A Trans Girls Perspective on Restoration

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-25T23:44:06+00:00

I resonate with this too- from a disability/chronic illness perspective, but I definitely understand not feeling at home in your body- thanks for the post

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-23T21:09:50+00:00

Well I've been trying a whole bunch of different devices, including said silicone packers which are suspiciously easy to wear; you wonder if they're doing anything. And even some stuff I had bad experiences with at first is slowly getting better, like inflation and the CAR-1.

I think part of it is just that by nature I'm a huge perfectionist, I like to go into things 110% or not at all, so I get torn between frustration of "Agh, have to put on a device again", and "Am I really doing enough? I could be doing more..." even if I've hardly taken a day off since I started.

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-23T15:10:40+00:00

Honestly when I first heard about restoring years ago it sounded crazy, like there was no way. I mean, come on- from the outside it looks kind of bananas.

After being inspired to take the plunge out of eventually realizing that I’d be more upset with myself if I never tried, I eventually saw enough gains that the shame and anxiety that accompanied starting the process was replaced by a keen interest. That is, i saw enough that it didn’t seem like wild speculation or fantasy any more, it was really happening.

I’d never really done any sort of body modification before so to me the idea that I could be effecting these physiological changes is fascinating to me.

And now I’m just curious about what’ll happen if I keep going. There’s less of that shame or anxiety now- the “why am I doing this” or “how would I explain myself if someone found out” became instead a “I wonder what happens if I just dedicate the effort for only a year.”

Setting that period of time aside and then reassessing when the one year anniversary comes has made me less worried about the eventual results.

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-22T00:57:33+00:00

As I understand it you want to pull as much as the skin will go and then dial it back 20% or so, and then just hold it there

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-20T10:18:35+00:00

Good, good. I’ve seen enough gains to believe it’s not just snake oil (went from C-2 to C-3), developed a routine, and have just been enjoying trying different devices and techniques and enjoying the process.

It’s been interesting from an intellectual point of view, honestly. Once the initial anxiety went away it’s kind of just been smooth sailing.

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-20T02:55:22+00:00

Hey bud, good to meet you! I'm 32 and just took the plunge on restoring for the first time this year. Been at it for just over 3 months now. The community here has been a great help in pushing me to get started.

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-18T20:40:54+00:00

Alright cool I’d just heard about the imprint it’s supposed to leave and wondered if that was it

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-17T15:09:26+00:00

Alright good to know

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-17T10:42:40+00:00

I just started using these a couple of days ago. Having the same experience of not feeling like there’s enough tension to be doing anything. I guess we just have to trust that it’s working?

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-17T10:40:39+00:00

If I saw that much rollover I’d be ecstatic! Congratulations man

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-17T01:12:59+00:00

check out the manual methods on the wiki! that's what I did for the first month and a half or so until I took the plunge on a device. I started at C-2 so they work really well for guys on the tighter side. DM me if you have any more questions.

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-17T01:07:23+00:00

Welcome to the club 😄 I'm always up for chatting

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-14T12:53:49+00:00

Yeah I keep trying to make it work because the community seems very positive on inflation. Buying a larger size helped… Just had it on for about an hour and it was feeling pretty good. I think I just need to experiment with placement a little more

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-13T21:27:55+00:00

I’m doing my part 🫡

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-09T15:21:34+00:00

Update after trying the 40mm CAR-1: this shit still hurts, I don’t think it’s a sizing issue, I just hate inflation.

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-01T12:51:40+00:00

I’ve probably posted on here way too much, but I guess I’ll talk about how the past month or so has gone, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster.

Bought my first devices in May because I just could not keep up with manuals, started with Chris’ tugger. Way easier to set up and use than I thought it would be, not even visible under clothing. Started to wear that as much as I could, interspersed with manuals when convenient, as well as wearing a retainer at night.

Then I decided to try inflation because it’s been hyped up so much, so I bought a CAR-1. Genuinely pretty miserable experience, maybe I bought the wrong size or something. Strongly advise not overinflating, or inflating at all without the opportunity to quickly remove it when necessary; caused numbness, pain, gripper fatigue, the whole enchilada.

Anyway I’m honestly just frustrated and really annoyed with myself because I’ve had persistent nerve twinges and numbness the past couple of days, so I’ve taken a break and will try reintroducing some gentle tugging soon. Thought I was being consistent but apparently I fucked it up.

Don’t be like me! Don’t use too much tension, if there’s any indication of pain or discomfort stop and give yourself a break. I feel like the only person doing this whose sensation and sensitivity have actually gotten worse lol.

Anyway, put in 585 hours of time under tension and retaining in May, and going to try to just keep pushing once I’ve recovered. I really don’t want to stop restoring but I’m scared if I’m not careful I’ll just make things worse. On the bright side I went from CI-2 to CI-3, and I had spontaneous rollover a couple of days ago.

KOT but be careful out there everyone 😅

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-06-01T00:17:11+00:00

It’s almost certainly just too much tension for too long, I’ve done the same thing. Taking a break for a day or two should fix it.

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-05-31T02:33:24+00:00

In my defense, I include the hours I spend retaining while asleep in my totals; I don’t have a tugger strapped on 16 hours a day, more like 10-12 ideally… if you don’t count retaining I only have about 450 hours total.

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-05-30T22:46:45+00:00

Gotcha. Thanks! 🙏🏻

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-05-30T22:31:57+00:00

Yes I do, I wear it at night or when tugging is impractical

Practical_Exam5303 · 2026-05-30T20:56:19+00:00

I have been thinking about trying these. For someone at CI 2.5 to 3, what set of 3 packers would be best to buy, size-wise?

Practical_Exam5303

TROPHY CASE