Susan's Place Transgender Resources

Sorry if this is in the wrong section.

Have you ever felt irritated, or bugged, of binding?

Im stuck in a rut.
I've been binding with a binder for about 6 months, and I can't go out without it. I will not be in public without some sort of bindage on my chest. I can't stand having them pop out and have the female figure.
BUT some days my binder bugs the crud out of me. Its not uncomfortable, it just bugs. I guess its hard to explain.
Its more like, I hate that it pops out when I put my arms forward or back. Or when I sit, and even lay. If it would just lay flat against me always, and give me that really flat look all the time, then it wouldn't really bug me so much.
But I get tired of it, idk.

Is this just something only I've experienced, or have any of you guys that bind felt this way also?

I want top surgery already, so I won't have to worry about it. I don't want to have to bind anymore, but I have to.
:/

I have a love hate relationship with my binder, I hate my chest so I love that the binder makes them seem flatter but god do I hate wearing it all the time, it's so annoying.  :-\

we MtFs feel exactly the same sort of problem every morning when we wake and feel the stubble and we have to go see our faces as male until we get the closest shave and dried and the skin has perked up a bit.

Yes I do. I'm constantly stretching and taking deep breaths because it bothers me that I can't inhale fully. But I can't stand my chest without, either. It disgusts me.

Edit: Hmm, also, it makes me quite hot/sweaty/uncomfortable in summer (CA summers, they are frustrating) and also makes it hard to run so I've pretty much dropped running.

I hate the fact that I even have to use one. I like that it makes my chest flat, i hate that I have to make my chest flat to begin with. :s

I hate wearing a binder to it just bugs the crud out of me but if i don't wear it I get nervous and what not cause of my chest size idk its a love hate thing I have with myself and my binder heh

I hate my binders so much that I almost never use them though I don't like having visible breasts either. Feeling the binders on my body reminds me all the time that I have breasts, without them I tend to ignore that I have any.

Unfortunately, my breasts are visible without a binder, but they are small and mostly read as men's boobs (which is not beautiful but less annoying than wearing a binder). I pass all the time in spite of them, and they don't even out me when a couple of friends of mine (who don't know that I'm trans) hug me. Only since I found that out about two months ago, plus had a couple of other experiences which have made me somewhat more relaxed about my male-female jigsaw puzzled body, my posture in public has become better. My back thanks me for this.

Unfortunately, I feel very embarrassed without a binder when I meet people who don't know me well but know I'm trans.

I hate having to wear a binder, but  I would hate not wearing it even more.

Why binding sucks:
* I can't breath that well in it and I get exhausted fast.
* Sometimes I have to take a break from wearing it for 2 days because my upper body hurts so bad and I can't breath right even when I'm not wearing the damn thing.
* Pulling $40 out of the air when I need a new one.
* You can't swim in it unless you like taking off a wet binder, or you have a velcro one, but even then it doesn't bind well!
* It gets hot, sweaty, and just nasty in the summer time

Can't think of much that I like about having to wear a binder...
It does keep me a bit warner in the winter >.>

It was hot, constricting, and I was always worried that someone would be able to see it. Before I had a binder, I would wrap various makeshift binders around my chest with safety pins and wear a vest on top of that. It was such a huge relief to never have to wear one again. I already hate summer heat enough, and that thing (and the things underneath it) just made it so much worse.

exactly!

I have been binding about 12 months now.. and over the summer i havent been binding, and its weird.. i hate that my boobs are out.. with no support its so gross. BUT i dont wanna wear the damned thing, so tight and anoying

and YES I hate when i wanna lay and itmakes like an air bubble.. it just reminds me that i'm wearing it, its so annoying, i wish it would hug my body no matter my position

I used to love my binder before it stopped doing much good. Truth is, I could pass before with just a tight sports bra but it's amazing what putting 100lbs on can do to a almost flat chest. Reasons I hate my binder:

1. It gets over 100 degrees almost every summer day here in Florida
2. I have to wear something under it or it bruises my underarms
3. It gets hot having to have two layers under a shirt, not to mention if I want to layer a t-shirt and a button down t-shirt over it
4. I can't, like most of us it seems, afford a new one for a while and when I can it's either too tight or too loose I guess I'm between a medium and a large in my current binder  :-\

But at least I have it to help hide these horrible lumps of skin that should not exist on my male form :)

Truth be told I really like my binder.  It flattens my chest without being to uncomfortable and helps a bit with my posture.  I think it breathes good and I really don't feel to warm.  I suppose it makes me feel secure with it's steady squeeze.

There are a few things I don't like.

1. Putting it on every morning is a pain as I have to twist myself up in knots to get the job done
2. I don't like that it can be felt under clothing and give me away when being hugged or on the dance floor
3. I only have one and I've given away my bras so nothing to wear when I'm washing it.  My breasts are pretty small tho so not that big of a deal

Some mornings I just stand around for several minutes when I should be getting dressed doing nothing because I can't stand the thought of putting my binder on. I hate it less during the winter since it keeps me warm.

