Hi! I’ve been extremely tired this week and nearly forgot that I was hosting one so I’m writing this last minute! I couldn’t think of anything so I’m going to write about one of my hamsters who is not Biggs; Meredith
Meredith was another hamster of mine from a few years ago during the early days of COVID, and she was the absolute sweetest little creature I had ever met. Very friendly, very gentle. She loved exploring anywhere I put her into and never bit me okay she did once ever. She was an absolute sweetheart and bundle of love and was with me during some of the rougher parts of my life
She unfortunately died very suddenly out of the blue one day at a terribly young age showing no symptoms of anything wrong with her prior, which breaks my heart to this very day
I never had her as long as any other hamster of mine but I don’t think I had any other hamster touch my heart in quite the same way. I miss you, girl
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Came out to her. She is accepting. Talked about it a little bit. I didn’t tell her my name though. Don’t know why. But yea, went well and I feel good about that. Its nice not feeling so alone.
One other thought on this same line of thinking, when I first told my therapist one of his first questions was my sexuality. And I’ve kinda been worried every time since someone would ask but thankfully they haven’t 😅
So happy for you and so proud of you!!
Congratulations!!! 
Maybe one day you can share your name with her!
Thank you! Obviously was really scary for me, especially telling someone in real life who I see all the time.I really hope so
I love my name a lot- we will see.
Trying to figure out what I potentially want to do with my hair going forward, but it’s hard because you see people with all kinds of hairstyles but you have no idea if your hair is suitable for it or what they have done to it necessarily.
I’m kinda in this phase rn too, what my friends told me to do was to ask my hairstylist literally everything while I was getting my haircut. What kind of hair do I have, what products are you using, what styles can I make with this, etc…
For general stuff I second Terminal’s post.
Ugh, I prefer not to talk at all at the haircutters
I understand, but it’s a lot easier to communicate what you want and learn how to care for it if you do. Plus who knows, maybe you can make a friend.
You should try shoulder length hair or a little longer, with bangs, framing hair on the sides. Use a good shampoo and conditioner but only wash your hair every other day (still wash the rest of your body every day). Use argan oil, a small amount from mid length to ends, but only when you wash your hair.
You should also try a blow out with curls, you should get your hair braided including braids overnight, you should try a fun loose bun, try a bunch of stuff!
Wtf doxxing my hair and haircare routine without even seeing me…
(Also the argan oil only being for mid or lower explains a lot of why it looked awful when I tried it years ago…)
I’m supposed to sit at my desk and work even when I’m overwhelmed with sapphic yearning? wtf, this is homophobic.
Oh yeah, i’m on that bi-cycle
! 
family nonsense
My mom has been absolutely horrendous to me ever since I came out. She’s refused to talk about trans stuff with me even though I have asked 6 times now. She has avoided it every single time. She’s been guilt tripping me and acting like I’m being unreasonable and needy when literally all I’m asking is for her to call me by my name, or at the very least tell me why she won’t. It’s been a thing for like a month and a half now. Since she was ignoring me when I was trying to talk to her, I ignored her when she needed information from me, and it led to a 6 hour inconvenience on her part. Now she’s gotten it into her head that she’s been nothing but supportive and great this whole time and I’ve gone no contact at the slightest push back from her, when in actuality, I actively tried to talk to her for a month and a half and she ignored me. I guess she’s getting what she wants, because I’m not planning on talking to her again after this. She’s acting like I never gave her a chance, but I did. That was it. And she stepped all over it.
spoiler
It can be truly heartbreaking to be treated like that by the person who’s supposed to love you the most. So it’s good that you’re planning on distancing yourself from that instead of falling for these manipulation tactis by her and this other person. You deserve some rest from this nonsense.
When random people I don’t know well bring up trans rights stuff while talking to me I’m always a bit suspicious that they clocked me and that that’s why they brought it up.
Congrats on being around people who bring up trans rights stuff. Pretty much only see transphobia expressed by people who I’m not out to.
