Student and YouTuber Jamie Raines, 22, first started taking testosterone right before he turned 18.
He decided to take a selfie every day to keep track of his progress.
“I initially intended to just do it for the first year,” he said in an interview. “But then I didn’t get any facial hair in my first year.”
“In the first six months, there was a very slight change at one month and two months, and then at three months I had my first proper voice drop, and then four months it started to sound more naturally deep, and since the six-month mark it’s been gradual,” he said. “I don’t think it’s still changing now but I make yearly voice comparisons to keep up to date with how it’s changed.”
“My whole family and my girlfriend [Shaaba] have just been really supportive and really excited for me because of the changes,” he said. “I told my mum first and then she told my dad and brother and they’ve all just been really great with it. My mum thinks this was always how I was supposed to be. She doesn’t feel like she’s lost a daughter, because I’m the same person to her – I’m still her child, but now I’m just her son.”
“It’s good to surround yourself with a community or friends and family that will support you – either online or in real life,” he advised. “Ask questions of people who’ve already gone through it. It feels like it takes ages for things to start happening but then when it does start everything changes really quickly. Now people are surprised when I tell them I’m trans. I had a job interview and when I told them they thought I was going to transition from male to female!”