So I made a very dumb mistake. I have been using hair removal cream for the last month or so and getting good results. My skin was handling it well and the grow-back was much softer and slower than shaving. Good times.

Yesterday I didn’t time it correctly and left it on certain areas too long. I didn’t realise that 2-6 minutes was a strict upper range and that it’s dangerous to leave it on longer.

So yeah, I took too long and now I have a very unpleasant chemical burn on both my ass cheeks. I had to cancel plans so I can sit inside with my butt in air while it heals.

Setbacks like this have really thrown me into downward spirals in the past, and I was very upset at first, but I’m trying to move past it, see the funny side, and pick myself up.

Early transition can feel a lot like you’re fumbling around in the dark sometimes. I wish I had a community-assigned trans mentor with me at all times to gently warn me when I’m about to do something stupid.

Alternatively, maybe some of you have some similar mistakes that you can look back and smile or laugh at now, and maybe if you share them I can feel less like a dumb idiot while I wait for my ass to cool off.

  • AnBeeEnglish
    3·
    2 days ago

    Before I had my breast implants I tried to make those inserts work but hated how they felt and looked. But when I started this one job I thought to myself I had to do it on day 1 so that I cannot back out of it and had to get used to them because they kinda make me feel nice. So day 1 I had them but then I said fuck this and scrambled to pad my bra with a lot of fabric. I panic bought heavily padded bras and tried them out and mixed different methods.

    So yeah, my coworkers had this new person start there with daily changing boob sizes. We always wear the same ESD overcoat, so everything else looks the same.

    Glad no one said anything, but surely a few must have noticed it.

    • DomiOPEnglish
      3·
      2 days ago

      OMG thankyou for sharing! That’s so funny to imagine from the POV of your coworkers.

  • nikkiEnglish
    21·
    3 days ago

    i wouldn’t trade it for the world but damn I had ZERO fashion sense for the first year or so of coming out. baby trans phase is such a real thing 😭 striped thigh highs and amazon skater skirt with hyper feminine tops I looked like a fool, hard to classify as a mistake when I don’t regret it but its worth a mention lol

    i also got some nasty burns using hair removal cream before, they made me just endure the shaving enough to make my skin happy with it cus its a pain to buy the stuff and apply it so often

    • kivihiiliEnglish
      7·
      3 days ago

      i personally went only really really slowly with my style, which i guess did work out. but honestly i respect you and your drive IMMENSELY and am a little jealous i didn’t do that myself earlier on… i suppose better late than never though :D

    • DomiOPEnglish
      10·
      3 days ago

      I’ll take anything i can get! It’s easy to look at your peers and think they’ve all got it together so well, but i know I’m comparing my private experience to others’ public one and that’s never a fair comparison.

      Also I adore dorky early transition fashion, it’s always so cute to see people finding themselves!

      • Amy@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        2·
        2 days ago

        Did someone say baby trans? This is me last summer.

        I hope your ass feels better. That’s a great story to look back on and laugh!

        • DomiOPEnglish
          3·
          2 days ago

          Aw such a lovely photo!

      • nikkiEnglish
        7·
        3 days ago

        absolutely, be easy on yourself theres plenty of mistakes that’ll be made, its how we learn :)

        and yeah 100% I never stop early transition trans girls lol, if they ask me for confirmation to buy some goofy ahh clothes I’ll tell them no you probably shouldn’t but do it anyway you’ll be happy

      • Berengaria_of_Navarre@lemmy.worldEnglish
        6·
        3 days ago

        Yeah, I’d like to do the baby trans thing if I were younger and didn’t have kids in school. The place I live is accepting but judgemental, if that makes sense. I don’t want to put my kids through any more stress than they’re already going through. So I’m going to be boymoding until it doesn’t work and then going to sensible adult fashion 🥱.

        • DomiOPEnglish
          5·
          3 days ago

          The place I live is accepting but judgemental, if that makes sense.

          Yeah i think so. Not inherently hateful, but somewhat conservative around how everybody ought to comport themselves? Meaning they’ll accept you for who you are, as long as nobody is too “extra” about it? If true, then that’s not great, but also not terrible. I wish for you that you could present exactly as you would like to and that people would mind their own fucking business about things that dont affect or concern them. But that doesn’t change your reality.

          Maybe once in a while, if it’s something you want, you might find a chance to take a night off from being sensible, some time or place where it doesn’t impact anyone else, and you can dork out and enjoy it. I respect that you are always thinking about your kids feelings though. That’s being a good mom <3.

          • Berengaria_of_Navarre@lemmy.worldEnglish
            5·
            3 days ago

            It’s more of a "I don’t necessarily like it and will say hurtful things behind their back but believe they should have a legal right and am able to keep my opinions to myself for the sake of civility. Norwegians are very conflict avoidant except for their neighbours.

            • DomiOPEnglish
              3·
              3 days ago

              Thanks for explaining your perspective. It sounds tough. <3.

  • kivihiiliEnglish
    13·
    3 days ago

    i personally don’t use hair removal cream (i opt for an epilator), but my immediate family does and both of them (cis women) have experienced this once or twice before respectively. “mistakes” you make, many cis women have likely also done, see how year fifth thru ninth year schoolgirls do makeup, how uni students try and dress formally, etc.

    at least you can say without argument that you got a hot ass though :3

    • DomiOPEnglish
      6·
      3 days ago

      thank you, this makes me feel better <3

  • jahtnamas [sie/hir]@slrpnk.netEnglish
    6·
    3 days ago

    transmasc here but i dislike facial hair for autistic texture reasons: i got myself the “gentle” hair removal face cream and burned the shit out of my upper lip once. took like a week to stop being red. good thing i never leave my house anyway!

    i’m certain something like this happens to everyone that’s ever used hair removal product on themselves, but yes having that on your ass is kinda funny. i do hope it heals quickly!

    • DomiOPEnglish
      4·
      3 days ago

      I appreciate you saying it’s happened to lots of people, i thought i was just really dumb for not knowing how risky it is to leave it in too long. The packet did not warn me with sufficient enthusiasm!