I am 21 years old and have come to live full time as a woman, although I have no desire to undergoSRS. I live with my girlfriend of 2 years who was extremely influential in my transformation to complete femininity.
Like many of you, my dressing began at an early age. I remember my mother doing her nails. I asked her to paint mine for me. She told me that I had to soak my nails in her warm water dish, so I did, and somehow, she distracted me, and my nails didn't get painted.
However, about a year and a half after that I remember painting my own toenails, understanding that if I was careful, they would always have socks over them and no one would know. A few times, I accidentally left colored cotton balls from removing nail polish in the toilet, and no one really said anything. I also played around with shaving my legs in the winter, and I used to play around with my mom's clothes and make-up when no one was in the house. Because it is somewhat acceptable, I had my ears pierced, and left high school with 5 holes...3 in the left and 2 in the right.
In college, I shaved my legs in the winters on occasion. I loved (and still love) the way silky smooth skin feels. That and long fingernails are my two fetishes of cross-dressing. In college, I added 5 more earrings, to 6 in the left and 4 in the right. I think I qualify as a fetishistic cross-dresser. I am only into women. I don't know if that makes me bi. I am sexually aroused by dressing up. It is more than just a necessary release. I get an erotically excited when I am having my nails done, or getting electrolysis done.
I started dating a girl my senior year in college, and she knew about my desires, but didn't say much about them. After we graduated, we went on a 15 day vacation to Florida and the Bahamas. Since we would be around no one we knew, she suggested that I get completely dressed up.
The 15 days would give me a chance to become comfortable with living as a girl, and when we got back, she'd buy me a wardrobe of women's clothes. We're both a 5-6, so until then, I could wear her stuff easily. However, we are colored differently, and I would need my own makeup. I was excited about the idea, but needless to say I was HESITANT. She said that I would have to try it to see what it was like. And it would not be fair to go half way. We'd go dress and make up shopping together. We could get our nails done together in a salon. So I took a deep breath and let her feminize me completely for the trip. Nothing we do right now (even eyebrow waxing) is really permanent. It seemed that she, who was really conservative (singly pierced ears, short nails, french manicure, simple makeup), would actually get into it as well. It would provide us with another level on which to bond.
I had never fully dressed up, although that had become my sexual fantasy and what I thought about when I masturbated. frighteningly, simple sex could no longer bring me to orgasm. When we had sex, she had to tell me a story about how we'd run off to a desert island and there she'd feminize me completely. We'd totally take care of our bodies, and do each other's nails, and pluck each other's eyebrows. She even told me that she wanted to get my breasts done in these fantasies. My sex life began to revolve around dressing.
I enjoyed getting dressed the morning we took the plane to Tampa. I wore her red Chenille fitted skirt, with a white silk blouse, black silk stockings, black heels, a gold chunky necklace, large gold hoop earrings. Very New York chic. My nails were red, too. The short story of our vacation is that we spent 15 days working on my voice, walk, mannerisms, hand gestures, and I really began to like it. She said that she did too. I became very comfortable with it. And the truth is that from day 1, I passed as a woman. The biggest problem was my beard, which I covered under stage makeup until the process of electrolysis was complete. I have fine features, and I look good as a girl.
15 months later, I don't know how much is reversible anymore. I have not done electrolysis on my eyebrows, in case I decide to return to life as a man, and I am not taking hormones. But electrolysis is complete on my face, and has begun on my arms. My underarms are already complete, as well. My girlfriend and I got matching rose tattoos on our right ankles. And we got our navels pierced, so I can wear a crop top to show it off. It's kind of fun. And my parents have been quite supportive.
Obviously, the lifestyle thing brings up concerns for employment, although I look COMPLETELY like a girl, I am not legally a girl, and I do not know if I will ever be. (I am not sure that I do.) I am just enjoying my life as it is. My girlfriend and I own an alternative clothing and jewelry store -- the grateful dead, for the 90's. I absolutely love having long nails, too, for some stupid reason. Getting my nails done is my favorite part of being a girl, although I like the whole thing, really.
My girlfriend and I like our relationship in this way a lot. It certainly has changed things, but I think that the changes are for the better. We are both more open with one another. We are more loving and affectionate (and I don't get this at all, because we were pretty good before). Our retail business is doing quite well, and it gives us a free hand for taking vacations, and having days off. We are closed on Sunday and Monday. Those two days are our "beauty days", during which we do our nails, electrolysis, et cetera.
As an afterthought, she admits that she encouraged me into dressing the first time out of love for me. She expected that I would miss being a man too much, and not dress up anymore. She was hoping for that, but ultimately, both of our reactions to my being dressed up were different from that, and we love all of it.
I have helped a bunch of other TGs deal with their relationship with their SOs who do not yet know or do not understand what is going on, and I like participating in the community in this way.