Dressing 2 days in a row - fantasy vs reality?

I'm finally home alone for 2 days. I had BIG plans since I haven't dressed in since before COVID. I bought new makeup, new outfits, a even a new wig. I figured I'd dress both days. Yesterday was my first full day home alone and I checked the CD box hard. Morning to evening Camille time! Outfits, photos, dancing, etc (see my photos post). By 5pm I was feeling tired and it was showing in my photos too, so I called it quits for the day and started cleaning up.

Now here I am with the prospect of a second full day of dressing. But frankly... I'm too exhausted. The idea of spending several hours getting ready, not to mention the time later cleaning myself up, is not very appealing. And I'm OK with that. I'm actually content with the idea of just relaxing and watching TV in my usual guy mode today. As much as the pink fog fools me into thinking I could spend every day as Camille, in reality I don't actually need or want to. I feel like yesterday met the need, and I'm probably good for a month or maybe even two. Perhaps it would be different if I could actually become a woman and just live regular life as one every day. That's an idea/fantasy that definitely has appeal. But the process of "becoming" Camille is an entirely different story, and as much as I sometimes feel I could so it every day, especially when the pink fog is thick, it's just not the case, and that's OK. Maybe if I could snap my fingers to magically fast-forward the entire process of getting ready and cleaning up, I might do it, but even then I think I'd just watch TV en femme all day. ;)

Does anyone else ever have a similar experience?

<3 Camille

I'm not feeling very well today, so the thought of making the effort of shaving, moisturising, putting on my makeup, gluing my wig, putting on shapewear etc just feels like too much.

I'd been looking forward to today for some time, as it's been a few weeks since I last dressed, but jeez the effort...

Like you, I know it would be different if I was actually transitioning and didn't have to wear shapewear or get my clothes wig and makeup out of the false wardrobe etc.

I've had those same feelings a few times. But I reasoned that women don't have a choice in the matter so we should get the full experience and dress anyway.

Yes, it is a lot of work for us. More than women actually have to do since we have to deal with body shapers/pads/etc. Not to mention needing wigs and really work at our makeup. The whole process to put that on, and even worse to take it off makes the dressing experience very different for us.

Hi Camille
Your post is timely as I am just coming to the end of 4 day opportunity for dressing while my SO has ben away. I don?t do make up and only dress at home so not quite the same as your experience. And also needed to change for short spells for some errands.
However, I loved it. Underdressed (bra, forms, slip, tights) when there was a likelihood of a knock on the front door - deliveries, postman etc ? but once the sun went down (about 5.00pm around here at this time of year) and then it was Vikky time. Cooked, did chores, admin, TV, and changed outfit every 2 hours of so. Sometimes every day wear and poshed up later in the evening.
Stayed up late enfemme to maximise Vikky time and got up early for the same. I love my SO but just wished she went away more often!
Vikky

As I get older, I find myself sometimes lacking energy to go all out, super dressed up, etc, but then I still feel very satisfied and gratified by spending the majority my downtime in girl mode too, maybe no makeup, but almost always a wig, breast forms and hip padding. This is true whether I leave the house or not.

Notice the “almost”. I think its important to acknowledge that there are days when, regardless of how I may feel, I end up presenting and doing things in male mode. For me, there is often a nagging bit of discomfort in doing so. It seems a necessary compromise and I can live with it.

Make up is what takes the time. My wife has it down to under 5 mins in the morning. Despite 50 plus years of practice, it still takes me 20 mins. It's always worth it though. I will often dress and get on with jobs around the house, without make up. But it just adds a final touch to the smile on my face, that can make the day a little more special sometimes. Similar to butting on that special polka dot skirt, if you have one, rather than just another office skirt.

Replace the words get dressed with something else besides dressing and it comes into perspective. We span a wide range of ages and circumstance and one common thread is that we all only have a limited amount of energy. It?s ok to have two or more days free to dress and to hit a wall after the first day and be too tired to do it on consecutive days. I have had that happen many times and when it does I enjoy whatever alternative activity replaces dressing.

Case in point, I live in the upper Midwestern US and our weather will soon be unbearably cold. Today is going to be beautiful and I have yard work to finish before it turns cold later this week. If I had the day to myself I would think about dressing but the deadline to beat the weather would weigh too heavily and I couldn?t enjoy the dressing.

There are days when all I want to do is get up and get ready for the day.
A good shave, time doing my makeup, time selecting my outfit for the day and then doing Anything! The cleanup time isn't that long, maybe 15 minutes and I still enjoy some of that like washing out my stockings.

Then there are the other days. I get up and the last thing I want is to do is shave, or spend time at the mirror doing my makeup or I can't decide what to wear. Those are the days when I put on those drab clothes lying on the chair in the corner of the room. Those are the days when the grass gets cut, the oil gets changed, the leaf blower roars through the yard or some other mundane, thoughtless act occurs.
It's all part of life and certainly a part of our lives.

