A Transsistah's Secret - Foundation Garments

If you're lamenting the fact that you don't as a transwoman have the perfect hourglass shape, I'm going to tell you something that you should have picked up if you were doing your observation and practice part of learning the ways of femininity.

Neither do many of our cis sisters.      

Some of our cis and trans sisters have the funds to get that hourglass shape via the plastic surgery route.   Some do it by relentless exercising and diet.   Some were blessed by genetics and the luck of the hormonal draw to get that shape with having to diet or exercise regularly.   And unfortunately some our trans and cis sisters have take the dangerous path of silicone pumping ed to get those curves.

There's also the pageant queen trick of using strategically placed duct tape as well, but it'll hurt coming off and also has the downside of pulling off some skin or residual body hair in the process.

The easiest and the old school way of creating those curves is by using shapewear or foundation garments such as bras, girdles, waist cinchers, corsets, control top hosiery and strategically placed padding.to create their hourglass shapes or take off inches in the middle.

They also have the added bonus of making whatever outfit you chose to wear for the day look good as well.

A Transsistah's Secret -Pantyhose

Whatever side you come down on in the Great Pantyhose Debate,  (or tights as they call them in the UK) for trans fashionistas they are a necessary evil. 

Personally I like them, I'm comfortable and and down with wearing them and I'm in the old school camp of an outfit isn't complete without them.    They not only improve the look of your legs and make the men all pause if you have the legs for it, but can be a major ally in terms of pre-op/non-op passability by keeping your neoclit from popping out at a very inopportune time. 
 
But for those of you just beginning your transition journey into femininity and the wonderful world of hosiery, your biggest questions are what's the difference between control top, sheer to waist, opaque, sheer toe or reinforced toe pantyhose and what size do I get.?  

Well, I can definitely help you there.   I worked at a Macy's in Da Ville for five years in the jewelry and watch section.   It had a hosiery section attached to it at the time in which I worked with a wonderful lady named Dorothy Fow until the department was downsized three years into my time there and moved to the lingerie area on the second floor.  

She taught me a lot about what I know,  in addition to me putting my lips in neutral long enough to listen to her talk to other customers and help them select the perfect pair for that fashion forward event or Derby party..
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So you might say I know a little something something about hosiery.

Anyway, let's begin Pantyhose 101 shall we?

The first order of business it take a look at the back of the package and check out the sizing chart.  Every brand, including the store brands you'll pick up at your local CVS or Walgreen's has them and they are unique to each brand or style of hose, even within the same hosiery manufacturing family. 

Some brands will also print height and weight ranges to help guide you in the selection process as well
Hanes is the largest manufacturer of pantyhose followed by Berkshire, so I'll borrow the Hanes sizing chart to give you an example.
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One column of the chart will have your height, the other side your weight.    Be honest about your weight when you are at this stage because if they are too tight, you'll know it because you'll increase the likelihood they'll run when you put them on.    

If you're one of those petite size girls  in a certain weight range they tend to be in the AB size ranges on most charts.  Taller girls up to six feet tend to be in the CD ranges, and the petite to average height girls who are heavier the EF range.

I could get away with wearing Hanes CD's in some styles, but in order to reduce my chances.of runs, I learned very quickly that for us supersized and supermodel sized girls, the queen sized hose are our friends.

Then there's the difference between control top, sheer to waist,  sheer toe, reinforced toe, ultra sheer, opaque, French cut panty or increasingly,  footless ones.   They leave your toes open when you wear open toed sandals but cover your foot and leg.

Control top is just what it says, it's nylon reinforced down to your thighs to help mold and shape you in a bit.    If you tend to wear shorter dresses and skirts, you wan to opt for the sheer to waist styles in order to avoid that reinforced panty zone line from showing if your skirt rides up.   It also tends to have a shimmer to it as well and they come in reinforced toe or sheer toe styles.    

Sheer to waist is exactly what it means, sheer from your toe all the way up to the waist.

French cut panty are the blend of a sheer to waist or reinforced to pantyhose, but the panty area has a bikini style panty in the crotch area so you can wear them with shorter dresses and skirts.


Ultra sheers are barely there nude range color or black hose you get when you want to show off legs but just have a hint of a hose.   Opaque hose do the opposite.  

For you Brits, if you ask for tights here, this is the image that pops into your American cousins minds.   They refer to opaque style hose we wear in the fall and winter that help keep legs warm and look good doing so.    They come in a wide array of  colors and patterns   They can also be whimsical in nature like a younger woman I spotted one day while out and about wearing some with smiley faces on them.   

While I like the HUE tights because they have them for us supermodel sized girls, they are $8.50 to $12.00 a pair.  But you know the frugal Taurean in me found a brand that works just as well for gar less cash out of my pocket     I get my HUE's on sale and for everyday wear grab my drugstore brand..

Tights are a fall-winter fashion thing for when you have those occasions where a pantsuit won't do, you have to wear a skirted dress suit, you want to wear a leather skirt or sweater outfit or put some pop into your presentation by adding a dash of color.

As for avoiding the dreaded runs and getting more mileage and wear out of your hosiery, wash them on a regular basis in the sink with a hosiery wash.  Sometimes I'll do a dishwashing liquid, and let them air dry in the bathroom.   I also wait until the last moment possible to put them on before I put on the rest of my clothes and head out the door to minimize any snags, 

And do those pedicures on a regular basis.   They not only reduce stress, help with your femme presentation and give you a confidence boost, they help you prvent pantyhose runs as well

The pedicure eliminates those jagged toenails or cracked heels that can cause friction or microscopic tears that will become runs later. .


