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When a binder is basically just pushing your chest up


Snao Cone

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Okay, rant. I have a couple of binders - two different sizes, actually, because I got one on the larger side to be safe, and it seemed too big/loose (but it's still good for reducing my bust to wear certain clothes nicely, even though you can still tell they're tits). The smaller size is tighter and all, but it mostly just pushes my chest up. It's flatter, for sure, but I still have a rack. I have a clear and sturdy upper shelf. I've always suspected my tits are generally higher up on my torso than for the average person, because I get excess cleavage in tops with necklines that are supposed to be fairly modest. That's probably contributing to what the binder is doing, so I don't know how I can work around that. Has anyone else had this problem?

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I have one of those too, or at least it's a binder on the top and the rest of it is just a normal tank top kind of thing. It does the same thing. Maybe it's a mix of the placement and the size. I have a lot of boobage to bind...

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9 minutes ago, KrysLost said:

Perhaps you have weight to lose?

That's a really weird way to put it.

 

Alternatively, I could gain a ton of weight so my chest doesn't stand out so much from my waist. But nobody would want to ever suggest that, right? 🙄

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I think must of this is the disappointment of binders not doing more than they do. I know I was a bit disappointed!

 

I did lose weight and it did get mine more effective. I'm still around BMI 24 but I was at 34 so this did help a lot for me. Because there's differences with male/female fat distribution, I also reasoned weight loss would make me less female-looking (not sure it did, tbh). Now, these days, fat really is going to the gut. Blah. Sad reality that that's what redistribution to masculine means. I want to lose more.

 

Anyways... transfolk might just be sharing a personal experience when they suggest weight loss.

 

I found being pregnant with a binder just made me look more preggers. So. More fat on the stomach, not sure that helps either 😆 (and gosh my breasts look like empty sacks now, what a contrast to when I was nursing almost a year ago)

 

I've found underworks looks flatter than gc2b but that might just be in my head. They're stiffer.

 

In summary, binders help but they can't do more than rearrange stuff. I think disappointment is pretty common.

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3 minutes ago, KrysLost said:

If you have any kind of extra fat on you that you can lose, it means you can lose a bit of boobage. That's what it means. 

 

I don't quite follow, but okay. In past times when I've lost weight it hasn't affected my chest size. I would be thrilled if it had.

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1 minute ago, anisotrophic said:

I've found underworks looks flatter than gc2b but that might just be in my head. They're stiffer.

This is helpful, thanks, as the binders I have are gc2b.

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Fat distribution is a largely genetic thing, it seems, so there is variation.

 

As far as surgery goes, I don't want a permanently flat chest, so no to the double mastectomy. A breast reduction might be nice, in theory, but from what I've heard it can involve a painful and risky recovery.

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1 hour ago, KrysLost said:

If you have any kind of extra fat on you that you can lose, it means you can lose a bit of boobage. That's what it means. 

Snao knows what you meant.  You really needn't have said it twice -- or even once.

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Yeah binders don't make me flat enough in my opinion either. I agree with @anisotrophic in that I think it's a common disappointment.

The guy who fitted my binder said that if you bind long enough, the breast tissue will get less stiff, and then you can manipulate it around more, and make more of it disappear underneath your armpits. So far I'm not noticing much of a change over time. Maybe he just said it to make me feel better.

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Yeah I also agree that binders won't make you as flat as you hoped they would. Luckily I watched several videos about them before I got mine so I lowered my expectations and wasn't as disappointed when I put it on.

 

It's also true that underworks binders make you look flatter than gc2b ones (I've never had an underworks one, but that's what everyone who has both says and shows in comparison videos). But the tradeoff of that is apparently underworks binders are also a lot more uncomfortable. I've heard people saying they can't breath deeply or that their movement's restricted and stuff like that, meanwhile I've never had any problems like that with my gc2b binder in almost four years, even when I've worn it for like 12 hours.

 

So yeah a looser binder won't make you as flat as you want but in my experience at least it makes me look flat enough that other people won't notice anything or will just think it looks like pecs, and at the same time it's perfectly comfortable, so I'd say that's better than being flatter but having to worry about my health and keeping in mind how long I'm out wearing the binder. I also think that as trans people we might just always notice stuff and be disatisfied with stuff about ourselves that other people looking at us would never notice or think twice about. So who knows if maybe I'd feel the same way even with a tighter binder. 

 

My chest isn't small, and when I put on my binder it's flatter but to me it still looks very obvious. It's also pretty saggy though so something I've always done which a lot of people suggest is just pushing stuff back towards the side so the front looks flatter and it does kinda work. @Laurann In my case my chest was always a bit like that but it does get more saggy the more you wear a binder or even other stuff to squish it. It might take years but it happens. And in my case losing weight also affected the size of my chest even though I was already skinny before and I was underweight after, my chest was still not small by any means but I did notice it looked flatter in my binder.

