It goes without saying that if you can access your healthcare through more "legitimate" and reliable channels, you should. Unfortunately, the fact that medicine is a commodity produced for profit and sold in a market necessitates that even though we as a society have the productive capacity to provide for everyone in principal, many will inevitably be left without the means of their subsistence in practice. Moreover, in this transmisogynistic society that refuses to understand transsexuality, and in this hostile political climate where fascists and reactionary opportunists have made a concerted effort to fearmonger over transsexuality, there have been increasing efforts to criminalize our healthcare in state legislatures. Therefore, whether you are unable to get your medicine for financial or legislative reasons, we won't bother to discourage you from seeking alternative means.
Ordering from the grey market is unregulated. This means that purchasing hormones is not illegal — and if anyone did face consequences it would be the seller or manufacturer — but keep in mind it also means that hormones can be arbitrarily seized by customs if they’re arriving internationally (which most of them will be unless you track down a highly rated, domestic home-brewer). Please see the following lists and guides for ordering from the grey market:
It further goes without saying that local, petty production will never be able to fulfill people's needs the way that industrial production can, and that trying to brew your own hormones comes with substantially greater risks if you don't have the right tools or expertise. But in lieu of a socialized system of healthcare and pharmaceuticals, and in conjunction with a movement to suppress our medication, it is decidedly a realistic way to secure and guarantee access to hormones for yourself and for your local community. Should you require information about this, please read the following guide: https://groups.io/g/MTFHRT/wiki/29602
The grey market is most useful for circumventing state regulations, but this won't alleviate one's struggle if they are having difficulties with affording the cost. Therefore, there is a fund to help reimburse HRT costs as long as you keep your receipts: transstudent.org/hrtfund/
If you are able to, please consider contributing to the fund. We as a community have to protect ourselves; by distributing resources between ourselves, we are able to bolster our resistance against oppression and build a more unified movement.