 yrs old, that makes about 60 yrs for me. I know others will beat that, but still that?s a long time!

[GaleWarning]

I'm not certain ... 65+ years?

[Jasmine23]

Started when I was 4 or 5, been dressing on and off since, over 40 years now! Where has all that time gone?

[SaraLin]

Dressing? Somewhere around 65.
Feelings? even longer -I'd say all my life, or at least ever since I knew there was a difference.

[BLUE ORCHID]

Hi Carla :hugs:, Probably 77 years Now,

About age 4 or 5 with mom's nylons & Heels, >Orchid**O:daydreaming:O**

[Crissy 107]

I would say around 62 years, I started with my Moms bras and OBGs. It really has been fun!

[BLACK STOCKINGS]

65 years started when I was 5

[Teri Ray]

likely 63 years

[kateydoe]

I started young with my mom?s things then on and off through the years. Being in military made it tough at times but pretty regularly for the past ten years since I retired

[sara66]

I am 59 and started around 4 or 5.
Sara

[steffigirl37]

+/-60 years. Also like Evadan, last few years have been the best.

[Kris Burton]

Four. Unless you count a few skirmishes with my wife's discarded pantyhose when I was in my mid-forties, I didn't start until I was 69. I'm 73 now.

[KrissyTN]

54 years for me....started with Mom's bra's and pantyhose when I was about 7.

[Helen_Highwater]

65'ish years.

[JulieC]

North of 50 years for me; hard to pin down a start date per se. First thoughts were around age 4 or 5, first action some years later.

Kris; "skirmishes with my wife's discarded pantyhose" :lol: that's hysterical! I can just picture...

[Jillcder]

Well I started in grade school so approximately 55 years. I guess the old saying once a crossdresser always a crossdresser is spot on ladies.

[kayegirl]

Well I played dressup from around the age of 5, but my first ever full dress as a girl, and my epiphany occurred age 13. I will be making my 75th birthday in March this year, so you could say 62 years.

[Suzie Petersen]

I'm at ~58 years, from first memory of trying something on and going .. Ohhhhhh!

Who knew how deep that Rabbit hole was!

[michelleddg]

I went out fully dressed at age 25. Then stayed closeted for 20 years, then let it all out and haven't looked back the last 25 years. Hugs, Michelle

[ColleenA]

To this day i have no idea why those two particular items were stored away with a bunch of random papers.

Danielle, maybe that was the stash for another person in the house who dressed :heehee:

[Crissy 107]

I agree with Colleen, I was thinking the same thing
Maybe the Apple did not fall far from the tree

[Michaela Jane]

I first tried on my then wifes bra when I was about 25. That's 53 years ago but I think I can discount that as a bit of a pervy thing, because I never touched another feminine article until 30 years later. Yes, I discovered panties, or rather femme thongs, in 2003 when I was 56. Now at the age of 78, I wear more femme clothes, have more femme clothes than man clothes, and feel better for it.

[Stephanie47]

First, I would have to define what a cross dresser is to get a proper estimate of the beginning of time. When I encountered my mother's nylon full slips drying on a washline strung in our apartment I loved the feel of the nylon fabric. It was like none of my boy clothes. I use to fondle the slips until I had the nerve to take them down, slip into them for a quick feel and then rehang them. I had no desire to be a girl. It was just the feel of the nylon. Then, I expanded to trying on her nylon nightgowns that were kept in a laundry bag in the closet in my bedroom that I shared with my older brother. I would yank it out of the bag, don it for a while and then replace it. It wasn't until puberty and raging hormones that I started raiding my mother's dresser drawer and getting into her bras, granny panties, girdles & stocking and slips. If the beginning is those hanging full slips, then life began over seventy years ago.

[LIKETODRESS2]

I was around 11 or 12 so 41 years

[Stephj]

Started feeling bras and panties in the store at about 5years old. Started wearing both bras and panties at ten years old now almost 61 still wearing them daily

[bridget thronton]

60 years since the first time I fully dressed

[traciJ]

Hi Carla, I'm pretty sure I was around 5yo when I first tried on a dress. I have absolute clarity about the feeling it gave me and that propelled me to be a lifelong CD. So that puts me around 55 years.