 

So yeah I'm not sure what the issue is in your case. Maybe you could try a tighter binder if the smaller one you have isn't already the smaller size you could safely get, or try underworks and see if that works. Or you could just lower your expectations and keep the binder you have and give your chest some time to lose its sturdiness. I've also done this thing a couple of times where I put on an undershirt over my bare chest before the binder and then I put on the binder after that, and I don't know why but for some reason that kinda made it look flatter.. I guess maybe because the shirt fills up a bit of the gap between my chest and torso. And of course layering shirts and wearing dark sweaters and jackets helps.  

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About the weight thing, it's true that a lot of breast tissue is fat, but we don't all lose fat the same way. Your breast volume/general volume ratio won't necessarily decrease, if I may put it this way :P And if you're relatively thin, you can easily see how it's a bad idea.

As tight binders are kind of a health hazard, I'd recommend other things to hide the chest: layering, loose and dark clothes, open jackets, sweaters and hoodies, shirts with irregular patterns, all of this can hide breasts that would otherwise be noticeable. It's sad, but for some, a really flat chest would require too much compression to be healthy :c but with the right clothes above that, you can still look relatively flat. 

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DuranDuranfan

Since my breasts are D to DD depending on the bra brand, wearing my binder gives me the look of either a petite woman(A cups) or a ripped dude(Arnold Schwarzenegger pecs).

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3 hours ago, NoelciMeta said:

About the weight thing, it's true that a lot of breast tissue is fat, but we don't all lose fat the same way. Your breast volume/general volume ratio won't necessarily decrease, if I may put it this way :P And if you're relatively thin, you can easily see how it's a bad idea.

As tight binders are kind of a health hazard, I'd recommend other things to hide the chest: layering, loose and dark clothes, open jackets, sweaters and hoodies, shirts with irregular patterns, all of this can hide breasts that would otherwise be noticeable. It's sad, but for some, a really flat chest would require too much compression to be healthy :c but with the right clothes above that, you can still look relatively flat. 

Certain outer layers do help, yeah. Yesterday I was wearing a hoodie (no zipper) that didn't really work that well since it hung off the pushed-up part. I think outer layers that are more open or flexible (like zippers or buttons) work better. 

 

13 minutes ago, DuranDuranfan said:

Since my breasts are D to DD depending on the bra brand, wearing my binder gives me the look of either a petite woman(A cups) or a ripped dude(Arnold Schwarzenegger pecs).

Same, pretty much, though I think they look bigger than A cups. That might just be me, though. And I'm going to be read as female no matter what based on other features (hips and face). 

 

I have felt more comfortable wearing a normal bra under my binder, as that helps avoid discomfort and sweatiness. It doesn't seem to change how my figure looks, though.

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10 minutes ago, Snao Cone said:

Certain outer layers do help, yeah. Yesterday I was wearing a hoodie (no zipper) that didn't really work that well since it hung off the pushed-up part. I think outer layers that are more open or flexible (like zippers or buttons) work better. 

Yup, I've been wearing zip-up jackets all the time and they work very well for me. I guess it might not work as well with a bigger chest as there might be a visible gap in the middle, but I can't know myself. 

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I don’t know if it’d help, but I’ve heard of folks basically pushing the chest toward the armpits to help everything look a bit flatter, so if you haven’t tried that, it could help. Pre-op, I bound on the looser side, and combined with button-up shirts, it was enough to get by. If all else fails, the right combination of outer layers can mask whatever the binder can’t fully flatten.

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Calligraphette_Coe
2 hours ago, Mezzo Forte said:

I don’t know if it’d help, but I’ve heard of folks basically pushing the chest toward the armpits to help everything look a bit flatter, so if you haven’t tried that, it could help. Pre-op, I bound on the looser side, and combined with button-up shirts, it was enough to get by. If all else fails, the right combination of outer layers can mask whatever the binder can’t fully flatten.

Being an M2F, you'd think I wouldn't mind the gynecomastia I got stuck with, but being in the glass closet, I don't like to emphasize it unless I'm trying to pass. Mostly, it's a PIA that I deal with when I need to by flattening it out with compression t-shirts. Now, when _am_ trying to make the most of it, I go the opposite direction by using tape and elastic to pull things toward the center. And it used to fascinate my cisfemale neighbor how I could pull off cleavage like that. It was mostly illusion, but I wonder if those tricks wouldn't work just as well in reverse, as Mezzo suggests, by pulling things way off center?

 

Then finish off by doing something to make one's shoulders look wider and bulking up under the bustline with padding to give the illusion of a higher center of gravity. That may seem counter-intuitive at first, but men and women have vastly different center of gravities in the gym. Plus, if one can get more upper body strength through musculature, I think that would also help the situation.

 

None of it is easy though, because we can't do much about our bone structure. But we can create the illusions with clothes et al.

