The following segment is Copyright 1993 by WILLIAM STEWART JONES All rights reserved.
There is a wide variety of makeup materials available. If your skin is beautiful and you don't have to hide a beard, women's cosmetic makeup may be all you need. You will have better luck matching your skin colour in a department store, because foundation makeup in a drug store tends to be so heavily packaged you can't tell what colour you're buying. Regular cosmetics tend to be light and sheer. If you want an opaque makeup to even out your skin tone and don't perspire heavily, try Kryolan Aquacolor makeup. It is a water based pancake type makeup which comes in a great many beautiful colours. Aquacolor has a matte finish when it dries, but after a few minutes the warmth of the body creates a beautiful soft, natural glow. All of the Kryolan makeup is heavily pigmented, so it will cover beards and dark shadows under the eyes without the use of other cover up products. I've discovered that many beard cover sticks give you an unnatural orangey look. If you have to cover a beard, minimize roughly textured skin or f you perspire heavily; I strongly recommend Kryolan Cream Stick plus Dermacolour powder. The cream stick is an oil base makeup and comes in a great many colours, so you should be able to accurately match your skin tone. It is opaque enough to cover heavy beard shadow without using a beard cover stick. The Dermacolour powder is pigmented so you need to buy an appropriate shade. It sets the Cream stick so that it lasts through heavy perspiration. Several layers of Cream stick and Dermacolour powder will effectively smooth out acne scarred skin. If you don't need the water proof qualities of Dermacolour powder, regular translucent powder will work very well to set the cream stick. To minimize large pores, particularly on the nose, a second coat of foundation and a dusting of powder works very well.
Foundation: No matter what type of foundation you choose, it should match your skin tone as closely as possible. Test the colour on your cheek and your neck. You want the makeup to blend down onto your neck without a visible line. Hopefully you will only need a hint of foundation on your chest when you're wearing a low cut dress. If you are using a water base pancake makeup, it will probably go on easier with a small natural sponge rather than a synthetic one. A natural sponge is only slightly more money and will give a smoother result. Be sure to apply the colour with as little water as possible, just use a damp sponge. If you get streaks, let the foundation dry before you try to smooth it out. You will probably find the streaks will disappear as the makeup dries. Pancake makeup doesn't need to be powdered. If you are using a cream stick makeup, apply it with a piece of synthetic sponge. applying the foundation lightly and evenly all over your face, you may want to add a bit more to cover your five o'clock shadow. If you are covering a heavily textured skin surface (like acne) you may want to blend cheek contour colour into the cream base before powdering. (Powder contour may emphasize the texture.) Now you're ready to powder to set the cream stick. Apply a little extra powder to the moustache area and forehead, because the perspiration is heavier here. Allow the powder to sit on the foundation for a few minutes before brushing off the excess. This is especially true with Dermacolour powder. The instructions suggest waiting ten minutes, before removing excess to achieve the maximum waterproof quality. I find about three minutes is sufficient. A big, soft blush brush is ideal for dusting off excess powder.
Corrective makeup: I don't recommend a lot of heavy corrective makeup to change the shape of your face. If you're being photographed for a formal portrait, then go ahead and sculpt your face; but for everyday, too much corrective work can look artificial. There are a lot of books available to help you decide if you are oval, square or heart shaped. I think it's more important to create a feminine version of whatever shape you happen to be. Some men have a definitely square jawbone. Trying to minimize it with makeup is risky. You may inadvertently emphasize your five o'clock shadow. A soft hairstyle is probably a safer way to underplay the jawbone. A strong or prominent nose is another trouble spot. In general, don't use corrective makeup on your nose. You may over emphasize it without meaning to. Instead, focus attention on your eyes or mouth. Some subtle work can be done to give yourself beautiful cheek bones, if it's a little bit noticeable it's O K, because it's often obvious on women too. To sculpt cheekbones, I use Mehron Starblend pancake makeup, dry, as a powder. A dry, clean blush brush will pick up the colour and allow you to contour the cheek as easily as brushing on dry rouge. Be careful to never get the cake of Mehron wet or it won't pick up as powder. For Caucasian skin, number 2B brushed on the top of the cheekbone as a highlight, and number 11B brushed on as a lowlight, works beautifully. If your skin is a darker tone adjust the colours accordingly. I like 7C for slightly darker or tanned skin. The highlight colour goes on the top of the cheek bone, and should blend up toward the hairline. (If you have a wide face, don't go quite to the hairline). The lowlight or shadow colour goes from the ear toward the centre of the face, and should blend out into the foundation subtly. The Mehron powder also works well to emphasize your cleavage. Dust a bit of highlight on the top of the breast and brush a soft curved RYS shape in the cleavage. Keep it subtle.
