Please Explain

Can someone explain to me something I've never understood about transitions? Really, not the process, not the medical issues, and not even the surgery, but something more simple, even common sense. Yeah, the obvious thing.

The first thing a person notices about someone else to identify and characterize them into an identity is the person's face. This is done in the first 5-10 seconds and it's almost permanent in the person's mind, meaning once they see it, they'll remember it and their labels for them.

The second is the voice if they're speaking, but otherwise, other clues come into play, such as the person's behavior, mannerisms, presentation, body, etc., in other words, all the rests of them. But the face is always the first and most persistent clue.

So with that in mind, why do some transwomen go through their transition, some even getting the Sex Reassignment Surgery (SRS) to meet the legal requirements to get the legal change of the sex marker on their documents, and not get facial surgery?

Why do they go through the process, even learning makeup techniques and all, and still not see their face isn't female or even seen as female by others? Some are good at makeup to hide a lot, even the initial impression of being seen as female, but not enough to hide it after a second look.

So why do they not see their face isn't helping the perception, the impression and the acceptance of them as women when their face doesn't match the rest of them? Even an androgynous face would be better than a transwoman's masculine face.

I ask this because I saw a story about a teacher starting the year after the summer to prepare for her transiton and live as a woman. She was starting the year presenting as female, and had the hair style, the clothes, the whole suite of behavior and mannerisms and a reasonable voice, but the face, even with makeup, is a man's face.

I've read life stories of tranwomen who say they have it all right and still have problems in public, from just second looks to harrassment, until you see a picture of them and it's all clear. It's why the transcommunity calls it passing, which starts with the face.

People will accommodate the rest around the face because it can always reassure them the person is still a woman by her face, and it shows the person is serious enough to want to look female. I know why they don't get cosmetic facial surgery. Money.

In many countries SRS is paid by the government or private health insurance. It's free if you go through the hoops, which people have to anyway to transition, but cosmetic facial surgery is never free, and always costs between $10-40,000 or more, but often around $20,000, something not easily affordable.

Many young transwomen don't need cosmetic facial surgery because youth and hormones works wonders, but even some opt for the surgery to be more feminine looking and easily identifiable as women for themselves and to others.

But the majority of older transwomen, especially over 50, don't get the cosmetic facial surgery. Many lived as cross-dressers for years if not decades learning makeup and think passing as a woman is the same as passing as a cross-dresser.

How wrong they are, when they discover living fulltime as women isn't the same as occasional cross-dressing where people see you as the proverbial "men in dresses" and not women. Then they wonder why the public doesn't understand, when it's them who doesn't understand.

And it's why I don't understand. It should be the first thing they consider in a transition for themselves and in public. It's not rocket science, it's simple public acceptance. Face and all.