Traci

[Traci H]

The early times of my exposure are all a little vague. I know I tried some of my sisters panties and certainly felt my mom?s stuff fairly young. I remember some early fantasies somewhere in there too. I?m going to go with age 10, plus or minus a bit. Been 62 years then with this fog rolling in and out.

[tifftg]

Started with my mom's panties, girdles, bras and nylons when I was 13. Now 70 so 57 years and counting with a lot of ups and downs over the decades.

[April Rose]

69 or 70

[kimdl93]

More than I care to remember…but seriously. Just shy of 69 years, from the age of 3 based on my recollection and what I have gleaned from siblings.

[Katherine L.]

54 years. Started with mom’s bras at 12 years old and I’m now 66.

[alwayshave]

I started at 3 or 4, so a minimum of 59 years.

[Fiona_44]

Close to 65 yrs. for me with the last 33 months being the best.

[BTWimRobin]

Growing up during the 1960s and 1970s I lived in a house full of women. Needless to say there were times the Sears Catalog came to life. Throughout my life the feelings and desires to dress would be and flow so I would dabble a little here and a little there. But never anything official and I was always able to put it away. Somewhere in my late 50s the dam burst and I started dressing and nearly 6 years later, at 62, I'm going stronger than ever.

[RachelB.]

Started around 8 or 9. I'll be 69 in April. So a long time.

[Pauline Quirky]

Three years... after 45 years of thinking it would never happen 😉

Just shows you never know when the urge might creep up on you... and there's no going back when it does.

[Maria 60]

I do remember when my sister left her pantyhose on my bed post and curiosity got the best of me and I had a field day with them. I just can't put an age on it. I'm going to think about eight that would make it 53yrs ago.

[Geena75]

First time in pantyhose was about 55 years ago, but first time in a dress and pantyhose was about 50 years ago.

[rachellegsep]

1st time I was 11 years old so 50 years.

[Linda E. Woodworth]

Too far back to remember the actual date but I'd say 50+ years ago.

[SophiaRose]

45 years and counting!

[ColleenA]

55 or 56 years. My earliest distinct memory is around age 9 or 10. I kept a pair of black panties from one of my sisters under the mattress that I would slip on in bed. I loved to feel the lace with my fingers. I don't think I was getting to the common end result yet, however.

The best memory, though, was when I was 11. One day, I had the house to myself; somehow everyone had someplace to be, and I knew it would be late in the afternoon before anyone returned. I went into the bedroom of my 18-year-old sister and spent hours there trying on at least half her clothes - bras, panties, dresses, skirts, nightgowns, go-go style boots, etc. I was in heaven!

[racquelr]

Don't remember when I first started putting on my mom's bras and slips that were in the laundry hamper in the bathroom (and then grduated eventually to her lingerie drawer when I was home alone).
Probably sometime between the ages of 10 and 15, so that's 50+ years now

[Marketa]

Years? I haven't finished even the first one yet! :D

[Debbie Denier]

51 years ago I tried on a pair of my mum?s tights which changed my life forever.

[Natalie5004]

I remember being a 12 to 13 year old when it all started with my sisters clothes in the house.

It really kicked in once I got married. But in the last 5 years is when I decided to dollup and let my wife see me and go outside the house.

[Michelle1955]

64 years, started at around 5.
A friend and i were playing her room one day and we exchanged each others underwear and panties we were wearing.

[Myra Thomas]

73 years ��

[NancySue]

Many years ago. Started around age 6. Rainy day, next door sisters invited me over to play games, whish turned into dress up. Initially, no internet until they suggested I try on nylon stockings. It was like a bolt of lightning. I was immediately hooked. Now retired with a supportive wife, I?m so enjoying dressing most days. It?s been an interesting journey.

[Kitty Sue]

First dressed in women's clothing when I was about 5. So 48 years for me.

[MsEva]

About fifty years for me.

[Michelle_G]

Has to be close to 50 for me as well. I'm 54 now and I was probably between 7 and 10. It started with my mother's old dance leotards, one piece swimsuits and pantyhose.