Rouge: Select a rouge that is a soft pinkish shade similar to your foundation colour. You can safely dust it on your forehead, chin and cheeks for a healthy glow. If you use a strong raspberry or red shade you may have trouble being subtle. You can soften the effect of rouge by first dipping your brush in translucent powder and then into the rouge. Rouge belongs on the apple of the cheek, (where you turn pink after you've been jogging). Be careful to keep rouge away from any part of your face you are trying to minimize. For example, if you have a wide face; don't brush the rouge all the way out to your hairline. Keep it more central, so you won't call attention to the width.
Eyebrows: The shape of your eyebrow is probably the single most important element of your face. A woman's eyebrows are usually thinner and more arched than a man's. However a masculine eyebrow can be very beautiful on a feminine face. Look at Brooke Shields. Electrolysis or plucking will allow you to make a major change in the shape of your brow, but clever use of paint can do a lot. Most people need to lift the brow slightly to give it a prettier arch. For the stage you can block out the brow with a variety of materials. For street wear you must be more subtle. Lift the peak of the brow with a few strokes of eyebrow pencil, and blur them slightly. You can bleach out a few hairs by painting them with foundation. You can pencil your brows lightly or use a small stiff brush and brown powder to get a soft brow. If you use a pencil, it helps to brush the eyebrow with a tooth brush to blur and soften the pencil. You don't want your eyebrow to look as if it was drawn on with a marking crayon, so be gentle. To determine the length of your eyebrow, draw an imaginary line from the tip of your nose up to the outer corner of your eye and up to the brow. That's where your brow should end. Remember, Eyebrows begin above the inner corner of the eye, and taper off to nothing. They should not be heavy at the outer end.
Eyes: The eyes are the most fun to paint, but also possibly the most difficult to do well. First, avoid brightly coloured and frosted eye-shadows. I know they're fun, but they can age your eye. Learn to contour your eye with neutrals like taupe, charcoal, brown and off white. The upper eyelash line should be defined with a brush an brown liner or an eyebrow pencil, and lightly smudged with a Q-tip. Even if you are older and don't plan to wear much makeup, you should softly define the eye. To NOT makeup the eye is aging. The lower eyelash line can be dotted with brown and smudged, or defined more strongly with a blurred line. To contour the eye, keep in mind the natural lights and shadows of the eye. There is a highlight under the brow bone under the arch of the brow. The crease above the eyelid is shadowed, and the lid picks up some light and seems lighter. This means the lid can be foundation colour, the crease can be darkened slightly, and a bit of highlight added on the brow bone. If you MUST use colour, use colour the same value as your foundation, on your eyelid. This is the one spot you might get away with a frosted colour. Use a deeper colour in the crease, definitely not frosted but use off white on the brow bone. This combination will seem more natural. For major glamour you can use smokier colour on your eyelid. If your eye is aging, and the upper eye is sagging, you have to be careful where you put colour; but you can very easily make the eye look gorgeous! Be careful that your brow bone highlight doesn't blend down so far that it highlights the sagging fold of skin. Avoid shadowing toward the nose in the deepest part of the eye. That will sink and age the eye even more. The important thing to remember, is to shadow the sagging fold of flesh and keep any frosted colours away from the eye. Frosted colour will spotlight the problem. Your safest bet is a dark taupe or charcoal to minimize the fold of flesh. This will give you a normal, pretty eye. If you wish you can vary the look in keeping with current makeup trends; for example, 50's style eyeliner. If you're going to wear false eyelashes, be careful to keep them medium in length. If your false lashes droop at the outer ends, you must glue them ABOVE your natural lash line.
Lips: Keep your lipstick a soft red. Bright fire engine reds can point up problems. If you have a problem with lipstick blurring, try outlining the lip with a lip liner pencil, then filling in with colour. Powdering the first coat of lipstick then applying a second coat, will help it to last longer. Most men have thin lips and need to make them appear fuller. Don't hesitate to paint your lips slightly outside your upper and lower lip line. Women have the same problem. But be careful to not overdo it. If your new mouth seems a bit extreme, try increasing the size slowly, a bit at a time over a period of a few weeks, so you can get used to it. Using a softer red will help to keep your lips from looking too showgirl. The type of red you use can be coordinated with your skin tone and your clothing, (more peach or more raspberry); have fun playing with lipstick. Its fun to mix your own colour by using several different lipsticks on top of each other. Try putting a neutral light pink shade on top of a deeper red.
