Women: Flattening the chest.

By damian. 19/10/10, 11:17 am

@rewrite_me;
i've also got asthma, but i have never had a problem breathing when i bind unless i've bound wrongly. (: i've also experimented with a lot of types of binding both good and bad (bandages, too small sports bras, too small training bras, sports tape, binding/compression shirts, girdles and strips of 3inch wide elastic) and none have given me a problem with breathing if i bind correctly-- i've only gotten discomfort at best with the worst of them, or pain caused by removal of skin by stretch tape LOL. >_>; only bandages thus far have given me any problems if i bind too tightly.
at the moment, i usually use binding shirts (and/or tape, if i need to wear something close-fitting or shows more chest area than my binding shirts do) to flatten my chest.

i guess, experiment and find out which style of binding you're most comfortable with? what's comfortable for one person may not be comfortable for another. what's being recommended on coscom now are compression shirts, but those are pricey. one user recommends using 3" elastic (Spotlight stocks them here in Brisbane, I'd assume they'd stock them in NZ outlets) but i don't know how it'll work with you, personally mine works better binding my butt than my boobs.
wear it at home for a few hours to see how your body copes with it before you wear it out to a con. if it hurts or you can't breathe, undo it and re-bind.

EDIT: this updated thread on coscom might be helpful as well.

**Guest** Guest

@tangent
hi thanks a lot, I was acctually pretty worried about it and so was my mum but now I guess I just have to experiment like you sugested
and I'll have to check out spotlight, I go there often
thanks

By flash. 08/12/10, 09:35 am

As someone with a DD cup size and one that has been cross playing for quite some time, my best tip is make yourselves a bust reducer brassiere. The were really popular in the 1920s because Chanel's line of clothing was to look more boyish in the figure (plus look at all the flapper girls, no boobies there!)

Making one is simple and you can trust me when I say you can wear it for hours and it's not even close to constricting like bandages or tape.

It requires a lot of boning but if you've got time, try making one. ^^

[to give you guys ideas]

By Sockcat. 14/03/11, 05:47 pm

Perhaps it has already been mentioned before. However I found this a reliable source for compression vests. In the greater scheme of things the postage isn't very much either. Having tried other methods myself (being a'cursed with being DD) this seems to work the best. And is less painful :/

By sora-roxas-ven. 16/03/11, 12:04 pm

I went and got a waist support from the $2+ shop in newmarket (the one by the cinema), and although it cost $5, it works amazingly. It's slightly stretchy, but holds and it super-comfortable (as compared to binding). The only thing is, where the fabric overlaps, it juts out by about 0.5cm, but you can't notice it with a tight fitting shirt on. It would probably show through with lyrca though D:
It also comes up quite high, so it only really works for round necked costumes (it comes to about 1-2cm over where the v-line neck ends on most shirts). It doesn't make me totally flat (that would be impossible, DD, but it goes down to about an A) but it sort of... acts like a board or something (not explaining this well). So even though I have a chest, it's like washboard abs. But a chest.
Yes, I fail at explaining.
But also, if I get short-of-breath, it takes about 2 seconds to get off. And maybe 1 minute to put on again if you're very fussy.

By RJayne. 27/04/11, 05:13 am

I'm an 8E (oh joy) and I used a 10A sports bra and bandages to crossplay at Auckgeddon. It did a pretty good job, but the problem was the bandages lost their stretch after a while and had to be rebound. It's kind of a hassle, so I'm getting a compression vest. Open binding is near impossible because they don't lie outwards. /jealous of PI
I definitely have the body to suit girls better, but since I'm 185cm tall it's easier to try and be a guy. Yay for shoulder pads.

By damian. 27/04/11, 09:44 am

i used to find open binding and then a binder over the top worked better for me (since open binding never used to get me flat (is 8DD/8E(?) with firm-ish breasts that don't like to sit to the side) and my boobs like to shift around in a binder (seriously, idek since the binder is pretty tight)... but lately i've been having better success than i remember with open-shirt binding than i did two and a half years ago ahaha. i know they said open-shirt binding is not recommended for people bigger than B (and even Cs are supposed to be a bit iffy on how well it works) but it works amazingly well for me now idek, pretty sure i'm flatter with OSB than with my binders.
open shirt binding in singlets and open shirt, and old photo and new (unflattering lol) photo of boobs since i have hardly any photos of me in tops that are not baggy, so i apologize for bad angles etc. not as amazing as PI and Tails's magical disappearing boobs but... yeah seriously my boobs aren't malleable and they sit on top of my chest still when i lie on my back XD

By RJayne. 28/04/11, 09:43 am

^ I feel like I totally should ask you for help coz I really want to open bind.

Seriously, I think you just made my day.

By damian. 28/04/11, 02:24 pm

lol i wouldn't know how to explain how i do it, seriously XD the original open-shirt binding directions are pretty much spot on, i guess? i don't do it much different (if any different), i suppose you kind of develop a sense of what to do/how to do it after a while?
i have a couple of shirtless photos (one from that session and one from today) that i can post if you want to see how i've done it but i'm not sure how appropriate it would be to post on this thread itself, even though there's nothing actually showing. i could just PM them to you if you want to take a look?

By RJayne. 30/04/11, 06:18 am

That'd actually be really helpful, if you don't mind ^^ I feel so stupid for asking though

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