If you have a reinforced toe, it helps.  But in a sheer toe or ultra sheer style hose a microscopic tear that a jagged toenail or rough heels cause as you slide them on can develop into a run later. .

As for colors, it depends on your skin tone and what looks best with ir and that's a trial and error thing.    For my chocolate trans sisters, can't go wrong with black hose on our legs.    Browns or nudes are a little more problematic in that you have to have the right style of brown for your skin tone. to get that nude look.    .

It's also not necessary to get the high end hose all the time.   The drugstore brand are made by the major manufacturers quiet as it's kept     

But I do like how Hanes and Berkshires look on my legs and the feel of them, so I just either buy them in bulk or catch them on sale and keep a nice stockpile of them. 


So there you are peeps.  Everythang you needed to know about hosiery that I can tell you. 

Happy hosiery shopping, people..    

A Transsistah's Secret-Observation and Practice

When I'm out and about in the world doing my thang as the Phenomenal Transwoman, people will often ask me various questions about different aspects of my transition.

They'll ask how did I learn how to do my makeup? They'll compliment me on my fashion sense and style. People will ask me how I and other transwomen are able to effortlessly blend into various social situations and look fly doing it.

So how do we become the women we desire to project to the world? There are two key words that basically explain how we're able to do so; observation and practice.

I have learned my femininity (and still do) the same way any cis woman does.

I observe the world and the various women around me whose style and demeanor I admire, pick out the various elements and qualities I like, and then spend time practicing and perfecting what I learn.

Whether it's trying different combinations and colors of makeup, trying various hairstyles, discerning the lengths of hair and colors that complement our facial structures and skin tones, what clothing colors and styles work best for us, and even learning how to effortless walk in heels, we expend a lot of effort in perfecting our feminine presentations.

We do so because we had to overcome obstacles in our path to get to where we needed to be to project to the world on the outside the women we are on the inside. The trials and tribulations we go though as transwomen put us in the position where we don't take femininity for granted.

And a little does of reality here, the observation and practice we put in toward perfecting our feminine presentation can not only possible save our lives, but get us through our days without unnecessary drama.

Because we chocolate transwomen have had decades worth of fashion forward examples to observe and admire from Diahann Carroll to First Lady Michelle Obama, in order for us to blend in with our cissisters, we're willing to spend the time to make sure that we are projecting the same air of elegance, class and innovative fashion forward style while wishing to be seen as compliments to Black womanhood, not detriments to it.

That desire is even more acute amongst Black people of my generation. We were raised to never being seen as 'embarrassing the race'.

So me and my transsisters will continue to do our parts to look our gender best by observing our cissisters, practicing what we see, and coming up with our own signature style.

A Transsistah's Secret-Bras

The day you get your first bra is a right of passage moment for many cisgender girls. It's also a sign that a transwoman is moving towards the feminine side of the gender fence.

In the days when you are early into your transition and hadn't developed your girls yet or are simply cross dressing, all you did was stuck your breast forms (or whatever you used for the purpose) in your bra and went out and about in the world.

Now that you've been swallowing hormones or taking your shots for a sustained period, you have either developed a pair of your own girls, or got impatient and spent some cash to buy some.

No matter which way you got there, the burning questions become not only what's my bra size, but how do I put it on correctly?

Let's start by answering the size question. My endo was doing breast measurement during my visits my measurements to track my development progress, and I'd gotten up to a 34C.

It's estimated that 8 out of 10 women are wearing the wrong bra size, which can lead to back and other problems.

So unless you have contortionist skills that will lead to a professional career with the circus, getting accurate measurement is something you'll need a helping hand to do.

To ensure their customers are getting the correct size, a comfortable fit and reduce the risk of those potential problems, every so often your local department or lingerie store will have a bra fitting event where you can get properly measured for the correct size. They can also do so without you removing any clothing to be measured, unless you are wearing thick or bulky clothes.

If you're comfortable going out and about in the world, that's probably a good way to do it. But if you're still developing that confidence to boldly go out and about in the world, you'll have to have a trusted friend grab a tape measure and help you do so.

The key to a proper fitting bra is determining our accurate cup size, not what we wish our cup size to be.

You'll have that trusted friend start with a tape measure just underneath your breasts and around your back, making sure the tape is flat against your skin.

Add four inches to this measurement, and you have your band size. If you encounter an odd number, round up to the nearest even number since bra sizes only come in even numbers.

To find out your cup size, you will again pull out your trusty tape measure, and make sure it's once again flat across your back.

But instead of measuring under your breasts, measure across their fullest peaks. Add four inches, and compare with your band size measure. The difference between the two is your cup size, keeping in mind the following:

Negative Number AA A
Less than 1" AA
1" A
2" B
3" C
4" D
5" DD or E
6" DDD or F

Now that you know your size, time to find out how to put it on correctly.

After sticking arms through the straps, lean forward a bit and let gravity help the girls settle into the cups of the bra. You then make sure the nipples are in the crosshair point of the bra before hooking it.



Then again, the ways that women have of putting on their bras are as varied as the woman herself. So what ever way you put it on, make sure that you and the girls are comfortable when you're done.