Yeah I don't like it, especially because I can barely breathe, so I usually just wear a sports bra and a few layers instead.

luckily mine lays flat against me at all times.. I just hate at about the 7 hour mark.. I feel like puking.. but that feeling goes away after an hour. Normally avoid keeping it on for that long.. but it happens.. Really.. I like the thing.  THe thing I hate the most.. is taking it off at the end of the day and remembering that my chest isn't compltely flat.

I can get away without wearing it.. just wearing a tshirt and a bra.. but it destroys my self confidence. So binder me up scotty!

I can't always wear one because when my asthma is acting up really bad, it's just so hard to breathe.  It's hard to breathe in it even when my asthma isn't acting up.  I don't even bind that tight.  The few times I do bind tight, it's like wearing a sleeveless straightjacket (although that's a bit what it is, a straightjacket for the moobs).  Some days when I just can't stand it, I'll wear a tight sports bra with a couple layers of shirts.  One good thing about being overweight, when I do this last option, people just assume they're a bit larger than average man-boobs, cause I've passed when doing this.

Woah, I didn't know so many other guys felt this way about their binders.
They get annoying, not really uncomfortable and I don't hate them, they just bug to have to wear sometimes.
Seems like the ones that don't feel the same are the ones with small chests, you guys are lucky.
Some of us can't go without our binders, we need them or our bits show.

Quote from: Elijah on August 11, 2010, 05:33:12 PM
exactly!

I have been binding about 12 months now.. and over the summer i havent been binding, and its weird.. i hate that my boobs are out.. with no support its so gross. BUT i dont wanna wear the damned thing, so tight and anoying

and YES I hate when i wanna lay and itmakes like an air bubble.. it just reminds me that i'm wearing it, its so annoying, i wish it would hug my body no matter my position

I don't think I could ever go without it, in public at least, or some type of binding. Only at home.
And I wish that too, that'd itd hug my body in any position cause that's when it gets to me!
And I get all paranoid and uncomfortable.
So I try to stand everywhere I am, when im out. Ppl always tell me why don't I sit, its mainly because my binder stays flat against me and gives me the flat chest look only when im standing.
It does get really hot here, especially in summer, and I do have to layer. A wife beater, binder, then a tee shirt. Not too bad, but still hot. Im a warm bodied person as it is, it just sucks. I want to be able to walk around without a shirt already, or just wear a wife beater without having to worry about those bits showing.
:/
*sigh*

I really thought I was alone in this, im glad someone understands me.

Quote from: Greg on August 11, 2010, 06:21:11 PM
Some mornings I just stand around for several minutes when I should be getting dressed doing nothing because I can't stand the thought of putting my binder on. I hate it less during the winter since it keeps me warm.

I do the same sometimes. I just wish I didn't have to wear it, that I was born with the right chest. I look in the mirror and think if only they were gone. But I can only wish right now. Bioguys and tguys that have had top surgery are so lucky they don't have to deal with this.

Dude, I have a small chest. aa or a, and I still bind. It's all connective and glandular tissue, so no way it's staying flat without some help. According to friends and general experience, these embarrassing bewbs are the only thing keeping me from passing if I don't flatten them down. Since there's no fat padding at all, it hurts like hell too. They're like...perky and crap, and a dead giveaway for some reason. Such a pita.

Ditto on it 'not being so bad in winter cause it's warm'- but during the summer months? Oh, man! And you can't wear a wifebeater or guys gtank over it 'cause the binder will show through. OT, hell yes I get so sick of it. I'm like a AA too but need to use a binder to stay flat(otherwise they poke out, and no matter how 'tiny' they'd be for a girl, I'm a skinny dude and can't get away with man cans) and I've come to a point now where I actually pass in public... Consequently, I feel even more pressure to bind, or I'm breaking people's minds just walking around outside. Skinny 'pretty' boy who's hairy with tits: D: <--- that's the look I get from strangers on the occasions I've tried.

I don't really like wearing it, because it makes my chest hurt, and it's difficult to breathe in it. However, the effects are great. As a C-cup-chested person, I would like to have A-cup chest simply to, well, to make it easier to bind and such.

I've been a fool and bound with tape. So I've decided to give my chest some rest and just wear a t-shirt until it stops hurting and looking like it was attacked by 10 angry cats. Today is the day of free moobs.

I hate that in this 90 degree heat, I have to buy a new one every month cause they get too stretchy. I also hate that I have to carefully choose what I wear so my binder doesnt' show...or actually only cause I'm anal about how flat I am.

am i the only one where it doesnt hurt my chest that much, but it hurts my back?

Quote from: Elijah on August 13, 2010, 10:40:29 AM
am i the only one where it doesnt hurt my chest that much, but it hurts my back?

it doesn't hurt my chest at all.. but my last couple lower ribs on my back.. and donno what gives.. but my diaphram.. or however that's spelled.. the  binder doesn't even constrain that area.. but that's what it bothers.. doesn't hurt... just feels like it's being squished.

