As things stand now, I rarely bind. All I have for binding are Ace bandages, so I don't bind more than about 2-4 times a month (usually for short periods of time, rarely more than 3 hours). That works alright for occassions where I want to acheive a specific look that requires a flat chest, or when dysphoria about my chest is driving me particularly nutty, but it doesn't really do much when it comes to convincing the rest of the world I'm not female. (I exist in some kind of limbo between FtM and androgyne, so let's just go with "not female" as the desired outcome.)
I do fairly consistently semi-bind using layered sports bras, because that allows plenty of breathing/moving room while still keeping my chest from being so blatently in the way. That's generally enough to ease my (admittedly fairly minimal) chest-related dysphoria, but doesn't come close to concealing my chest enough for me to pass as male (which I'm finding to be something of a necessity if I don't want to be viewed as female by the majority of the world).
I'm considering getting a proper binder in hopes of remedying this. However, I'm a little worried about the physical risks of binding long-term. I have some mild back problems and am just generally a bit out of shape (which will hopefully be remedied by the fact that I'm getting myself back into the habit of exercising), and I don't want to set myself up for some kind of serious health problems (nor do I want to pass out from lack of air halfway through doing something important).
Does anyone have good strategies for binding on a regular basis that allow for a healthy amount of breathing/movement/comfort? I don't need my chest to be absolutely, flawlessly flat. I just need something that will flatten a C-cup chest (on a very small-framed body-- I'm 5 feet tall and 110 pounds) to a point where is can pass in a loose-fitting shirt.
Specific binders that are good for this? Ways to compenate for slightly looser binding with clothes? Any suggestions you've got would be awesome.
