Cosmo 🌠⭐

'Transfem DIY HRT' and 'Transmasc DIY HRT' are a pair of zines aimed at teaching transgender people how to safely self-administer DIY Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).

Both zines are 100% free to download here from Little Mouse (who also made the zine). Print, share and distribute to those who need it!

Specifically regarding the bloodwork, you do NOT want to test your T levels right before your next injection, you want to take it approximately halfway between your injections. Trough levels (T levels immediately before your next injection, when your T is at the lowest point) are useless. It doesn't tell you what your T levels actually are, and does not provide a frame of reference for adjusting dosage if you need to. Taking your blood levels approximately halfway between dosages allows you to see what your T levels actually look like for the majority of the time, before it starts to work out of your system.

I think the confusion is caused because the zine is based on weekly T dosage, but T is generally taken every 2 weeks* and you should take your blood levels one week after your shot if you're on a 2 week schedule.

*every 2 weeks is standard for a couple of reasons:

1) injections suck and doing it every week sucks.

2) T in the US until recently could not be handed over by a pharmacy and therefore injections could not be done at home and instead had to be done at at doctor's office. The 2-week schedule allowed for less doctors visits and less expense.

3) perisex cis men also have a hormone cycle (albeit one not as visible as those of perisex cis women) and having your T high and T low be about 2 weeks apart is thought to mimic that natural cycle. This may or may not actually be true, but it was part of the prescribing basis for a long time.

4) because the half-life of cyprionate is 8 days, HALF OF IT is still in your system after 8 days. Taking a second dose at that point messes with the dosages and results in you stacking your dose on top of half of your previous dose, resulting in you taking 150% of the amount you're trying to take.

sorry about all the ponies! (you're totally free to mute the "my little hunter" tag!) but yeah of course!!

let's start off with his head and facial features :)

in addition to this, i make sure to draw cas's hair as unruly as possible—keep that comb away from him!

as for the tuft in front, there's no reason for it i just think it's cute

moving on!

to sum it up, i like to make cas very square! and everything else is a fuck it, we ball kind of thing with vague rules i give myself (like: cas's hair must not be devoid of any curls, make sure to keep his autistic aura, and dean's hair has to be as spiky as possible!)

sure thing! :)

starting off with the usual:

remember that those freckles are essential!

he has some stubble, but it's optional and i keep it less prominent than cas's stubble anyways

on with the rest!

again, like cas, the hair tuft at the front is just something i think is cute and fun

one more thing—i usually draw dean's hair parting on his left but sometimes i forget or just think it looks better for the drawing on his right (same with cas but the opposite!)

the pony posting continues