My First Salon Makeover (2024)

I finally built up the courage to get a professional makeover done. Ideally, for reasons of privacy,I wanted to go to a specialised CD service or at least find a private MUA (who works from home). I couldn’t arrange a private session (either because of distance, no reply, or the MUA only worked in other people’s homes). However one MUA suggested I contact a woman she knew who owned her own salon. I checked it out and it seemed to be based in the city centre but looked discreet. I contacted her and agreed in principle to a makeover but imagine my surprise when I discovered that the salon had moved from the city centre and was located extremely close to where I work! I even vaguely remember some of the girls in work saying that they’d used the salon. So I had to decline but the owner kindly offered a private room for the makeover. How could I refuse after all the trouble shehad goneto? So I arranged a time the following Saturday. I wanted an early time when it was quiet but she only had availability at 1pm. The day before I also realised that the studio shared an entrance with a gym where one of my female colleagues is a member! All of these factors made me extremely nervous when I left for my appointment. I arrived about 20 minutes early so went for a short walk to calm my nerves. Unbelievably I actually bumped into someone from work! I said I was meeting someone for lunch and thankfully she headed off in another direction but my nerves were fried by the time I took the steps down into the gym/salon.

The woman at reception looked at me quizzically as I stood there and I explained I had an appointment with Melissa (not her real name) at 1pm. She gave a broad smile and it was obvious I was expected. I was shown into a room right beside reception and Melissa arrived. I asked to change into my female clothes before the makeover started. So I changed and was soooo nervous as I sat there in my dress and high heels. Ihad a minor panic attack as I thought is thisreally what I want, can I go through with this? I feltslightly trapped but then realised yes this was what I wanted, a professional makeover in a real salon. This was every crossdresser’s dream and I was one of the few who would actually fulfil it. Melissa came back and didn’t bat aheavily mascaraed eyelid (her makeup was wonderful and she had a slight goth chick look with lots of cool tattoos) as she saw me, a male, in a pretty floral party dress and red 5 inch pumps. I wondered what she really thought.

Sheleft the door wide open and asked would I like it closed. It was quite warm but I was too nervous to have the door fully open so she closed it. It didn’t cross her mind how nervous I was on the inside. This was a good thingasitwas ahelp inbuilding my own confidence when dressed and not to care what other people think. When it got too hot a few minutes later she propped open the door about a foot open so I could see the reception desk. I was both scared and thrilled at the thought of being seen (although at one point there was a guy chatting at reception (I think he worked in the gym) for about 10 minutes and that made me a bit anxious again but it’s something I have to learn to deal with) – I can cope with women seeing me, not so much guys).

So Melissa started my makeover. She decided to block out my brows. I’ve never done this before and it is a simple enough but time consuming process using Pritt-Stick and foundation. The really skilful part was
drawing on my new brows. Melissa did a great job of drawing on thin feminine arches. She advised that
maybe I should get my brows waxed a little to avoid this process. It is something I’ll certainly consider although while I’d love girly brows I can’t have them too obvious for life in my male clothes. The salon owner popped in at one stage and she was great too. She was really enthusiastic and said she had worked on loads of guys before. I wonder how many came into the salon like me though. I suspect it wasn’t a very common occurrence but she really put me at my ease.

As the makeover progressed she asked when I had started crossdressing (I had my first experiences at about age 6) and what I would describe myself as (a crossdresser). I think she thought I was looking for drag makeup at first but I explained I was looking for very feminine makeup but not drag queen dramatic as such. When I said I had a female partner she was surprised, I think she presumed I was gay (not that there’s anything wrong with that). She gave me full foundation even brushing my ears which I’d never thought of doing before. She carefully and expertly applied the rest of my makeup. She asked me what style of eye makeup I wanted. I really didn’t know and asked what she thought. I suggested a smoky look but she showed me pix of a smoky look and a cut crease and we both agreed a cut crease looked best. She did an amazing job on my eyes, probably my favourite part of the makeover. She also applied blush. Perhaps the most important thing I learned was the power of contouring. My face and especially my nose (which is quite slim anyway) looked a lot more feminine and really changed the shape of my face. I must order some contouring brushes and try it myself. The lipstick and gloss was a wonderful shade of red.

Then she put my wig on my head and did some final adjustments. I asked her to zip up my dress and that felt fab as nobody has every zipped me intoadress before. I wonderwho the next person to do it will be! The professional makeover made a world of difference. I wasn’t passable but (especially if it was night time) maybe looked a bit less obvious from a distance (except that I was now about 6 feet tall in my heels!). After just over 2 hours the makeover was over. I nervously asked could Melissa take a photo of me and she was happy to oblige. She explained they had a ring light in reception. So out I went to reception. The owner and the MUA on reception both exclaimed their delight at my look. I was blushing so much. Having three very hot women compliment me on my makeup (and my legs seemed to get particular attention!) was amazing.Melissa kindlytook some photos of me(although the ring light wasperhaps a little harsh). I had a deep longing to go outside dressed up but was too scared to go on my own and didn’t want to overstep the mark by asking to be accompanied for a little walk and some photos.

Melissa was surprised and maybe a bit disappointed that I had to remove some of her great work before I left. I would love to have the confidence to just walk out like that but am a long way off it yet. So I removed the lipstick and changed back into male clothes. I paid (it wasn’t cheap but was worth it for the experience alone) and gave a reasonable tip for all of Melissa’s efforts and kindness. Then I donned sunglasses and a baseball cap and cycled home (the best way as it is quick, doesn’t require interaction with people, and I moved to quickly for anyone to notice me too closely).

My highlights of the experience were: the kindness of Melissa; the owner, and the MUA at reception (although I’d love a bit more teasing for being such a sissy 🙂 ); seeing how feminine brows might look on me, the lovely feeling of having blush applied; the work that went into my eyes; I love applying mascara so feeling it applied to my top and bottom lashes (I had false lashes on too) was fab; having someone put a wig on me; having my dress zipped up; the reaction when I went into reception; actually being seen by other people when dolled up. These were all great experiences. I soooo need to go out dressed and would have gone out on Saturday if I could have found a place to change (part of the reason I can’t leave my house dressed as I suspect it would frighten the neighbours – on my way back into my house a neighbour was coming out several doors down – I basically ran into the house!).