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DuranDuranfan
8 hours ago, Snao Cone said:

Same, pretty much, though I think they look bigger than A cups. That might just be me, though. And I'm going to be read as female no matter what based on other features (hips and face). 

If you want to, maybe getting a masculine hair cut might help, if you want to be read as a guy. 🤷🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♂️ 
 

I’m getting the Underworks Ultimate binder with my Christmas money. Not only does it bind the chest, the whole thing is made of the material to bind the chest, so it will have a slimming effect all over. BONUS! 

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21 hours ago, Sally said:

Snao knows what you meant.  You really needn't have said it twice -- or even once.

Clearly. I read her post wrong and thought I needed to be more clear. 

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Okay, so I'm wearing one with breasts pushed to the side as much as possible and this is the outcome with just the binder and a shirt on top. Is this a pretty normal level of boobage for wearing a binder (normal cup size DD)? 

 

Spoiler

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23 hours ago, Snao Cone said:

Okay, so I'm wearing one with breasts pushed to the side as much as possible and this is the outcome with just the binder and a shirt on top. Is this a pretty normal level of boobage for wearing a binder (normal cup size DD)? 

 

  Hide contents

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20191228-113359.jpg


 

 

Right. That's not great. I go flatter than that in GC2B binders and I'm a UK size 36f. I still look like I've got something there, but it's flatter than I first expected. How firm are they?  Mine are quite soft.  Looks better with the shirt though. Don't have any solutions, though, sorry. 

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On 12/28/2019 at 1:07 PM, Snao Cone said:

Okay, so I'm wearing one with breasts pushed to the side as much as possible and this is the outcome with just the binder and a shirt on top. Is this a pretty normal level of boobage for wearing a binder (normal cup size DD)? 

I think you look pretty close to getting flat that way, though I think there are binders that could get you flatter. Honestly, you don’t have to look 100% flat to look like you have a “male” chest, and I’ve definitely seen cis men with chests somewhere in that range, though they generally have enough bulk in the arms and shoulders for it to read as pecs. You might benefit from playing around with slightly looser button-up shirts, either in black or in shirts with variable patterns. (I had a parrot shirt I loved for that reason, but I also grew up in a tropical place and don’t mind dressing like a dad on vacation :P)

 

(This is also a taste thing, but I’ve found that wearing button-up shirts open-collar tended to draw less attention to the chest than when it’s fully buttoned. Waistcoats can help mask the chest too if you don’t like the open-collar aesthetic, so long as the waistcoat isn’t fitted in a femme way that emphasizes the chest.)

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I push my breasts towards my armpits, up and sideways as much as I reasonably can. (They’re loose enough now that I can overdo it and have a nipple hanging out...! Due to having been used, I guess. And happily moving towards dad-ness with Hawaiian shirts too, usually unbuttoned & layered with a-shirt undershirts. They’re fun, a way of being colorful & masculine at the same time.)

 

I think you should go ahead and try underworks.

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2 hours ago, anisotrophic said:

I push my breasts towards my armpits, up and sideways as much as I reasonably can. (They’re loose enough now that I can overdo it and have a nipple hanging out...! Due to having been used, I guess. And happily moving towards dad-ness with Hawaiian shirts too, usually unbuttoned & layered with a-shirt undershirts. They’re fun, a way of being colorful & masculine at the same time.)

 

I think you should go ahead and try underworks.

I once heard someone stereotype transmasc aesthetics as “cat dads on vacation” and I still think about that every time I put on my tropical button-up shirts. :P 

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6 hours ago, Zebrafinch said:

Right. That's not great. I go flatter than that in GC2B binders and I'm a UK size 36f. I still look like I've got something there, but it's flatter than I first expected. How firm are they?  Mine are quite soft.  Looks better with the shirt though. Don't have any solutions, though, sorry. 

They're pretty firm past a certain point, which is likely part of the problem. It's not the end of the world if they look flatter but still there, as they're at least less in-your-face this way. (well, less in my face at least :P )

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Calligraphette_Coe
4 hours ago, anisotrophic said:

 And happily moving towards dad-ness with Hawaiian shirts too, usually unbuttoned & layered with a-shirt undershirts. They’re fun, a way of being colorful & masculine at the same time.)

It's funny, but in the summertime I wear a whole collection of them with floral designs on them. I can still be in the glass closet ( they button on the 'wrong' side for me) but at least I can escape the godawful debacle of Plaid. Cornfuses the heck out of the Local Normals when I arrange my hair differently while wearing them. too. I still can't wear them to work, but at least on weekends....

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2 hours ago, Snao Cone said:

less in-your-face this way

less in-yer-face? :) 

 

Too bad some people can't donate some of their excess to people who want more. :) 

 

Sorry to poke my face in here, but it sounds like there is some good advice, especially from Mezzo (as I would expect).

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