Life happens. Enjoy the good days and suffer the bad.

I know what you mean. There were times many years ago when I had no opportunity to be en femme; wife and kids were constantly home. My wife ran the church nursery and took our kids along. That gave me two hours to do something; anything. It wasn't until my wife was working full days and the kids were long gone that I had ample time to be Stephanie. In my youth I did the total deal; full makeup and nails. It was time consuming and nerve racking when I had to quickly revert to boy mode. I looked around and saw the women around me did not do full makeup at all or only when there was some important event to attend. I found my needs were satisfied with lip color; especially when it left lip marks on my coffee cup.

Pre-covid and pre-daughter moving back to our area my wife would visit our daughter or her cousin for seven to ten days. That gave me 24/7 time. There were days during her vacation that I was en femme 24/7. As an in-home or better described as a no human contact cross dresser I did relax in our secluded backyard and take evening drives and strolls. I think I could easily adopt 100% en femme life if I did not have to interact with family and neighbors, although I do enjoy my totally relaxed unshaven male mode.

Can totally identify. I have all kinds of time to dress and I just don't. It takes me 2 hours to look what I consider presentable. I have not dressed fully as Kitty Sue for years. Easier just to put on a pair of leggings at times, rather than doing makeup, shaving, and forms and corsets and everything else. I am getting to a stage now where sometimes my transvestism (I kind of like that word) is about how I am feeling and my mannerisms more than the clothes I am wearing.

So as you can see, those feelings are 90% universal. Whatever you feel, remember that someone else has already been there and done that.
I would accept it as quite normal.

Getting dressed takes me about an hour so what I try to do is set everything up the night before.
Pick the dress or two and iron them, set out the heels, pantyhose, bra, makeup, etc.
That saves me about a half hour.

I believe u just pinpointed one difference between T's and CD's, Camille!:battingeyelashes:

I just dressed every evening and some days for a week in Vegas. I mite not want to dress again until Xmas!:heehee:

If I am planning to dress multiple days in a row, I will treat myself to getting my nails done. If I have my nails done, I'm pretty much "pot committed" to dressing.

I've adapted to use less makeup, generally by not doing my eyes. I wear glasses, so no one is going to see them anyway--or if someone is close enough to see my eyes, they probably know me, or have figured out I might not be a GG. Quicker is better.

Camille,

It's rare for me to be able to put on makeup. However I do get frequent opportunities to go what I call PF, Partially Femme for a few hours. This usually consists of wearing bra + forms, hose, skirt and top. I'm indoors, no-one is going to see me, I rarely glance in the mirror which is why most of the time I don't even bother with a wig.

It's a mindset. It's about being dressed and not so much the way I look. Shedding drab stuff and switching to femme is what's important. I also guess it's about imitating what most GG's do. They don't if spending a day at home spend time putting the slap on just to run the Hoover around. I can go from as nature intended to PF in 5-10 mins and most of that is putting on tights. As you'd expect, quicker the other way.

Also keeping it minimal takes out any stress factor. In fact as I type I'm home alone for 2 1/2 hrs Tights, skirt, Vee neck tee, bra and forms plus a pair of kitten heels. Easy on, easy off, no unnecessary pressure.

Camille raises an interesting concept. I have presumed that, if I got two days in a row of opportunity, I would finally clear off my face and really femme up. The first day would be a veritable fashion show, trying all my outfits (not really that many) and lots of pictures, but that would really only take half the day. The second day would be get out and about. Now I wonder if I wouldn't get a little wiped out. I'd luv the opportunity to find out, though.

I "dress" nearly every day for at least a few hours. But, I don't spend hours doing makeup as if I was going to the King's Ball, it's just enough beard cover and lipstick to hide the male features.

I don't think I've ever been too tired to dress, but I've never spent all day taking photos or changing outfits. I do take photos sometimes but mostly just do what I would normally do.

Seven years ago when my wife was away I would comfortably dress everyday. Now it is a rare event. Part of it was fatigue but I believe there is more to it than that. The big motivator is deep pink fog which is also called dysphoria generated by the subconscious brain that is telling the conscious brain how to solve this pleasant but kind of disruptive inner conflict over what I am and what I feel I should be to be comfortable 24/7. Or as close to that as possible.

Everyday I include something that says female in my attire. It might just be a lavender shirt (stereotypical feminine color) or a T that I know is designed for women. I wear my flowery mask in public or I have on lip color that is subtle and closely matches the natural color of my lips. Etc. etc. Few people ever notice it, but I feel it deeply. It often is just enough to calm the demands and return me to a state that is essentially representative of my majority state of being, a complementary blend of male and female traits and characteristics.

