Just starting this journey

[claireswife-gg]

First, an intro. I've been happily married for 5 years and counting. About 6 months ago my hubby started wearing silk nightgowns, then progressed on to skirts and stockings around the house. He said it was very nice, very relaxing, and I sure didn't mind (nice legs!). :hugs:

A few nights ago, we saw the "Secret Lives" show on WE. Halfway through, he started to seem a bit tense so I paused the show and I asked my husband some questions like "They have a female name for themselves, do you want to do that?" and "do you want to try dressing up fully - with makeup, wig, etc?". Well, we tried it and Claire was born. He says it feels so natural he fell right into it.

It's been going great so far, although being a tomboy myself I'm surely not the best person for makeup advice LOL. He comes home from work and changes into Claire, which has been great. I've never seen him so happy. We've been talking about options, the future, etc. We have so many questions and I have no idea where to start finding the answers. I sure would appreciate any guidance. I'll ask a couple of questions here that I have had trouble finding answers to online.

Claire is 6'4. Yeah, gonna be a bit tougher to blend in with the crowd. Are there communities where crossdressers can feel comfortable going out in public? I'd certainly be willing to move if we could find a place that Claire would be more readily accepted.

Also, someone mentioned makeovers at Merle Norman... how on earth do you work that?

Anyway, nice to meet you all. If you have any advice, I'd love to hear it! Thanks in advance.

[Carlacd]

Hi Claireswife, welcome to the forum. Hope you find what you are looking for.

[Phoebe Reece]

Welcome to the forum Claireswife.

That is a pretty big jump going from recently only wearing women's underwear straight to where you are taking this now. Claire is certainly lucky to have someone as accepting and open-minded as you. It will take awhile to find all the answers you are looking for. Joining a support group can help.

I know a number of CD's who are well over six feet tall that go out and about a lot. They get noticed when they are out, but that doesn't prevent them from wearing high heels and having a good time. A number of major cities around the world are pretty accepting of crossdressers. Atlanta is certainly a good place to be. My crossdressing friends and I go out dressed to restaurants, bars, shopping malls, museums, and even the zoo without any hassles. It is really a matter of developing the right attitude about it and avoiding going to the places that even a GG would be afraid to go to alone.

Makeovers are easily arranged at many makeup shops. Several of my friends often go to the MAC store at Perimeter Mall in Atlanta. Often they will go there dressed as a guy with their femme things in a bag. After the artist finishes their makeup, they change clothes in a back room, and come out fully femme. All you need to do is call the makeup store and ask the manager what they are willing to do for your situation. Most will be very accomodating as the stores need to do whatever they can to sell you their products.

[Charleen]

First off, Welcome! You found the right place to come with questions. We have both CDs and GGs here, and the GGs have their own support site. As far as Claire's height, I'm 6'1", and have no problem. There are others taller as well. Most like me are O.K. with their height, after all I've seen GGs taller than me. BTW, is Claire also on the site? It would help her greatly. I know I wouldn't be who I am today without the love and support of all my sisters here! Love and xxxx, Lily

[claireswife-gg]

Yes, it is a big jump. He's waiting for his membership to get confirmed so he can post, sorry for speaking for him here in the meantime. The whole transition has seemed so amazingly comfortable. My roommate in college was a crossdresser, so it's really not new to me. Claire just seems so relaxed and comfortable, and my hubby says that this is something he's wanted to do for a long time. I've certainly had a blast bringing home presents (makeup etc) and helping teach him my (very basic) makeup skills. It's been a pleasurable trip so far.

Thank you for the advice,

Caitlyn

[sandra-leigh]

Are there communities where crossdressers can feel comfortable going out in public? I'd certainly be willing to move if we could find a place that Claire would be more readily accepted.

If you are in the United States, you may wish to look at www.tri-ess.org and see if they have a local chapter.

I am in central Canada, and in this city, although there is not a lot of public awareness of cross-dressing, the tolerance and acceptance levels seem quite good. I'm not saying "and never was heard a discouraging word", but I've been out quite a number of times, including many in which I did not even try to "pass", and it is relatively uncommon for anyone to bother me.

