Tip #24: Binding Safely in the Summertime

Posted: July 15, 2012 | Author: thisiszaac | Filed under: Advice, TfTM Original Tips | Tags: binding, health, summer | 3 Comments »

Contributor: Zaac

I’ve seen countless posts about binding methods, tips, tricks, but I don’t come across as much information on binding safely. I know how easily health/safety can become secondary when you’re just trying to survive and feel comfortable in your own skin, but as we coach each other, reach out and support each other, I think it’s also important to talk about ways we can protect ourselves as much as possible. Many of these tips can be applied year round, but for now, I’m going to focus on binding in the summertime.

Ugh, for those of you that live in warmer regions, is there anything that reminds you that summer is upon us faster than stepping out to the heat with a binder on? I personally wear the Underworks Double Front Compression Shirt and this thing gets hot. But it can be 80, 90, 100+ degrees and it still feels important and necessary for me to wear my binder. To balance my mental health self care (i.e. wearing a binder) with my physical safety in the summer, here are some things I like to keep in mind -

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TfTM Blog: ‘an Underworks binder experiment’

Posted: June 10, 2012 | Author: N | Filed under: Blog | Tags: binders, binding | 5 Comments »

Contributor: N

So, I’ve been wearing a chest binder nearly every single day for almost 2 years now. I’ve only ever used one kind – because it seems to work well enough and is relatively affordable. I wear the Double Panel Compression Shirt from Underworks, always opting for the white color. This style and color are supposed to look like an undershirt — it’s not perfect, but it comes closest to this effect.

I wear my binders hard. Meaning, I wear one day after day until it wears out, rarely washing the thing because I always have it on (except when working out & sleeping). This results in my binders losing compression strength and getting dingy very, very quickly. I decided to check my bank account records to see how long it took from my last binder purchase to the time I started feeling like it wasn’t working well enough anymore. 2 months! In just 2 months I wore my binder out. In 2 months of constant use I had gotten my binder to the point wear I often felt self-conscious about my chest because I wasn’t getting enough compression.

Well, one of my brothers came up with an experiment to try out.

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