Help for Fellow Trans Teens (FTM)

Hair

Next, another big one, hair. For me personally, I've noticed that hair certainly makes a big difference in how you are perceived.

Cutting and styling is a big deal to present more masculine or feminine, because typically if you have long hair, you're seen as female, and if you have short hair, you're seen as male. Especially from a distance.

So, I give you different ways to style or cut your hair.

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Chop it Off

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Obviously, the easiest way is to get it cut short. 

First, don't cut it yourself. While it may seem appealing, and is always in all the trans stories you see on Wattpad or Ao3 or Quotev, you probably will regret it. Your parents may get mad at you for doing it without them knowing, they'll want to know why, etcetera. And really, it probably won't look good.

If you are old enough to drive and have the money, go ahead and get it cut, I'd say. If you're parents ask why, a simple answer is that it's easier to take care of, which is true, and that you like the way it looks. 

If not, ask. You can always say that you want to get your hair cut in a short pixie cut, and style it as masculine as possible. If you can't get it cut like that, I will have more options, don't worry.

For styling short hair masculinely, I just do a side part and kinda ruffle it a little. It's pretty simple. Get a comb if you need it. You can also brush it down, which depending on the person could look good or bad, or smooth it back with gel/product.

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Cut it Short

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So, if you can't get it pixie cut short, get it cut at your shoulders or a few inches above. Most parents aren't going to mind if you cut it like that.

It needs to be long enough where you can put it in a ponytail, otherwise it still is just long.

As far as what to do with it, there's plenty.

The simplest is a 'man bun'. 

To me, what separates a bun from a man bun is where it's placed. Most of the time when a girl puts her hair in a bun it's pretty high, on the top of the head. A man bun is normally closer to the middle of the back of your head.

I don't know how all people do it, but the way I did buns before I cut my hair was I would take the hair and put it in a ponytail a bit higher than where I wanted the bun to fall. Then, I took the ponytail and wrapped it up, securing it with another ponytail holder. You can leave it as is or put a cap on and put your bun through the hole in the front.

Another thing you can do is basically stuff all your hair in a hat. I've never done this, so I could be wrong, but I believe the way it works is you put a ponytail on the top of your head and put a hat on. Make sure to pull some strands out of the hat so it looks like you have short hair, not like you stuffed long hair in a hat.

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If You Can't Cut it....

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If you can't cut your hair shorter than your shoulders, the above methods still work fine. The hair in a hat pretty much works as long as you can take all your hair in a ponytail. For the bun, it does look more masculine in my opinion to have a baseball cap on over it if your hair is very long.

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I feel like hair is a big part in the confidence of being trans. After I cut my hair there was a lot less she and a lot more he, especially from people I didn't know beforehand. 

Obviously, you can be a boy with long hair and a girl with short hair, but because the two are typically gendered, it's a lot easier to have the correct pronouns used if your hair is cut. 

I hope this chapter helped!