The effects are gradual, happening over months and years, but there are wide-ranging changes that take place.
The best way I’ve heard this explained as the general idea is that if you think of your chromosomes as the blueprint for how your body grows, hormones are kind of like the construction crew that makes it happen.
Going on testosterone blockers and taking estrogen can’t change whatever skeletal structure you have already grown or give you a different type of genitalia.
Still, it can do quite a lot of things. Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) will typically change the way your body hair grows, making it come in lighter and softer.
It will soften your facial structure to make you look more feminine. You will typically grow breast tissue, and your breasts will become more sensitive.
To some degree, the fat in your body will usually redistribute itself, and be less likely to go to your stomach, and more likely to go to your breasts, hips, and butt, giving you a curvier shape.
It is typical for it to become more difficult (and, for some people, impossible) to get an erection, involuntary erections like “morning wood” typically don’t happen anymore, and your penis size tends to get smaller.
Your testicles tend to shrink, as well. Usually, your whole groin region tends to become more sexually sensitive, and not just the penis itself.
It is common for there to be emotional changes as well. Mood swings are more common, it becomes more comfortable to cry, and there will commonly be a reduction in the psychological effects of testosterone, including anger and anxiety that are not apparent responses to specific events.
If you start HRT before puberty (or delay puberty with hormone blockers, then start HRT later), your overall bone structure and facial structure will typically grow in a way consistent with bodies that naturally produce estrogen. And, in general, the sooner you start HRT, the better the results you will get.
We are all individuals, and effects will vary considerably in magnitude and timing.
Most will find the feminization effect almost impossible to hide after 1 to 2 years, assuming that the estrogen is taken with a testosterone blocker.
Muscle mass is lost within a year with a Tblocker.
This, along with breast growth, results in a very profound and visible feminization.
Breast growth will likely slow or stop at a slightly smaller size than one’s mother.
I still have some almost imperceptible growth after more than five years. My butt continues to grow curvier.
By five years, the vast majority of the changes will be complete.
All transwomen of my acquaintance express total amazement at how much HRT has feminized them.
Voice, remnants of a beard, and bone structure still disturb some. Estrogen does not affect voice once it has changed, facial hair, or bone structure.
Other interventions are required to deal with these. Voice training and facial hair removal can be effective. Bone structure is something we have to live with. The face is one place where surgery can be remarkably effective.
Source: Joanne C Wittstock, Tessa Norris, queer trans woman.
Check out our in-depth article on the Most Effective Testosterone Blockers
Find out how you can increase estrogen levels fast as a male in our in-depth article “Increase estrogen in males”Â