Ellie's transition fund

Hi, hey, hello!

My name is Ellie, I'm a 26-year-old transgender woman based in Naarm/Melbourne, and I'm hoping to raise a bit of money to cover the rising costs of my medical and social transition.

To put it bluntly, being trans in 2023 isn't just difficult because of the abysmal state of the political landscape, it's also extremely expensive. My hormone replacement therapy (HRT) alone costs around $65 per month ($780 per year) and as a trans woman, things like feminine clothes, makeup and skincare products are important to ensure that (most) people view / take me seriously as a woman in society. Additional costs include appointments with my endocrinologist to manage my HRT ($400 each), regular sessions with my therapist to work through the psychological aspects of my gender dysphoria ($140 each), laser hair removal ($50-250 per session depending on the area) and voice feminisation lessons (variable, but on average $150~ each).

I work as a freelance music and pop-culture journalist, so the income I bring in is… Less than fantastic. I can scrape by in covering the above costs, but there are several procedures that would greatly aid me in my transition and help to combat my feelings of dysphoria, which I genuinely consider to be crucial in my journey.

The most important, I believe, is a hair transplant. I began medically transitioning at age 25, by which time I’d suffered significantly from male pattern baldness. My lack of natural hair is the single most significant source of my dysphoria; I am envious of virtually every woman I see with natural hair, I hate looking at myself in the mirror and not seeing my own hair, and I feel like a fraud and a disappointment to myself having to wear hair pieces (aka wigs) to look or feel feminine. It’s had a devastating effect on my mental health – not to mention, hair pieces are expensive, uncomfortable, cumbersome, difficult to maintain and just don’t look as good as real hair – and it’s something I am desperate to remedy as soon as possible.

I’ve been quoted $18,750 for a hair transplant of 3,500 grafts (7,000 hairs). All the money I save at the moment is going towards this, and I am also looking into securing a loan so I can at least have the surgery locked in and work toward paying it off. Until I’ve had that procedure, all money raised through here will be going towards “Ellie’s hair transplant fund”. My hope is that I can achieve the means to undergo the procedure by the end of 2023… It might be a bit too ambitious of a goal, but I won’t know unless I try, right?

From there, any funds raised through this campaign will be used to save for other procedures I hope to undergo along the course of my transition. These primarily consist of FFS (facial feminisation surgery) and GRS (genital reconfiguration surgery) – the two I would consider the most essential to my transition after a hair transplant – as well as electrolysis to remove facial hair that can't be treated through laser hair removal.

I would greatly appreciate any help I can get here, whether that’s through a donation (of any amount at all) or just sharing this campaign. Either way, thank you so much for taking the time to read this and consider helping me in my gender transition.

All the love in the world,

Ellie