I'm not trying to sound dumb or anything, but I always hear people in the FtM community strongly discouraging the use of ace bandages when it comes to binding for long periods of time on a regular basis. Since many transguys seem to be very wary of using this method for binding, I thought I'd explain what I do and see if there's something unhealthy and harmful I'm doing that I haven't thought of or noticed yet.
I'm seventeen now and I've been binding for about two and a half years, and I've been using ace bandages the whole time. I don't have a very big chest, I've never measured and tried to determine my "cup size" but I'm thinking it's about an A or so. When I bind, I first put on a lightweight, elastic-y cotton sports bra (or I layer two, since they're not bulky). Then I take a deep breath and hold it in while wrapping my chest snugly, but never so tight that it constricts my breathing or makes me extremely uncomfortable. On top of that I wear a lightweight cotton tank-top, and then whatever shirt I'm wearing for the day.
The whole ensemble isn't bulky or overly uncomfortable and it seems to have worked for me over the years, but I'm afraid maybe I'm missing some damage I've been unwittingly doing to myself. I've read everything from the notion that binding can hurt the lymph drainage system under your arms and cause toxin buildup (wtf?) to the belief that it could stunt the growth of your rib cage and spine and put your shoulder blades out of whack. I haven't noticed anything like that going on, but could I be missing something harmful I'm doing that I'm not aware of? Hopefully I'll be getting my top surgery within the year, so if I'm lucky I won't have to worry about binding for much longer!
Thanks.