Hey Colleen,
Not sure how long you’ve been at it, but it can take a little while. Then, one day bang! , and you’ve got it forever. 
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Assuming you are consulting Justins lessons in the F chord, then it may just be a matter of continued focused practice.
Two quick things to check though; one, the ‘groove’ in your index finger isn’t lined up with the B/e strings, and two, your index isn’t too flat against the strings.
All the best.
Cheers, Shane
We’ve all been there. It took me a long time to play F chord cleanly and consistently. I’ve watched a lot of different lessons and none didn’t really help, only time spent practicing. And if you’re playing on a steel string acoustic it’s tougher.
We all had problems with this chord. I thought I can never play the chord. You will see in a few weeks you can play the chord like every other chord. I also looked everywhere and blamed even my index finger but all of the sudden ,I played the F chord.
You will get there as well
If some of the more advanced players happen to read this I would really appreciate some advice.
After lots of struggle, I can play the mini-F and switch to it at a slow to moderate tempo, but not without extra tension in my hand and wrist. However, if I play it with my index finger resting across all the strings and barre the chord with the bottom part of my finger it becomes easy and comfortable.
I’m just wondering if there is some reason further along the guitar journey for me to keep struggling with normal shape, or should I just play it my way and move along?
The mini-F grip (especially the F/C grip) is used a lot in folk & rock music. Neil Young songs are a great example of this.
I wouldn’t let the mini-Fs stop you from moving on, but you should keep them as a small part of your practice routine until you can do them without tension. It took me almost 3 years, but I can finally do the F barre and the F/C without tension in my fretting hand now.
YMMV
Maybe worth posting some pictures or a video of you playing the mini F to understand why your experiencing tension to get feedback on your fretting and posture.
Thanks! I’ll keep that in mind.
I’ll do that, thanks. I suspect I’m cranking my wrist a bit towards the headstock when playing with the tip of my finger.
I will say that i have played guitar on and off since I was younger so I did learn the barre F a long time ago, but at the same time I have always had more trouble with the mini F. I find it difficult to flatten my first finger. I can change to the barre F easier than the mini for sure. I am still a beginner and have a long way to go to be considered anything but, however I really think up to this point (Grade 2, Module 10) changing and getting a good sound out of the mini F, has been one of the more challenging things for me.
Anyone else feel this way? Have any tips? Thanks!
Jordan
Tips? Try playing just the triad.
ie drop the F on the high e, and play just 3 notes FAC.
Cheers, Shane.
Loads of people have the same issue - see this thread:
I’m a bit hesitant to give you advice since I’m a beginner myself. But this worked for me so maybe it can help you.
I still try to fiddle with the regular shape on occasion, but I play the mini-F as an alteration of the regular F-barre chord shape where I only barre the bottom strings and let the tip of my finger mute the top strings.
Hannes.
I used to. Now my min D is mostlt spot on but on the F barre chord my B string is either muted or semi buzzes. My mini F improved just from a lot of practice going from D To F in House of the Rising Sun. I do press my index finger down fairly hard.
I Had this for a while, the issue is likely your barre finger is you high or low with a joint of that finger resting on the b string. Try placing your barre finger probably higher so more of he finger tip protrudes above the top of the neck. I’d also recommend trying the F minor barre too as I found once I had the F barre ringing out and then tried to play F minor for the. First time the g string was muted and had to tweak again so try major and minor with barre in same position until both ring out.
Yup, tried it all, and even when I “get” it, it never sounds as good as just pressing down on the B string with the tip of 
my finger. Maybe need a callous right on that spot!
I had issues with pretty much every variant of the “F”…
The mini-F was easier (but NOT easy) & I really struggled with the full barre F. So, after I had the “mini” down, I decided to play the full barre even when the song called for the “mini” - only I would only play the notes on the 4 highest strings… the D, G, B & high e… this “cheat” had 2 benefits, my picking accuracy from targeting only the 4 strings improved & my chord changes to & from the barre F got faster.
Win/Win!!! 
Tod
I like that @CATMAN62 Tod. After the common year of struggle, I can use the full barre F pretty well; on the mini-F I’ve had a harder time getting both the B and e strings to ring out (spongy fingertip syndrome), and find that putting my finger almost directly on top of the fret helps. I think you want to be able to use both variants (and the triad) based on what fits the occasion. Anyone want to start a thread about the accursed B and B-flat barre chords? Still struggling with them.
It doesn’t really answer the question but my approach was just to crack on and learn the full F chord on the basis I was going to need it sooner or later. It’s taken time, daily practice over a period of months but I’m just about there (it’s only fast changes that are still a bit sloppy). That might sound like a slog but I’ve just practiced a few minutes a day on it and then moved on. My other advice is to start learning it before you have a song that needs it then there’s no frustration due to it blocking you from playing a song. Instead most people delay it as long as possible and then get annoyed when it doesn’t happen overnight
It’s not more difficult for me, but it is a different kind of difficult.
Full Barre Chord: reliably fretting the low E, B, and high E with the index finger
Mini-F: reliably fretting the B and high E with the top of the index finger