But I do have episodes where I need much more. That is when I go much, much further in expressing as a female-like person. Basically, I learned to only go as far as is needed to be comfortable and clear the fog. It is OK. We are all different and how we react to those inner feelings varies from person to person.

Most of us are not transition material; we tend to be too variable. Yet we sometimes think that is what we need - all or nothing kind of thinking. Then the reality hits. We go all out, it satisfies the emotional conflict, we try again and there is little motivation to go through all that prep. Then we worry about that. Sometimes that re-initiates the cycle; often it just stays fairly flat. I finally discovered I could very nicely play the in-between ground. Maybe that is what is happening to you.

We also need to remember most women are not dressed to the hilt all the time and, in fact, they do get tired of doing that because, well, it is so much work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Camille15

Maybe if I could snap my fingers to magically fast-forward the entire process of getting ready and cleaning up, I might do it...

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Yep, on some levels, it's certainly a time-consuming pain & hassle! :sad:

Is the end-result worth it, though? Usually. But for me, I have to know upfront that I'll be able to push through it, and that I'll appreciate it that much more that particular day.


Today, for example? Was planning on going all-out. Slept in, woke up, said to myself, "Yeah, that ain't happening today!"

I'll probably just half-ass it, skipping many of the extras, just going with the necessities as I deem fit. Good enough! :battingeyelashes:



Also, see Gretchen's last line...

We also need to remember most women are not dressed to the hilt all the time and, in fact, they do get tired of doing that because, well, it is so much work.


She's right, you know.

And add in that we have to do things above & beyond what they do, is also a factor. I mean, when getting ready, how many GG's shave their face, throw on a corset, fake boobs, fake hips/butt, really cake on the make-up, etc.

I suppose one could say they have an unfair advantage! :p



Anyway, don't sweat it. Happens quite often to many of us. Just do what you can do, and what you feel you need to do.

That's the cool thing about all this: No rules! :D

Sounds like you have identified another aspect of dressing we all share . . . at least from time-to-time!

Camille, I have never had the opportunity to fully dress two days in a row. But, it takes me so long to put on my makeup I can understand your trepidation at dressing two days in a row.

I spend just about every day partly femme. Sometimes with a wig, sometimes not. A lot depends on how hot it is.

But makeup is a whole 'nother deal. A lot depends on if you are going out into the world.

Although I'm not really a highly experienced or competent cross dresser, I've already reached the point whereby I only dress when I'm going to go out. That's a big effort; the makeup takes ages, especially given that I frequently make mistakes and have to start again. I also find folding up all the clothes again that I've rummaged through a total fag. So no, I have no desire to repeat the experience for a second day, especially as, by then, I'm inevitably satisfied sexually. What would prohibit my dressing entirely would be the thought of all the time it would take to shave everything. It's for that that I either start preparing my body days in advance: I find the first shave of my legs is inevitably unsatisfactory and it takes at least twice to do a good job. Or, like now, I keep my body permanently shaved. It's a lot of effort once or twice a week. But a lot less daunting than a full shave from an unshaven state.

Every 2nd summer (pandemics permitting) my wife takes our sons to her home country for a month, leaving me with a month of opportunities to dress.
I have to say that I dress every day. I don't always do the full makeup - may lipstick and a bit of eye shadow - but the clothes go on every day.

Camille - I know exactly how you feel. Last week, I was in a heavy pink fog but this week, not so much. I too wish to be Linda all day and if this type of opportunity ever arose for me, I am not sure how I would handle it myself. Linda is an important part of me but so is my best guy! In guy mode, I have many people that depend on him, know him, trust him, and that makes me feel good. As Linda, I feel like I can open my heart more to others and express the more feminine side of myself that I just couldn't do as "my guy" even though he does. I guess if I was ever in the position you are in, I would take the second day as dressed down Linda. You know, no makeup, hip pads, no fancy clothes, especially if you are just going to kick around the house by yourself. I would dress, but very casually like knee highs, flats and some skinny jeans. Some day soon, I hope to be in the same situation as you, you know when my roommate moves out, then I can have everyday available to give to Linda. When that day comes, I will share with everyone here what happens.

P.S. I love that dress in your avatar!

I can remember shortly after coming out to my Wife, the floodgates open and I was able to let my alter ego out the box. For the first time I was able to fully dress, makeup, wig, clothing and accessories but I could only do it late on the weekend evenings as I had to wait for my two children to go to bed.

I can remember I'd be excited about dressing all day, imagining how I'd look and feel but by the time I did my makeup and got dressed it would be in the early hours of the morning and I'd look in the mirror and be disheartened at what looked back at me. After a few weekends dressing late, I decided no more late nights as it was making me feel bad about myself.

Definitely a case of fantasy vs reality at times for me.