Your binder shouldn't hurt: how to wear it comfortably

A binder is a compression garment that flattens the chest, helping us overcome gender dysphoria. However, sometimes wearing this compression garment can be very uncomfortable. What can be done about it?

Causes of pain and their solutions

To relieve pain, we need to know what causes it. A binder, as its name suggests, is a garment that compresses the torso, essentially "constricting" it. This means that strong pressure is exerted on the chest area, which is thus constricted, and at the same time, blood flow, and consequently oxygen, is restricted in these areas.

The result is probably imaginable: back pain, shortness of breath... nothing we would want to experience. We only have one body, so let's share some tips on how to avoid these problems:

1. Take a slightly larger binder size. A binder one or two sizes larger than yours is a compromise between a flattened chest and breathability. For a long binder, 2 sizes up is perfectly fine; in fact, you might find that you can't even get into the "correct" size. For an extra-firm short binder, if you are at the upper end of a size, go for the larger one.

2. Do not wear the binder for more than six hours at a time. This is the recommended maximum duration for continuous wear. Exceeding it puts your health at risk.

3. Choose a binder according to your activity. Are we going to exercise or move around a lot? Then we should definitely choose a sports binder, which is flexible and designed for these activities.

4. Listen to your body. Wearing a binder should never hurt, and we should never feel suffocated in it. If we don't feel well in it, we must always take it off immediately.

When the purchased binder cannot be worn at all...

Sometimes it happens that even if we buy a binder that seems ideal, it doesn't fit us at all and we feel uncomfortable in it. However, this is not a tragedy. With us, you can return goods under certain conditions within 14 days and possibly buy a different one.