I think if you look at this from your mother's perspective that perhaps there is another path to working with her to cope and understand what you are going through could help with her coming to terms with the true you. Just last night I was watching “New Girls on the Block” which is about five transwoman where on last night’s episode one of them meet with her mother and for the first part of the meeting the mother kept calling her by her male name and had difficulties coming to terms with her transition but finally came around and partly because of how her new daughter presented herself not only in dress but also through true heartfelt emotions. Some people need time to digest such a change and hopefully this will be the case with your mother.

In regards to "your mother's perspective", remember she gave birth to a male and has strong ties to this so best to keep this in mind.

I would strongly urge you to purchase a copy of True Selves” and let her read the book as it may provide a different insight to what you are going through to find the real you.

Concerning not letting people treat you with disrespect, that is the right attitude but choice your words wisely if it comes to the need to express yourself when you feel disrespect. First and foremost, put on a genuine smile if possible which is a method from Verbal Judo (this is a book on Amazon), take a second or two to collect your thoughts and respond back (if possible) in a calm manner if they are hostile to deescalate if need be. You need to educate them and also let them know you will not take being disrespected at any level.

Think about this in regards to the above where I suggest de-escalation. If you grab the hand of a child who is upset and forcefully pull them they instinctively will pull back but take their hand gently with soft spoken words that still have intent they are less likely to resist. Same should hold true when in a conversation on educating someone who has been mean or harsh to you, don't raise yourself to their level but instead calm them down with kindness but to stay in control.

I have used various techniques on criminals and the majority of the time they work but of course there are some who will still not comply, same can happen with your plight but well worth trying these types of verbal judo out.

Regardless of the above, I am very happy for you as it sound things are on the right track with hormones and hair removal

Hi Lisa,

With regard to electrolysis, I found that the moustache area is very sensitive, if you find that rings true for you too, try getting hold of some Emla Cream. I applied it starting an hour before "face torture" repeated 3 times after the first application dried, so aprx every 20mins. This took much of the sting out of the process, I also take 4x Ibuprofen an hour beforehand too.

Hope this is helpful to you.

Cheers,

Eve

In regards to electrolysis on the upper lip, when mine was done they had me setup an appointment with a dentist so that I would go to the dentist, he would numb my upper lip then off to my electrolysis appointment where I usually feel asleep during a two hour session when first starting the upper lip. Personally I had heavy hairs on the upper lip from constantly shaving so when going out as a female it was pretty well hidden but sadly made those hairs heavier.