Hello everyone! I'm Ribbon, 26 year-old male living in the US, and I found this forum about half a year ago when looking up how to feminize my body and begin my transition. After lurking around, learning how to read the site, and trying out numerous supplements and methods, I feel like I've hit a little dead end. I thought that maybe involving myself in the forum could help with that. I'm not sure how often these introductory threads get replies, but if anyone could give me their thoughts, I think it would help me find what I've been doing wrong. Sorry I'm asking questions right off the bat, but I figured I might as well ask here. No need to answer questions if you don't want to! Just, say hi, or whatever else forum people do.


For starters, I can give a little more personal background. Late last year, after much thought, I determined that I could be transfeminine. I feel happier and more comfortable when I'm perceived as being feminine, so I've wanted to explore that more and more, to the point where I want to permanently change my body. My overall living situation makes it difficult for me to attempt hormone replacement therapy, as there are expenses and hoops to jump through, but the natural supplement approach felt very appealing as an alternative. I would definitely like to try HRT in the future.

As I am now, I'm not very large, or strong, or traditionally masculine, but I'm still quickly identified as such. I've got a big nose and plenty of body hair that I don't want, but I'm also relatively small at 5'4" (~163 cm), weighing around 116 lbs (~53 kg). I have features that could go either way, so I'm hoping to push them in the feminine direction. More specifically, I'd like a more feminine fat distribution, less body hair (preferably none!), wider hips if possible, and, of course, breasts. I know some of those are harder to obtain than others, but I know at least one of those can be achieved by using the information in this forum! I'm not very concerned about feminizing my behavior at the moment (honestly I think I act kind of androgynous/feminine by default); I just want to focus on what I can do about my anatomy, because that seems like the hardest part to me (and the most interesting!).


So, as for what I'm doing about it: I took my time navigating this site, reading through all the important threads, and doing my best to unravel all the information that's scattered around. Over the past several months, I've tried many, many things, most of which did not noticeably do anything, but a lot of that can be blamed on my own "growing pains" with trying to find out what works for most people, as well as my own impatience.

Listing everything that didn't work would be a pain, but I can say what has seemed to work:

• Reishi Mushroom [capsule] at 2g/day
  
• White Peony [liquid extract ~333mg of dry raw material per 1 ml] at 2ml/day
  
• Pueraria Mirifica [capsule] at 1.1g/day
  

And those should not come as a surprise to regulars on this site, I'm sure. Of course, I've combined these with various other helpers, but I think the combination that actually started doing something was when I combined them with these:

• Milk Thistle
  
• Vitamin D
  
• Fish Oil
  
• L-Lysine
  
• GABA
  
• Estrogen Cream
  
• Progesterone Cream
  

And the effect was my breasts beginning to "bud," as I've heard it called. This was really exciting for me, but this was after at least 5 months of experimenting and using PM very consistently, albeit from different brands before staying consistent with one. I'm also still curious about the efficacy of Bovine Ovary supplements, which seem to be in a bit of an inconsistent spot, based on what I've read around here. I've tried them myself before (with iodine and checking temperature), and am actively trying it again now in case something has changed since I've budded, but I'm on the fence about it. So, now I'm at a point where I have a few pressing questions I feel like I can't answer myself.

• If I went back to the combination I listed above, is there anything I should change?
  

I get quite bogged down with the sheer number of supplements to try, but MSM is one I have yet to try, and I wonder if that's a key element I'm missing. The same goes for Calcium, though I'm less convinced on the importance of that one (I haven't read the science for either of these, I know I should). It's also possible that my dosages of Reishi, WP and PM are all a little low, which might be why it took a while for me to see results. My body seems to have a high tolerance for things in general. Any opinions on these thoughts would be appreciated!

• Are there any reasons for me to put faith into BO and try it again, if I couldn't get it to work before?
  

My active plan involves running through about 2 months of BO with the minimal supplements I have (not with PM, I know taking both is the worst idea!), just to see if anything changes, but like I mentioned, I don't know if it's worth my time. I hear that it just doesn't do anything for most people, and even if it does, it might take half a year to see results. Although, with that said, I guess I'm a bit hung up on the possibility that it'll work its magic for me. I don't think I'd mind dropping it, but that depends on the answer to the last question...

• Is PM enough to achieve the feminization I'm aiming for?
  

This refers to my background information, but I'm just wondering if I'll have to put in a lot of extra work to achieve my personal goals. I know PM can't make my nose smaller, or anything miraculous like that, but if I'm accidentally expecting miracles from something that will only give me breasts, I'd like to know ahead of time so I can plan accordingly. Basically, is PM a package feminine deal, or is it just the breasts?


Okay, that's all I have to say right now! I did my best to keep it short, but I still feel like I'll scare people away with a wall of text with questions as an introduction. Feel free to just ignore my questions, or ask me your own, whatever you forum people do around here. I look forward to learning more about you all!