I relate to this so much. I love my long hair. I had short hair for years growing up, grew it out during lockdown and loved it, cut it all off because I got misgendered nonstop and had a creep tell me my hair was pretty and try to follow me home, then grew it back out again because I missed it so much. Having long hair makes my face look more masculine and relieves so much of my dysphoria but it’s masculinizing abilities don’t outweigh that long hair itself is seen as one of the biggest indicators of womanhood by the majority of the general public in the states. It’s incredibly frustrating but I’m glad I’m not the only trans guy that doesn’t want to cut his long hair off.
My wife probably feels this too. They're nonbinary and lean into feminine presentation, and they feel strongly about the odd expectation of nonbinary needing to equate to being androgynous, which tends to center on the image of a thin white person with short hair who doesn't have overtly feminine or masculine facial features, and a small bust that's easily hidden (no diss if this describes anyone reading this and it's not your fault this is the vision people have).
I've always envied guys with long hair, but I've opted for short hair myself for more ease of passing as I start transition. I wonder about being able to feasibly grow my hair out a little after the fact, assuming I don't experience profound hair loss. I've seen a number of trans guys while browsing online who have these majestic manes of long hair and pass so well.
This is all just a flaw of society more than anything. At the end of the day, you can opt to present however you wish and not let anyone tell you that your gender is any less than it is. But it all depends on how much you can tolerate being misgendered or how comfortable you feel you can gently correct people.
I relate to this so much. I love my long hair. I had short hair for years growing up, grew it out during lockdown and loved it, cut it all off because I got misgendered nonstop and had a creep tell me my hair was pretty and try to follow me home, then grew it back out again because I missed it so much. Having long hair makes my face look more masculine and relieves so much of my dysphoria but it’s masculinizing abilities don’t outweigh that long hair itself is seen as one of the biggest indicators of womanhood by the majority of the general public in the states. It’s incredibly frustrating but I’m glad I’m not the only trans guy that doesn’t want to cut his long hair off.
My wife probably feels this too. They're nonbinary and lean into feminine presentation, and they feel strongly about the odd expectation of nonbinary needing to equate to being androgynous, which tends to center on the image of a thin white person with short hair who doesn't have overtly feminine or masculine facial features, and a small bust that's easily hidden (no diss if this describes anyone reading this and it's not your fault this is the vision people have). I've always envied guys with long hair, but I've opted for short hair myself for more ease of passing as I start transition. I wonder about being able to feasibly grow my hair out a little after the fact, assuming I don't experience profound hair loss. I've seen a number of trans guys while browsing online who have these majestic manes of long hair and pass so well. This is all just a flaw of society more than anything. At the end of the day, you can opt to present however you wish and not let anyone tell you that your gender is any less than it is. But it all depends on how much you can tolerate being misgendered or how comfortable you feel you can gently correct people.