[Okay ... I didn't mean for it to get this long ... and, no, I haven't come up with a title for it ...]

I stop checking up for a few days and this topic comes up, I can relate this so much.  So, so much.  In fact any time I try typing about it I have to back up and rephrase (expletives ahoy!).  I don't believe I could hate my binders much more than I do at this point.

I've been binding for seven-ish years and I am so frustrated with it.  Like everyone else--I can't go out/or be around anyone without it.  Which is a joy, because I work a very movement orientated job, we're encouraged to sweat ("I want to see smoke comin' off of those heels!") and the temperature of our building is controlled by HQ--all the way across the country--we can complain about it all we want (especially during summer) and there's nothing that they will do about it because the heat sensors in our building are under whatever they consider 'hot'.  So, lately I've been removing my sweaty, disgusting binder after work for a breather, and if I have to see anyone/go get the mail/whatever back on it goes.  Lovely.

Plus I'm naturally very warm (and since starting T, even warmer)--I bike to work in 8*F winter weather wearing a t-shirt and jeans because otherwise I'm too warm ... Luckily I'm fairly small (A-ish, I guess, I've never measured) so I don't have to layer but the fact is I wouldn't--I don't think I'd make it, I'd die in a pool of my own sweat.

I also hate been touched and binding feels like a perma-hug to me.  When my dad asks for my help/offers me jobs to do around the yard, I'd love to, but I know I would get hot and sweaty and miserable very quickly--especially when I then have to see him work shirtless knowing that I can't.  Same with hiking, biking around for fun, swimming (which I haven't done in ages for this precise reason)

... and on and on.

I figure with all of my negativity, I'll include what gets me to through wearing it ... What I like:

I (really, really) love the effect of wearing a binder, I can get pretty flat, although I still suffer a bit of paranoia about it; I like that it prevents shirt-to-chest skin contact which, with the offending materials, feels really wrong.  Um, lack of movement up and down stairs.  Being able to fit in small spaces (between pallets at work).  All the women I work with who handle freight throughout the day also end up with a very ... discernible pattern on the front of their shirts from all of the dirt transferred from the boxes, which I neatly avoid due to binding.

I also like that my time of binding is coming to a close soon--I'm scheduled for top surgery next month and after the post-op binder I am so looking forward to being free of it.

Worst binding experience:

I got a new binder, my last one had worn out enough to replace it, and the first day of wearing it (ie beginning of the breaking in time) I crash my bike, breaking my clavicle.  I lose pretty much all of the ability to push/pull stuff with my right arm and I couldn't get the darned thing off.  There was no way I was calling someone if to help me, because nobody gets (has to?) to see me shirtless--it's brand new so there was no way I was cutting myself out of it--$30 down the drain ... so I wore it for four days/3 nights non-stop.  I finally get enough strength/gumption to reach back and pull it off, quickly but painfully.  I sit down to catch my breath for about ten seconds, when I hear my mother call up the stairs to me saying that she had time to take me to work to turn in my doctors note.  So I had to turn around and do it again, putting it back on.  I don't don't think there is an emote capable of successfully encompassing my reaction.

So ... uh, fear not, you are not alone!  :)

Oh, and I don't get any chest pain from it--I have had more back pain recently but I don't know whether that's from gaining more muscle there, sleeping funny, mild scoliosis, working, any of those things in conjunction with binding, or anything else I could have done.

Well booo for perkiness!
And yeah I hate that you can't just wear a wifebeater.

@Maltida, ouch. :(

Leo, im the same. Especially if I know im going out somewhere where there will be tons of ppl, im anal about what shirts I wear to get the flattest possible look. I only have about 3 or 4 of them too.
:/

Elijah, it doesn't hurt me or really bother my breathing &I have asthma. But it does hurt my back sometimes, and where it digs in.

Revel, I hate sweating and, like you, I sweat a lot too. Which is why I can't layer much, but I pretty much have to. So I try not to do so much so I don't sweat.

Doesn't hurt chest or back. Sometimes affects breathing. Want to get top surgery and go shirtless or in one layer easily.

I like my binder for the good job it does - but otherwise, it can be a pain.  I'd much rather deal with binder issues than boob issues, though.

Quote from: Elijah on August 13, 2010, 10:40:29 AM
am i the only one where it doesnt hurt my chest that much, but it hurts my back?

Me too, and even then it's only after about the 12 hour mark and I start to get achy in my upper back, between my shoulderblades. The first binder I bought was so uncomfortable that I could only bear to wear it for a few hours, but it turned out that the issue was that it was too small. Once I bought the next size up, it's not uncomfortable at all.

Quote from: Kreuzfidel on August 14, 2010, 07:28:49 AM
I like my binder for the good job it does - but otherwise, it can be a pain.  I'd much rather deal with binder issues than boob issues, though.

True.