Hereabouts, people see me but most of the time just don't pay attention. Attention seems to be not so much a function of what I wear, but rather how flashy it is. Of course micromini skirts are going to attract a certain amount of attention even the skirt is a dull colour. :)

[Jasmine Ellis]

welcome. you'll have a lot of help in here, just take your time and enjoy

[Kate Simmons]

No lack of help here, Hon. Glad to have you. :happy: Take care, Ericka Kay

[Di]

Welcome.....so nice to meet another GG.........Tri Ess would be a good way to start as suggested......also google crossdressers and your area or state where you live....another way to find places to go out in public where she'd feel comfortable.About the Merle Norman....I'd call there ( or any places ) and explain...they might make a private time for you where she'd feel more comfortable out and about for the first times. Good luck...enjoy Di

[sparks]

Jump right in. Enjoy the water it's always warm. Welcome.

[Robin Leigh]

A few nights ago, we saw the "Secret Lives" show on WE. Halfway through, he started to seem a bit tense so I paused the show and I asked my husband some questions like "They have a female name for themselves, do you want to do that?" and "do you want to try dressing up fully - with makeup, wig, etc?". Well, we tried it and Claire was born. He says it feels so natural he fell right into it.

Welcome to the forum, Claireswife. What a sweet story! :hugs: I wonder how many other transformations are occuring, triggered by that program+? I feel like we're witnessing trans-history in the making. :heehee:

You'll find tons of great information & advice here. You can always ask new questions, of course, but there's a wealth of info in the archives. Just pop a keyword or two into the search engine. You'll find TG topics discussed from almost every angle. Many threads also have links to detailed how-to articles.

Robin

[vbcdgrl]

Willing to move to accomodate Claire's coming out? Wow, now that's dedication. Anyway, there's a thread on here right now "Where do CDs live".
You might check it out.

Vikki

[ClaireJ]

Hi All, finally got in :happy:

Not sure what to say yet, except to say thanks for the welcome. I am still amazed how "natural" and not strange it feels to be dressed up. This feels normal.

Opinions on the pic are welcome, good or bad.

Claire

[Shelby67]

Very nice, and it must be great to have such an understanding wife. Lots of WOOHOOS! and U GO GIRL!

[Melissa A.]

Welcome Claire and Claireswife,

You are home now, with friends. Don't hesitate to ask anything, we only want the best for our friends. Claireswife, you're an exceptional woman. And Claire, from what I can see, ya look great, sweetie. I hope you're happy.

Support groups and local gathering places are great, there are alot of resources out there these days. Hope we continue to see ya both here.

Hugs,

Melissa:happy:

[ClaireJ]

Welcome Claire and Claireswife,

And Claire, from what I can see, ya look great, sweetie. I hope you're happy.



I am now. :D

[claireswife-gg]

Aww, thanks, but I'm married to such a wonderful love, it's easy to support her. She set the precedent, because when I first met her and married her, she made me feel the way I did when I was in college, hanging out at the health food store and being so completely ME. Other people tried to change me, and did to a big degree. Claire made me find and love myself again, so I have to say she helped me first.

Lemme tell ya, she looks good, and looks better every day :) We're working out the kinks and taking steps every night (wow, so much hair to get rid of during this transition!)

I need help now because she has me do her makeup, and well... a makeup artist I'm not :p. I can do goth makeup, but I don't think that's the look my lovely spouse is going for... :heehee: :heehee:

[GG Vanya]

First, an intro. I've been happily married for 5 years and counting. About 6 months ago my hubby started wearing silk nightgowns, then progressed on to skirts and stockings around the house. He said it was very nice, very relaxing, and I sure didn't mind (nice legs!). :hugs:

A few nights ago, we saw the "Secret Lives" show on WE. Halfway through, he started to seem a bit tense so I paused the show and I asked my husband some questions like "They have a female name for themselves, do you want to do that?" and "do you want to try dressing up fully - with makeup, wig, etc?". Well, we tried it and Claire was born. He says it feels so natural he fell right into it.

It's been going great so far, although being a tomboy myself I'm surely not the best person for makeup advice LOL. He comes home from work and changes into Claire, which has been great. I've never seen him so happy. We've been talking about options, the future, etc. We have so many questions and I have no idea where to start finding the answers. I sure would appreciate any guidance. I'll ask a couple of questions here that I have had trouble finding answers to online.

Claire is 6'4. Yeah, gonna be a bit tougher to blend in with the crowd. Are there communities where crossdressers can feel comfortable going out in public? I'd certainly be willing to move if we could find a place that Claire would be more readily accepted.

Also, someone mentioned makeovers at Merle Norman... how on earth do you work that?

Anyway, nice to meet you all. If you have any advice, I'd love to hear it! Thanks in advance.