[Freddi]

I think I first tried on a bra,tights & skirt around age 10.....then occasionally into my early twenties. Then it all went on hold for several years whilst with a girl friend but started again after moving in with my (now) wife about 25yrs ago. I was about 32 when we got together. I came clean not long after and she's totally accepting and supportive now. I don't go out dressed or made-up, she likes to keep it for her eyes only.....fine by me.

[Ann Smith]

The no-looking-back, Michelle? that?s what I hope always for my CD self. So enjoy seeing you express that. Love, Ann.

[Mercedes]

I guess it has been about 45-46 years. Started when I was 11 or 12, if I had a sister I might have had an opportunity to dress earlier.

[PaulaJeanette]

My earliest recollections of my crossdressing (formerly know as transvestism) date back to 6 or 7 years old. The first female article that drew my attention was mom's pink control panties. Whenever I saw it hanging on the clothesline, I could not resist putting it on. From there, my exploration branched out to slips as well as girdles and stockings. In the '50s and '60s, the lingerie pages of Sears, JC Pennys, and Montgomery Wards catalogs also proved to be tantalizing reading. Thus, my interest in and wearing female lingerie has continuously spanned 73 years of my life!

[Jane P]

I know that this has always been a thing (curse) for guys for eternity, but we are part of the Information Age and I can’t but I just sometimes wonder if the media (aka programming) has anything to do with it Or was I predestined to have an interest in advertising directed towards a female demographic. For me,I still don’t understand the longing for femininity that has always been present, but I do find peace when I relinquish my reservations.

I forgot to mention how long. Probably 55 years that I remember.

[Mary Loo]

Started around 5 or 6 but that was very infrequent until say 12-17 years old with lots of wearing many items of my Mom’s and 2 older sisters who were out of the house for college and life by that point. Then a lull for about 6 years and decades of say quarterly or more reasonably quick sessions with minimal items of my own, mostly ill fitting items of my wife (wasn’t as fun and was disrespectful to her). Really started in earnest almost 3 years ago now with properly fitting everything of my own and growing wardrobe.

Thus a realistic answer could be 3 years or technically about 52 years.

Very interesting thread with so many commonalities and SO many years!

[JuLo]

Right around 50 yrs for me! Hard to imagine it has been that long!!

[Raychel]

Close to 55 years for me. Starting around the age of 10 with a few years of hiatus in between

[CDMargret]

Young, ever so. Early grade school my Grandmother would give me knee highs to wear. Later sneaking in Mom's drawers. Sisters ballet outfits. 55 today and watching the snow fall outside in heels, shiny tights and a lovely shiny black long sleeve fit n flare dress. So close to 50 years of wearing clothing made for women.

[susann_gardener]

remembering back to a dance costume at about 5, it must be 75 years.

[Heisthebride]

I think I started around 2nd grade, so that would be about 8 years old. My parents were square dancers and my mom had a yellow dress with white swiss dots on it and a big fluffy petticoat. So that?s about 50 years for me.

[MysteryWoman]

72 years and still going as strong as ever

[TheHiddenMe]

Give or take, 60. I was about 7 when I wanted to try a dress on (it didn't fit). Was envious of the boys who got to dress as girls for Halloween. I still am. I got my turn in 8th grade, then had a few chances in my 20's.

Finally in 2016, after a few times out, I got bold and dressed for four days straight. The toothpaste was out of the tube and has never gone back in. I get to do things dressed I never imagined in my wildest daydreams.

[Susan Smith]

55 years

20 years this month since I joined this site

[Fiona Lindum]

Since I was about 14 (50 years ago).

[josie_S]

41 or 42 years now, with some long dry spells in between

[VivianNewkirk]

I'm a late bloomer, not discovering the woman within until my 50s. I've declared that Vivian's "birthday" is the day that I ordered her first women's clothes, so this April she will be turning eight!

[mollymulligan]

Over 50 years now!

[Jade P]

About 50 years ago, started with Moms pantyhose and lipstick. Increased when I lived alone. Increased more in marriage. Now at age 59 every day I dress partly feminine at least underdress or dress more completely in private.

[Karren H]

I am at 66 years dressing. Started at 7 and will be turning 73 shortly. Sigh?.

