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Crossdresser Heaven is full of male-to-female cross-dressers. What we have to do to appear as a woman, is to modify our walk, our dress, our makeup, our voices, our behaviour. We have to wear nail polish and makeup, jewellery, uncomfortable (sometimes) shoes. So many things have to be attended to to give us our inner vision of womanhood, but at least the weapons are there in our armoury, it is how we use them that controls how well we do in our transformations.
Spare a thought then for the female-to-male cross-dresser. She (he) has no makeup to fall back on, many women wear men's clothes anyway, so that's not going to help. We can add breasts [of any size and shape we choose] and remove them as we see fit, the FtMer has the uncomfortable chore of binding hers to appear flat-chested. There is no jewellery to aid her, no perfumes to speak of, no facial hair to grow.
While we may think it is difficult appearing as a woman, it must be harder for the woman who wants to appear as a man.
There is a movie called The Assignment that stars Michelle Rodrigues, the plot of which consists of an assassin being turned into a woman. The opening scenes show Ms Rodrigues made up to appear male and despite all the efforts of a professional makeup and costume department, she still looks like a [hairy] woman. What chance does the occasional FtM cross-dresser have to 'pass' as a man?
However hard it is for me as a man to appear as a woman, it would be much harder if I was a woman trying to go The Other Way.
Becca
Short hair & flannel shirt? Wash your face only on even days? Dirty sneakers? Steel-toed sneakers? Start wearing socks? Never polish your shoes? Never clip your nails, always bit them off. Bash the built-up ice off the windshield with your bare knuckles. When you check the oil in your car, wipe your hands together afterwards to smooth out the dirt. Carry a big wad of keys in your front pocket? Develop a knack for snapping your head to check out a nearby girl? Walk like you got a dirty diaper? Carry something like a jar lid or earbud case in your panties which will frequently need to be tweaked or tugged so it doesn't fall through the leg band. Its all about the mannerisms.
Dani
Just as an MTF tries to smooth out the face or fake higher cheekbones by creating an artificial shadow, I would guess an FTM could try to make the face appear more angular, or lower the cheekbones with contouring. Perhaps they can give themselves artificial 5 o'clock shadow. They could probably use glue-on bushy eyebrows like we glue on eyelashes. They could use artificial facial hair, perhaps going as far as ZZ Top to cover up much of the face.
Peter Pan is almost always played by a woman, yet we can easily talk ourselves out if it while watching.
Maybe it's not as hard as you make out.
My late wife was certainly not a crossdresser, but many of her clothes were bought from the mens department. Things like sweatshirts, teeshirts, jackets and some shoes, fit her better that those designated for women. It was more of a practical thing than crossdressing.
I feel that the ftm has it a bit easier than we do. Jeans and a t-shirt, hair under a hat, sneakers and no makeup and many women could easily pass for a male. It might be an effeminate male but a male none the less.