It's normally the GG's advising the CD's to *take it slow*! I could have sworn when I first read this message you mentioned something about hormones. There is an entire world of difference in the person who crossdresses (CD) and the one who takes hormones to transition (TS).

Relocating to facilitate crossdressing? That is quite drastic, in my opinion~ If you have children especially. Even with no children it means both of you finding new jobs, etc.

For a wife who just stepped in to this world, girl you're jumping in with all four feet! :D

If you read the archives, you'll find many posts from GG's who started out as accepting, but soon burned out totally from "overload". Be careful this doesn't happen to you. Moderation is imperative!

I can understand your enthusiasm, but please, take my advice and the knowledge learned from so many previous posts by GGs and take this very slowly. As my CD husband and I said early on: We have the rest of our lives to enjoy this, no need to burn out like a shooting star.

Find a happy medium wherein neither of you loses the core person you met and fell in love with, and be careful of the dreaded *pink fog*.

Welcome to the forum. I know you'll find much support and information here!

[claireswife-gg]

Thank you for the advice. It actually isn't really sudden for Claire, just acceptance of doing the whole thing together. My best friend and roomie in college was a crossdresser, and although he was already comfortable and out about it, living with him for over a year sure gave me some good experience for this. In our group of close friends we pretty much had every possible gender identification, including TG. So, I have to admit, it's kind of natural for me, as I accepted it years ago.

Claire pretty much suppressed for a long time, and in the last year started slowly transitioning into coming home and changing into a skirt, garter and stockings and staying like that all evening. What's new is actually admitting that she always wanted to go the whole way and starting to do it. A lot of fear was there about killing the relationship if she did so. So yes, this past week has been pretty much a bit of something new every night, and Claire pretty much is here fulltime except for work now.

Relocating is something we've been thinking of anyway. We don't really like where we live, it's very redneck and intolerant just in general - much less in regards to CD. No kids, just us, and a desire to live somewhere a little more enlightened. So we're planning ahead, we figure give ourselves a couple of years and position ourselves for a move to a nicer place.

Personally, I have so much fun with my spouse like this, we were best friends to begin with and now with this, well - there's a calm, peaceful, genuinely happy version of the same. Even though I think Claire is adorable on her own, I'm smitten with the soul I fell in love with all over again - because I finally got to meet the whole person.

I appreciate the caution, and will truly take it to heart. It is hard, I admit, because we're having a lot of fun right now and there really isn't any weirdness at all. I know there will be some rough spots, but we've been through a lot together already and I'm confident we'll work through whatever comes up, especially with a support group to help. :D

Thank you for the welcome!




It's normally the GG's advising the CD's to *take it slow*! I could have sworn when I first read this message you mentioned something about hormones. There is an entire world of difference in the person who crossdresses (CD) and the one who takes hormones to transition (TS).

Relocating to facilitate crossdressing? That is quite drastic, in my opinion~ If you have children especially. Even with no children it means both of you finding new jobs, etc.

For a wife who just stepped in to this world, girl you're jumping in with all four feet! :D

If you read the archives, you'll find many posts from GG's who started out as accepting, but soon burned out totally from "overload". Be careful this doesn't happen to you. Moderation is imperative!

I can understand your enthusiasm, but please, take my advice and the knowledge learned from so many previous posts by GGs and take this very slowly. As my CD husband and I said early on: We have the rest of our lives to enjoy this, no need to burn out like a shooting star.

Find a happy medium wherein neither of you loses the core person you met and fell in love with, and be careful of the dreaded *pink fog*.

Welcome to the forum. I know you'll find much support and information here!

[Missy Anne's GG]

Hi Claireswife,

It sounds like you have a really good attitude about this and that you are very much in love with your husband. It is great to hear of such a wonderful relationship!

I wish all the best to you and your husband!

Hugs,

Missy Anne's GG

[Debbie GG]

I am relatively new to the forum as well. I have been married to Bernice for over 30 years and have always known about the CDing. From your posts so far, I am optimistic that you will survive together. There will certainly be rough patches, although they may have nothing to do with CDing, but the attitude that comes through in the posts will get you through them.

I won't be much help on these questions....Unfortunately, I am not a makeup artist either....We live in northeast Kansas and while this community is fairly understanding of differences I really don't know how a CD fully dressed would be accepted most places. If Bernice has a desire to go out it has not come up. My intuition says a larger city might be a better place to blend in.

The people on this site, CDs and GGs, seem very willing to help with any problem so just keep posting. Of course, don't just post when you have a problem, share your joys and thoughts on issues/questions others raise as well.