[Verity]

Playing dress up around age 5, would be 45. A few momentary experiments with my sisters dresses around 12 could be 38. But really understanding that I wanted to and actively, regularly dressing it is just one year since I realized this is a part of who I am. It?s been a REALLY great year in that regard. I like myself so much better as I have come to accept this side of me, and oh my God how good it is go feel pretty when I can. Being in girl mode makes me so happy.

[Andrea Renea]

Started around 7 years old in some form or fashion

I'm 67 now.

[Sabine7]

I have been experiencing different crossdressing situations since childhood but it is just last 7-8 years that I used to dress from head to toe as a woman almost daily. I am almost 60 now.

[JenniferR771]

I only have vague memories of the early years. I was fascinated by my mother's clothes. Sometimes explored the dirty clothes hamper.

I have been a crossdresser to some degree for 65 years.

[Cheryl T]

Since I first wore Mom's panties and bra it's been 70 years.
Since I first had a complete outfit of my own it's been 58 years.
Since I first went out in public fully dressed it's been over 20 years.

It's been a long ride and it's not over.

[Erin Lafleur]

It's been about 60 years for me from trying on Mom's panties and slips. I'm certainly glad that I have my own extensive wardrobe now.
What continues to amaze me is how similar we all are in this regard and how that desire never really changes throughout our lives.
Bravo for us!

[Stephanie47]

I'm approaching 78 in a few months. My parents almost caught me wearing my mother's dress at age 18, so that makes it a minimum of 60 years. However, I was into my mother's drawers for many years before that. I'll even not count when I had to step on top of the edge of the bathtub to take her slips off the drying rack over the bathrub, so, realistically add another six years.....maybe 66 years???

[Lacey New]

With all of your responses, now I know that I was not the only early teenage boy playing with Mommy?s panties back in the 60?s.

[GraceH]

70 years for me, officially. I started dressing at 7 years old.

[BaliGirl]

About 45 years since that fateful day when I first put on a bra.

About 20 since my first lingerie purchase - I didn't crossdress for quite some time because I was in denial.

[Jane G]

60 ish. But does it matter. As long as I have memories, they have included cross gender issues. We are who we are. There is always further to travel in life, but enjoy what you have, until you get there.

[CynthiaD]

I started at 3 with nail polish, so 73 years. I didn’t fully dress until I was 12, so 64 years since then. I was in my mid 50s before I was able to fully accept myself, so about 20 years since then.

[Glenda58]

For me it's 70 yrs but the last 8 months I have been transitioning

[kellyanne]

55 trips around the sun, it came on at age 8.

[abby054]

Sixty years. I dressed as a peasant girl, maxi skirt with off the shoulder blouse, at Halloween at age nine. The idea of dressing had been rattling around in my head since age five.

[TrishaLake]

I wore my first item at 6 , and I am 58...that is a long time.

[Meg]

It would be 57 years for me. Went as a girl to Cub Scout Halloween and have been hooked since.

[Ceera]

About the same, if I count trying on mom's clothes when I was 8-10 years old. But I stopped in my early teens, and didn'rt resume until in my 50's.

[Angie G]

About 67 year. Came out to my wife a got serious in 2005

[LizMichelle]

Started at 8 years old now 46 years old, 38 years

[Susan_Michaela]

For me since 1982 so 43 years now and January 1st of 2025 I?ve been out 24/7/365 dressing I finally got the nerve up to be out and no problem?s at all and I go everywhere. I?ve been out 2 years 4 months now

[Rachel Lea]

I started with high heels from the toy box, but I really got hooked hard when I was 13 and I stepped into my mom's pantyhose (wow!). Therefore 54 years!

[Christina89]

I am at about 23 years of dressing. I started in 2002 when I was about 2 months maybe into my 8th grade year of school. It?s been a wonder adventure to be on.

[Lori Anne]

From the first time I put on a pair of panties, until today, we're looking at 49 years.

[countrygirl]

I started around 11 years old and I will be 44 in May.

[tiffyjo]

Got to be at about 50-52 years. Not 100% sure of when I did start.

[AlicePetticoat]

I started dressing around 22 years old. Going on 5 years of dressing now.

[cosmolovesph]

I know i starting wearing mom's pantyhose in elementary school so I had to be around 7 or so...