Here's What Laverne Cox Looked Like 2 Years into Her Transition

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Laverne Cox has never been shy about her transition. The 31-year-old Orange Is the New Black actress began the process in her 20s in New York City — an experience she recalls as being "completely different" from Caitlyn Jenner's very public transition. Though she's outspoken about the difficulties facing trans women, she's never truly opened up about what that experience looked like for her on a personal level — until now. In a recent Instagram post, Cox gave her followers a glimpse into her "vintage" pre-OITNB life.

I am gagging that I am sharing this vintage Laverne Cox photo for #tbt. This is yours truly circa WAY back in the day. Yes, I went up to Harlem to get my braids "did" at one of those genius African hair braiding spots. I was trying to serve up early @beyonce Destiny's Child t's. I was wearing a dress I got at the Salvation Army and I was super psyched to be wearing that Diorific lip gloss in black that I really couldn't afford but bought anyway with tips from my restaurant job. This was just 2 years into my transition. I look at this photo and see a super cute young woman feeling it. But underneath a lot of overcompensating I didn't feel cute. I felt the opposite of cute. People misgendering me, calling me a man and saying I looked like a man got to me and made me feel so insecure. It kept me from seeing myself clearly and loving what I saw. I look back on this young woman and want to give her the love I didn't know how to back then. It's not too late. #TransIsBeautiful

A photo posted by laverne cox (@lavernecox) on Feb 11, 2016 at 2:57pm PST

"Yes, I went up to Harlem to get my braids 'did' at one of those genius African hair braiding spots. I was trying to serve up early @beyonce Destiny's Child t's. I was wearing a dress I got at the Salvation Army and I was super psyched to be wearing that Diorific lip gloss in black that I really couldn't afford but bought anyway with tips from my restaurant job," she writes.

Looking back on this time in her life, two years into her transition, she sees a "super cute young woman feeling it." However, underneath that she admits she was overcompensating because she wasn't yet comfortable with her appearance — mostly due to how she was treated by other people.

"I felt the opposite of cute," she said. "People misgendering me, calling me a man, and saying I looked like a man got to me and made me feel so insecure. It kept me from seeing myself clearly and loving what I saw. I look back on this young woman and want to give her the love I didn't know how to back then. It's not too late. #TransIsBeautiful."

We also made a video of Laverne's gorgeous beauty transformation through the years for you to check out below.