Good Stuff To Remember

Thanks, dude! I’ll do my best with this.

I actually don’t bind frequently enough to deal with this personally, so I probably won’t have advice you can’t find anywhere else. Most of these will be safe binding tips to try and minimize how often you experience pain from binding. If someone else who knows more about this wants to add onto this, please do so!

Take breaks from wearing your binder. If you’re at home, don’t wear it. If you’re sleeping, definitely don’t wear it. If you’re at the gym, please do NOT wear it. If you’re swimming, don’t wear just any binder. There are binders out there made for swimming (I know gc2b has some). An alternative is to wear a sports bra under one of those sun-protection shirts. My personal alternative is to not go swimming lol But anyway, as strong as your dysphoria may be, your health is important, and screwing yourself up with binding too much can make getting top surgery more of a challenge than it has to be – and depending on the extent of the damage binding has done, you may not be able to get top surgery. If you’re out in public and need to take it off, bring a sports bra to swap out your binder for. It won’t provide the same compression, I know, but it’ll help you feel less exposed as opposed to just taking your binder off and not wearing anything else under your shirt.

Stretch and move your arms when wearing your binder. If you’re in classes at school wearing it, take any opportunities you can to get up and move around. When you take your binder off for the day, do the same stretches and force yourself to cough a few times. Take deep breaths. Get comfy.

Take days off from wearing your binder. I’m not sure how many days apart, since I don’t even wear mine on a weekly basis, but taking 2 or 3 days a week to not wear it will probably help.

Don’t hunch when you wear your binder. This might be hard to do, and some trans guys just hunch anyway to try and hide their chest even when not binding, but good posture will help you breathe easier.

That’s honestly all I got. There’s truly no safe way to bind that won’t eventually cause pain of some sort, especially if you’re binding almost daily. Even if your binder fits you properly, the strain it will put on your body will still happen. Binding puts a lot of strain on your ribs, and ribs aren’t made to handle pressure like that, they’re made to expand when you breathe. I’m sure binding isn’t a good option for guys with spinal issues either.

I don’t know how big your chest is and how flat you feel you need to look, but some guys wear tighter sports bras instead of binders. Those feel better than binders for sure. Some guys wear bulky hoodies, but it’s not always cool out enough to do that without sweating bullets. It’s miserable to do that when it’s hot out. I wish I had more helpful things to say here, but I don’t have much experience with binding at all, just because I really hate how it feels and can deal with being misgendered more than I can deal with the feeling of being strangled. But some guys aren’t like that, and I’m not saying that’s a better way to be, just that if you’re gonna bind, make sure you understand just how risky it can be and please be careful about it. Your health should come first, because if you do want top surgery later on, bad binding can ruin that for you.

If binding hurts your ribs you could look into binding with KT Tape http://brotherly-advice.tumblr.com/post/161063993943/kt-tape-binding . Bear in mind that this will probably only work for guys with smaller chests

while we’re at alternatives to binders, PLEASE dont sleep in a sports bra, wearing 2 at once is totally out of question and make sure its the right size for you. I know sports bras seem harmless but you gotta remember they still squeeze your ribs and can cause permanent damage if youre not careful.

Alright so listen up girls and boys with bleeding nether regions:

Buy Always Infinity with Flexfoam. Buy nothing else. Buy Always Infinite with Flexfoam.

This sexy beast. There’s a bunch of versions. But so long as it says Infinity and Flexfoam, fucking GET IT.

So I’ve always been a fan of Always pads. Can’t stand tampons because of all the horror stories and in general, they’re uncomfortable. Always just seems to be the brand that’s always there so we always got it.

Every since Always released their Infinity brand, we’ve literally hated everything else. Even the regular versions of Always. Infinity is the way to go. It is the ONLY way to go.

Infinity is like the only way we can keep our damn bedsheets and clothes bloodless. The first night I got my period I woke up with my boxers just soaked. Completely soaked. Blood. Everywhere.

So I just pop into the bathroom and thus far we’ve only got regular Always pads. Put one on. It’s about as miserable as you’d expect. The pad shifts as you sit and move and when you change pads you’re probably changing underwear too because of the blood just seeping out the sides and getting everywhere.

But then we have Always Infinity. With the Flexfoam. You know that bullshit on the side of the box brands spew where they’re like THIS SUPER INGENIOUS INVENTION WITH A FANCY NAME IS GOING TO GIVE YOU PRISTINE CLEANLINESS AND ULTIMATE PROTECTION AND THATS WHY WE USE FLEXFOAM.

They’re not fucking kidding guys. This isn’t a fucking game. These pads are relentless. No blood gets by. You’d probably have to unhygenically use one pad 24 hours+ before the blood will actually leave the pad and get anywhere.

In addition to that? It’s invisible.

Okay look, guys. I’m trans. I’m a transman. I’m a fucking dude. I don’t suffer from dysphoria but nothing annoys and irritates me more than knowing I am wearing a fucking diaper because I can feel it everytime I move and stand and sit down.

Not these bitches. No fucking way. They’re thin, they’re super big and they’re completely inmovable. I don’t have to keep grabbing at my crotch or my ass to readjust the pad lest blood be splashing everywhere. It stays in one fucking place and it doesn’t leave until you rip it out yourself.

Yo!  This is a very important PSA for trans folks who bind their chests.  Even if that doesn’t pertain to you, I’d really appreciate if you’d reblog it or repost it or anything to spread it, because it’s a really important safety thing that is basically unknown amongst trans folks.

A lot of trans folks don’t have binders available, because of cost or parents or whatever.  A common solution to this is sports bras - doubled or way way too small or both.  Some people use sports bras even though they do have binders.  If you use them for binding for any reason, this PSA is for you.  (Note: this also includes crossplayers, crossdressers, etcetera.  I’m using trans folks as a shorthand because that’s what I’m used to, but this includes all of y’all as well.)

LOOK WHO’S BACK AT IT AGAIN WITH THE BINDER GIVEAWAYS BEN’S BINDER GIVEAWAY #3 ENDS MAY 29TH, 2017

So just in time for summer im givin away another binder. If this post gets over 900 notes before it ends I’ll give away TWO (2) binders. Any size, any style, anywhere in the world regardless of notes.

Rules: 1. Likes and reblogs count so go crazy but beware of spamming because tumblr may mistake you for a bot and delete/lock your account. My suggestion queue it so it reposts at least once a day every day.

2.YOU DO NOT HAVE TO FOLLOW ME. It would be nice (wink wink nugde nudge) but its no bonus for following me and its no penalty if you choose not to.

3. MUST BE ON THE TRANS/NON BINARY SPECTRUM NO COSPLAYERS. I wanna help everyone in the inbetween. I will check your blogs. You do not have to post about trans stuff I’m mainly checking to make sure that you are indeed a real person. *If you already have a binder that fits please don’t enter. I wanna give people who don’t/have never had a binder the opportunity*

4. Must be comfortable giving me your address. I am sending it straight to you from gc2b. Their packaging is discrete and no one will know its a binder I promise :)

5. Askbox or messages must be open and you have 48 hours to respond or a new winner will be picked. I will send the same message more or less to both askbox and messages and I look forward to picking the winners! 

*if you win you may go public or stay private if you wish the choice is yours and no penatly if you don’t want everyone to know you won*

Ends MAY 29TH, 2017

Best of luck!!! And may the odds be ever in your favour.

*tumblr not responsible*

Coming soon: MyTransHealth, an app connecting trans people to knowledgeable, reliable and affordable healthcare providers.