I'm 35 and have been on T since I was 29. It took me a long time to pass, about two years. But then I was getting consistently read as male. It was great! Then the pandemic happened and somewhere in there I stopped passing. At first I blamed the mask-- they can't see my face, they're just seeing a short person and assuming. But now people will look me full in the face, no mask, and call me "they" or ask what my pronouns are, or sometimes even call me "she" or "ma'am." I have a full goatee, mustache, and a receded hairline. I don't feel great about the hair loss (and have actually started using Hims spray) but I would have thought that the one upside is at least I'm clearly male.
It's happening to other trans guy friends of mine who have full beards and are balding. I'm guessing that with more visibility, people are starting to get "better" at spotting trans guys. It really sucks and it's making me feel extremely insecure.
Two years into transition when I still looked genuinely androgynous (no facial hair, fuller hairline) I would casually say something like "Oh, when I played Dorothy in the school production of Wizard of Oz" and people would look shocked and confused because they hadn't realized I was trans. Now I think I'm getting read as male until someone goes, "And, I'm sorry, what are you pronouns?" or "What was your name again-- Jenny? Jennifer?" (substitute female name that sounds like my actual name).
I'm single and have no desire to date now because I apparently don't look like a man anymore, and if someone hits on me I assume they're a chaser and making incorrect assumptions about my body (I've had lower surgery).
Beyond societal changes, I haven't had my T levels checked in a couple years and have been on an extremely low dose since my hysto, so I'm going to check and see if it's low. I've lost a huge amount of muscle over the last few years when I stopped being a gym rat shortly before the pandemic, and my shoulders and arms are a lot smaller which might be part of it too. But it just sucks to feel like I reached my goal and then had it taken away.