Welcome!

Debbie GG
:hugs:

[Melanie R]

Claireswife,

We are pleased that the WE show was beneficial for you and indeed was a catalist. Peggy and Melanie were one of the two couples in the show. Now if you could only be cloned. Claire is very fortunate to have you as a wife. Send me an email with more info on where you live. We can certainly help you both with tips on makeup, going out in public, etc. We would love to have you in Houston. We have a fantastic Tri-Ess chapter here with couples you would love. One of our couples includes a CD who is 6 feet 5 inches and does go out in public in Houston. Most of Houston is very open to transgendered persons.

Our email is melpeg@mindspring.com.

Hugs,

Melanie

[GG Vanya]

Claire's wife,

Oopsie, I'm sorry if my post seemed patronizing to ya. I assumed (dang that word) from the thread title that you were brand new to all of this. Thank you for being so gracious in your reply. :happy:

Melanie,

Houston isn't *that* far from our neck of the woods, and I've given thought to Trudi and I visiting there. We've visted Dallas to shop, and Houston ain't that much more of a road trip.

I finally got to see the entire WE segment on Tuesday night. I'd about resolved to order the CD from ya. :happy: It was well done, with only one thing that didn't sit that well with me.

It seemed they 'filmed down their noses' at the other couple. I think they could have left that shot of her sitting on the motorcycle, which had one tire missing, on the cutting room floor. I understand the concept of portraying the fact that CDs exist in all levels of society~upper, middle, and lower class~ but I felt they focused way too much on the mobile home, their "less than new car" and that tacky shot of her on the motorcycle.

You and Peggy, on the other hand, came across as very graceful and "down to earth" people.

Trudi has always held Peggy in high regard and feels indebted to her, because, as she says, she somewhat blazed the trail for acceptance of CDs with her books, and reading them helped her greatly in her journey of self acceptance and understanding.

My sincerest congratulations and thanks to all four of you, and if you're in contact with the other couple, please pass my thanks to them as well.

[nikisbest]

Thank you for the advice. It actually isn't really sudden for Claire, just acceptance of doing the whole thing together.

Relocating is something we've been thinking of anyway. We don't really like where we live, it's very redneck and intolerant just in general - much less in regards to CD. No kids, just us, and a desire to live somewhere a little more enlightened. So we're planning ahead, we figure give ourselves a couple of years and position ourselves for a move to a nicer place.

Personally, I have so much fun with my spouse like this, we were best friends to begin with and now with this, well - there's a calm, peaceful, genuinely happy version of the same. Even though I think Claire is adorable on her own, I'm smitten with the soul I fell in love with all over again - because I finally got to meet the whole person.


Thank you for the welcome!

A wonderfully understanding wife, WOW, Claire you lucky dog.
My wife accepts but doesnt really participate, so having a wife that is so into helping is wonderful. I better be serving her breakfast in bed and washing her feet for her. OOPS giving her ideas, sorry. All I am trying to say is treat her like a queen, even though my wife doesnt really help, I still try to treat her like the a queen and oh yeah buy her so many nice SHOES.
Well, good luck guys and have fun with all the new adventures to come.

Niki's :2c:

[Robin Leigh]

Welcome Claire! You two sound like you're having the time of your lives. Enjoy! :hugs:

Maybe you should move to Texas. I hear there are lots of tall people there.

We have lots of tall people in Sydney, too. My youngest sister is just over 6', a little taller than me. I used to go out with a GG who was several inches taller than me, and she was used to people staring at her because of her height, but it didn't help me feel I was passing the few times I went out dressed with her. :) All tall girls TG or GG, no matter how good they look, get suspected of being trans, from time to time. It's inevitable.

Robin

[Angie G]

HI Claire and clears wife Welcome to the family it is very nice to have you with us you sound like real nice people.
Clear you have a fantastic wife kiss her feet girl she deserves it hope you two lsct forever :hugs: for each of you you are truly lucky :love:

[ClaireJ]

to everyone for making me / us feel welcome. I know this will not be an easy journey but the scenery & the company will make it a pleasant trip.

It's surprising that I am more relaxed, comfortable and feel more like my true self when I can be Claire. My wife is also my best friend and is truely a unique and special person. At this time I have no illusions (only fantasies) about where I/we will be in 1, 2 or 5 years time. But I do know I won't be alone.

I'm also having fun at the moment being called a b%tch because an outfit she hates looks good on me :tongueout

Claire