Hair

So you’re gonna get your hair cut. Maybe you convinced your parents, maybe you are a man of free will and are gonna get it on your own, or maybe you just had to get it cut. Whatever your reason is doesn’t matter, you are getting your hair cut. So what style should you get?

Well for starters, I would like to say, do not feel obligated to get an undercut.

And I’m gonna tell you now. If your face is round, or if you have a weak jawline, you will not pass in this haircut. Straight up. That’s just the reality. My face is still hella round even after 4 months on T and I absolutely would not get this haircut because I would look like a lesbian. Now if an undercut looks good and you KNOW you will pass in it, good for you! But the majority of you DO have cheeks, and DO have a round face. And that’s just the tea.

So right off the bat, “shorter” does not equate to “more masculine.” Don’t shave your head, don’t “almost” shave your head with a close cut. Sometimes, longer hair will make you pass better. It will frame your face and change the overall appearance.

Exhibit A: Ray from 3 Generations

(Now I know some people got beef with 3 Generations but yall can’t deny that the cinematography is really beautiful. They captured that city aesthetic.)

Now if I’m being honest here, ftmguide.rassaku.net really has the best hair tips, but nothing for curly hair, he covers straight hair and says to avoid curls. Well, I have curly hair, not kinky, but loose curls. And I’m not about to straighten my hair everyday. So this is really just going to restate what he says, but also include the curly guys.

Now to quote the basic haircut formula he gives:

– A side part
– Bangs across the forehead
– Slightly long

So basically this (yes I just used the same picture as the original hair guide shush)

On the left is straight hair, on the right is curly.

You can play around with the length of the back and the bangs, but be careful with it.

If you look back at the better Ray haircut, you’ll see it follows the formula.

Another fun thing is that you can play with this hair. I can make 3 different hairstyles with this cut, but I prefer the regular look. Women do not have this haircut. My face is round and I have no chin, but with this haircut(Evan Peters’), I pass 99% of the time, and the times I don’t pass, its more going towards my voice, or a bad haircut.

That brings me to my next point, asking for a haircut. Don’t go to a barber unless you are getting your head shaved or are a man with kinky hair looking for a distinct cut. Go to a unisex salon. You aren’t any less manly for doing so. My 6 foot tall, built as hell, brother in law who lifts pipes and works big machines for a living goes to Club Cuts for his hair. It’s okay. Look at the reviews for where you’re going. I went and got my haircut at one place and the lady cut my bangs from my mouth all the way to my eyebrows. I asked for one inch and wound up with well over one inch cut off. I looked like a lesbian, I looked bad. I looked like a mom who had 3 kids named Daniel who all played soccer. I was stuck with that hair for about 3 months. It was not a good time.

So you found a hair salon, you know what you’re going to get, but now you have to tell them. Well for one, there are so many pictures of androgynous people online if you can’t blatantly show them a picture of a man. If they tell you that they can make it feminine, say no. And by God, I mean it, if you hear the words “pixie cut”….speak the hell up. You wanna look like MAN. Not goddamn Halsey.

After your first haircut, you’re gonna wanna take a picture, and I say this because I did not know when to get my next haircut. The longest I let my bangs grow is up to my mouth now(keep in mind, I have curly hair so this is the length when stretched). Before, I would let it grow to my chin, and when you have curly hair, your awesome masculinizing haircut can easily start to look more like 80s mom hair.

Or alternatively, if your hair is straight, you start to look like, uh, THAT kid.

Moral of the story is know your limits.

Other haircuts to avoid…

Basically, sorry, but avoid shaved sides and bowl cut-type haircuts. I’ve seen several transguys with bowl cuts and none of them pulled it off. It isn’t a bad hair cut when it works with your face shape–as it does with many K-pop idols–but we are not them. Your first impulse may be to get the same hair as your favorite artist. Unless you and that person have the exact same face shape, I cannot say that it will work out for you.

A note about dyeing your hair: you have to know what your goals are and you have to be realistic. My goal as a transman in the south was to blend in. Men around me only had natural colored hair, so to blend it, I kept my hair in its natural state. I was not openly queer, passing as a traditional cishet guy was the goal, even if I was a bisexual transgender man. If your goal is similar, don’t dye your hair crazy colors and keep it neutral. If you do not care and are openly queer, then go ahead and dye your hair. I am not against colored hair. My fiance has bright blue hair, colored hair can look amazing, you just have to be aware that it will flag you as a queer person. You have to be okay with what that means for you. Additionally, if you are on the fence when it comes to passing aka, sometimes you pass and sometimes you don’t, dyeing your hair a vibrant color probably won’t work in your favor. If people see a person with a high voice, some curves, and purple hair, they will gender you as a woman.

Well that’s it for hair, up next is our next opponent… clothes for men.