Taping: You may want to tape to get rid of your naso-labial fold, overhanging eyelid or double chin. However it is not ideal for all day wear. Taping is wonderful on some people. It depends on how elastic your skin is and whether you can place the tape so it will get rid of the fold and not show under the wig. It's important that the tape be hidden by the wig, because it's very difficult to cover tape with makeup so it doesn't show. However, sometimes just a wisp of hair from the wig will cover the tape so you don't have to pull the wig to far onto your face. The easiest way to tape, is to securely pin a stocking cap to cover your hair. I like to be sure there are several pin curls at the front of your hairline. This gives you something to anchor the wig to so it doesn't slip back and allows you to tape onto your head without pulling hair. Johnson & Johnson surgical tape works wonderfully. The more complicated way is to use strips of silk gauze and spirit gum them to your skin, and anchor the other end to the wig cap. Experiment to see which you prefer. They are both susceptible to perspiration, so are better suited to occasional use not all day wear.
The easiest way to get rid of unwanted facial/body hair is to shave. Take a hot wet cloth and hold it over the affected area before shaving (non-electric razor only). This will minimize the chance of getting razor burn. Electric razors also work well, especially for legs. Shaving your arms and/or chest will make you very itchy in a few days. Chemical depilatories do work well, but many users object to the smell though nowadays efforts have been made to make this more pleasant. These chemicals must not be used on or near the nipples, anus, or face as they can burn sensitive skin. Louis Marcell and Immac are the market leaders.
Facial depilatories are available that are much different to that used on the legs. Bleaching small hairs will also work well, but be careful not to get any into your eyes or nose. Jolene are one maker of the bleach. There are dyes made specifically for bleaching hair, do not use commercial bleach.
Devices such as the Epilady do work, but they produce a great deal of pain the first time you use them. The pain will lessen with continued use. Be warned that such devices may not work or may jam on very tough or thick hair.
Waxing is another option. It is messy and painful for the first few uses. There are wax strips available for the face that are not messy. The Body Shop has a similar strip available for the legs, or at least it is manufacturing such a strip.
Electrolysis is the only permanent hair removal technique. Before you pick a clinic, make sure that the people there are certified. Electrolysis has a few risks, such as scarring, acne, and infection. The best advice on choosing an electrologist is to look for someone who has a lot of electrolysis experience, not necessarily with TSs, and who either runs their own business or are in a very small business. At least then there is some chance that will actually care about the outcome and not just take the money and run!
Another problem with electrolysis is that many find it painful. These can be alleviated by the use of EMLA cream. When it works, it works very well, when it doesn't it still reduces the amount of pain. It is a form of local anaesthetic and is only available on prescription. It should be available from your GP. It's main problem is (a) that you have to put it on at least an hour and probably more before hand, it is a thick white gunk so this is not something you want to try to wear at work and (b) you are meant to put on an occlusive covering. The packs come with little stickers that are meant to be used when it is used to cover the pain of an injection. I find that cling-film is the best solution!
Finally there is the new laser method which was invented in Australia. There are two methods, in one a normal style laser is used while in the other a device similar to a photo flash gun is used. There have been mixed reports about these devices. If you have fair skin and dark hair the results are said to be very good.
The best page on hair-removal is Jokestress which is quite sceptical about laser as well. There are numerous commercial sites as well, but they never tell you about the down-sides.
There is no average length of time before electrolysis is completed since it depends on the method of electrolysis, whether you are on hormones, if you have had an orchidectomy and your hair type and colour. Minimum and maximum times to remove a fully developed male beard, with one or two hours per week needed, vary from 30 hours to 1000+! Hormone therapy makes the hairs finer and reduces the time needed to eliminate the hairs.
There are few ways to stop male pattern balding. For a male becoming female, the hormonal treatments will slow down and sometimes reverse hair loss. For a female becoming male, the hormonal treatments may produce hair loss. It all depends on what your parents were like. Minoxidil (Rogain, apogain) does work on some people. It does not work as well on the front as it does on the crown, and for some it does not work at all. Minoxidil must be used on a ongoing basis. Regular scalp massages will encourage hair growth.
There are several types of wigs and hair replacement options available. A good wig will cost you a fair bit, £100 upwards depending on the type. The mail order wigs are generally of poor quality.
Hair weaving is a technique where the existing hair is interwoven with other hair. It looks quite natural and is popular among both females and males. Hair transplant surgery is effective, but it sometimes looks unnatural and has a risk of infection involved. Hair replacement involves attaching artificial or real hair to a person's head. This can be permanent or temporary, depending on the client's wishes. If done well, it looks very realistic and is hard to spot.
For hair problems consult a good hairdresser. Snips,113 Middle Abbey St., Dublin 1 (01-8733443) is recommended. Ask for Laurence who has experience with transgendered people.
Maybelline have a nail varnish, Express Finish, which dries in one minute.
It is generally agreed that it is better to use oil than soap when shaving arms and legs. Applied over wet limbs it helps the razor to glide safely over the skin and also gives a closer shave. K-Shavng Oil for Women contains aloe vera, camomile, vitamin E, lavender essential oil and antiseptic tea oil. £5.99 for 25ml.
Last Modified 19 Jan 2002