Did have someone blame T on me being warm whom I wondered if that was an indirect way of her asking if I’d changed hormones since I’d last seen her years ago. Can’t say I’ve heard of cis people mentioning T in casual conversation other than maybe “alpha male” types? OTOH, the more precise and inclusive language is cool.
I’m really lucky that I live in a progressive area and even if people mostly bring up trans rights stuff to virtue signal it’s still infinitely better than speaking with transphobes.
Something similar happened to me once. I was at a small festival with 3 other people, one of whom knew that I was trans, because I told them right before that. We were just talking about the usual stuff until suddenly the 2 that didn’t know started shitting on Rowling and talking about trans stuff.
I was completely baffled by that, because I’ve never seen cis people bring that up by themselves, not even today. I just stood there and said nothing, while they continued. I was absolutely sure that the 3rd person must have outed me beforehand, and that the others just said that to make me feel more at ease.
But as it turned out, it was just a really weird coincidence and me not expecting such a thing ever happening because I live in a conservative area where trans stuff is ignored for the most part.
I got called to set up a gynecologist appointment in a few months 😵💫
You barely got approved for a vagina, and Big Gyno is already trying to subject you to the Vaginal Industrial Complex
Good luck gynecologist, rn there is no vagina. Maybe if you poke my perineum and say the magic words
think I’ve figured out what I’m gonna do for weight cycling.
I’m gonna go up 5 pounds then down 10 then up 5 then down 10 until I’m around my goal.
So probably like 3 or 4 times.spoiler
Hope you feel good in your body!
just got my day one chip from bedwetters anonymous :)
Omg pee pee girl is back! Glad to see you going back to your roots 😁
stop. you’re banned
I’m just so happy for you though! You deserve to openly be your true self: a pee pee girl
Not getting your bed wet is kinda tough for a whale. You have my deepest sympathy.
every time i pee the bed i go back to being a tadpole
Came out to all of my friends today, they all knew me as a trans nb they/them
Now they know me as a woman
Yeah, I came out to everyone as NB, but I skipped right to she/her
Got a haircut recently and this time it actually turned out really well. Last time I got my hair butchered and was really upset about it.
Kind of regretting getting mine
The only
fanfic I’ve ever read was the IDW one, seeing debate 
wasn’t as good as you’d think way too wordyOkay
I’ve obviously not been in the best spot lately
Is coming out to my friend/manager a good idea or no? She’s gay and has gay friends tbf. But I don’t know about trans people. Also my shave still fucking sucks. It’d be in like 9 hours, maybe a bit more. Or uh I could chicken out again. Just has been on my mind a lot.
I know a lot about shaving. So if you need some help, I can definitely give you some tips, which will drastically improve your shave.
Just let me know.
I’m 98% sure I know every trick in the book, but I’m willing to hear you out.
I’m already using a safety razor.
Well, if you already know every trick in the book, there’s not much I can tell you.
You could try some different shaving techniques like in this video.
Or you could analyze the geometry of your razor to see how it would work best. For example, I have a Mühle R41 which is really aggressive but doesn’t have the best blade support. So I always ride the cap whenever I use it to make it glide smoother across my skin
Skin prep and lathering techniques are always something that you can always improve on (and make sure that water hardness is not a problem for you)
Don’t scrape your blades across the paper when you take them out. That’s something a lot of people overlook.
If you want a different experience with your razor, you could try Kai blades, which are slightly wider and thus more aggressive
But that’s all I can think of. The rest is pretty much just endlessly trying out new gear and soaps and experiment with different razor/blade combinations to see if you can get tiny improvements. There’s a reason why most people in those shaving communities have absurdly huge collections.
what soaps and skin prep / lathering techniques do you recommend? i don’t really know anything. i have sensitive skin that’s been getting more and more irritated with each shave lately. i’ve just been using bulldog shave gel but it does get a bit dry, i just don’t really know what’s best to switch to cause i tend to get overwhelmed by so many options
I have sensitive skin too and before delving deeper into this topic, I could only shave once a week. Now I can pretty much do it every single day, with a recovery day every once in awhile. So I cannot stress enough how important a good lather is.
big wall of text
If you’re overwhelmed by too many options, then I have some good news: You can ignore almost all of that. Canned foam, gel, conditioner, etc… all have subpar performance. What you want instead is a good shaving soap.
