I never presented super masculine, but I was in the boymode closet for some time (still partly am).
For me taking that leap into trying to present unambiguously feminine was something I really feared, I remember trying to cross-dress in high school and instead of feeling any kind of gender euphoria, it only heightened my sense of dysphoria.
I think that experience scarred me, even now I can't bring myself to wear anything more fem than yoga pants or bear to look myself in the mirror.
I'd rather be ignorant of how much I do or don't pass, or how I would look in a dress than confirm my worst fears.
I wonder if what you are experiencing with your beard is in a similar vein, where like...if you present masculine, or cover your face with a beard, or don't really try to present fem you can live in a state of ignorance.
stabbing my belly makes me queesy tho.