What I do is take a guitar pick to scoop out a little bit of soap, press it down on the bottom of a small bowl and use a wet shaving brush to whip up a nice lather. The amount of water is really important. So start off with less and slowly add more until you have the right consistency, which can be up to your preference. In general you should aim for a yogurt-like consistency, but experimenting is important here. There’s also the possibility to load up the brush directly on the soap instead of scooping it out, and you can also skip the bowl and lather it on your face.
Now to the face prep: It’s always good to soften up your beard hair with warm water before the shave, so shaving after taking a shower is never a bad idea. Using a gentle face cleanser is also advisable, as is gentle exfoliation (might want to skip that depending on your skin).
Now the final step would be gear: There are special shaving bowls and other stuff that you can buy, but a cheap metal bowl does the trick too. Of course you also need a brush. Traditionally, they’re made with badger, boar or horse hair, but nowadays you can get really good synthetic ones that are also a lot cheaper. They come in different knot sizes and handles, and there’s differences in softness and backbone of the fibres. I managed to get a Mühle Silvertip Fibre for pretty cheap, which is very soft, so it’s perfect for my estrogenized face. Other people prefer really stiff ones. Again, it’s up to your preference.
And of course you need a good soap. There’s massproduced classic ones that you can get for pretty cheap, which have great perfomance, like Cella, Arko or Tabac. But if you really want to get the best performance possible, you have to take a look at artisan soaps. I wish I could recommend Southern Witchcrafts to you, which I am using, because their vegan soaps are absolutely amazing and I love them, but they recently closed their business. So instead I’m just going to say that Barrister and Mann is currently regarded as the best-performing soap by a large part of the community, and if you live in Europe, you should take a look at Saponificio Varesino.
This reddit thread might help you a bit: https://old.reddit.com/r/wicked_edge/comments/1ed6okv/honest_2024_shave_soap_tiers/
wow thanks so much for all the advice! i’m definitely looking into getting some good soap cause that all sounds so much nicer. being able to shave almost everyday would be amazing!
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Which blades are you using?
My overall favourites are Perma-Sharps. They’re really sharp but also smooth.
For my R41 I tend to go with Feathers, because I like the danger.
I’ve also had nice shaves with smoother blades, but I still have to experiment some more with them.And I’m also using random blades from my sampler packs sometimes to mix things up.
Thanks!
I’ve used feathers before, but never perma-sharps; I’ll have to check those out. I ordered a bazillion pack of feathers like 10+ years ago and have only had to buy one single small pack of van der hagens since then lol (because that’s what was available locally).Edit: wait no they were derby, not feather.
Feathers are by far the sharpest blades available. You might want to be a bit careful when you’re used to dull blades like Derbies. My first time using them ended in a bloodbath. Not to frighten you or anything, but just saying.
I would highly recommend you do the same thing as me and just start out with sampler packs, because razor blades are a very individual thing, where one blade might work for me but not for you. So it’s important to just try out a bunch before dedicating yourself to a 100 pack.
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I think I need some help with this D:
Is there an easy to use electric shaver that actually works well?
I’m a bit of a Philips oneblade evangelist, I swear it’s better than any other electric razor I’ve tried. Doesn’t need cream and I’ve literally never cut my face with it once. Don’t even bother with the different heads, just use the blade straight. It’s not like a perfect shave every time (I find it struggles to get a good shave if the stubble isn’t long enough yet, but partly that’s to do with my facial hair not growing the fastest, if you get visible stubble every morning it’s probably perfectly fine), but it is a pretty decent one. You’ve seen pics of me and for reference it’s the only razor I use for my face. Also pretty cheap.
Thanks for the recommendation! I’ll probably end up getting one.
seconding on the oneblade. Basically everything Sery said, I still have a safety razor I use most of the time but oneblade’s invaluable if I haven’t had the energy to shave for a couple days and I need to keep from going insane. I also have one I use for body hair that’s significantly more effective than any other electric razor I’ve had.
I’d use it for body hair too if it wasn’t quite so small, is there a bigger version that still uses the same style of blade?
not that I’m aware of, I just use the small one and spend forever
Unfortunate 😔 I did the same when I started shaving my body, only reason I don’t still do it is I spent so much money on an epilator that I can’t use (hurtsss) and so I use the epilator’s shaving head nowadays to try to justify it to myself 🙃
Sorry, electric razors are the one thing I know almost nothing about. I have an epilator with a razor head that I used for trimming when I still wore a beard, but that’s pretty much all my experience with them.
When I was browsing through various shaving forums I saw some people praise the Braun Series 9 Pro and the Panasonic Arc 6, but those 2 are absurdly expensive.
It’s always a gamble with the cis, but being queer increases their chance of being supportive.
You also don’t have to worry about things like your shave. You can say that you’re not safe at home to transition, so you may not look it, but you’re a trans girl.
It would be nice to be around someone who knows who you are at work.
After that, if you feel safe, you can talk name and pronouns with her.
I dont drink coffee at all
Should I get into coffee? Should I be a coffee person?
Im a “special little drink” person, I switch it up all the time and have month long obsessions with tea, coffee, energy drink, soup, whatever. Its an aspect of being genderfluid for me😎
an aeropress and either a grinder and beans or a good quality ground coffee is all you need
Get into monster, especially those pink ones
dont do it
i have a caffeine addiction and if i skip it i feel out of it for the whole day
Same. I like coffee, but if I don’t at least a cup in by 12p then I’ll be in a bad mood and probably get a migraine.
I’m the opposite. It doesn’t make me feel good, and I’m better off without it.
But it sure tastes good!
NO! DON’T YOU FUCKING DARE! You want to become one of those hipster nerds who buys extremely expensive gear, just because this James Hoffmann super nerd told you it would make your oh, so special(ty) coffee a little bit better? Are you willing to learn Eyetalian because everything is named in this cursed language? Do you not have any qualms about roasting beanis and turning it into a juice instead of worshipping it like a normal person? Of course not, don’t be silly.
Avert your eyes from this abomination and instead gaze upon your true destiny: Tea
only open this if you truly want to embrace enlightenment
Imagine sitting in your peach garden with your trusted gaiwan in front of you. Today you want to try some of your favourite roasted tieguanyin. You could have chosen a nice honey Jin Jun Mei, or a well-aged sheng-puerh whose leaves have been collected from 500 year-old tea trees, but today you want to be kissed by the Iron Goddess of Mercy.
You let your almost boiling water fall upon your precious leaves and wait for them to infuse the crystal-clear water. With an elegant but quick motion you pour your heavenly-smelling tea into your gong dao bei and then into your smaller teacup, both of them handmade with a celadon glaze that is redirecting the sunrays to your eyes with a beautiful light-blue shimmer.
As you get your face closer to your cup, you get a hint of the lovely aroma that starts to fill your nostrils. You get hints of butter toffee, dark chocolate and bit of nuttiness. Of course you have to wait for it cool down first before you taste it, so you pull out your bamboo scroll and start reading ancient Chinese philosophy.
After a few minutes you finally get to enjoy this liquid treasure. As it fills your mouth, you get all of the aroma that you smelled previously, but a lot more intimately. Purely divine. A big smile starts forming on your face as you know that today you have been blessed by Heaven. Because this was just the first steep, and there’s many more to come.
I was leaving the bathroom as some guy was going in and he had to go back out to double check that he was in the men’s bathroom lol
Reminds me of this time I was going to the restroom, and there was this old white dude behind me going there, too. I was thinking that he was just going to wait his turn and go in after I left, but when we got to the bathroom doors, he just tries to go into the men’s restroom first, and I let him. I wait outside for him to get out, and he sees me standing there and says, “Oh, you were trying to use the men’s restroom?” with a pretty baffled face and tone. And I just responded with a masculine voice and said, “Yeah…”
What gets me is that this was much earlier on in my transition.
On this note, fuck these gendered single-person restrooms especially.
