Question: Binder help!
Anonymous asks…
How can I safely purchase a binder? I mean “safely” in the sense that I am not out to my parents and they would not be happy in the least to find out about this so soon. So, any tips? I don’t have a car and I can’t visit the mall without my mother hanging over me.
Please post your response in the comments below.
» Ask Genderfork «
Posted by Merritt on March 24th, 2012 at 08:00 am
Category: questions 19 comments »
March 24th, 2012 at 8:50 am |
If you have a credit/debit card, you can order one online from t-kingdom or underworks (personally, I would recommend underworks). If your parents would be suspicious about you getting a parcel, you could get it sent to a friend’s address and then pick it up from them. If you don’t have a debit card, I suppose you could even get a friend to order it for you and pay them back?
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March 24th, 2012 at 9:41 am |
If you can order online you might be able to have a package sent to your post office as “general delivery” —https://www.usps.com/manage/research-delivery-options.htm#3
BUT keep in mind that it would be held at the main post office, not your small and closer local post office. I would try to check with someone at the post office to make sure this works and packages don’t tend to get lost if you live in a big city.
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March 24th, 2012 at 11:39 am |
Even if you don’t have a debit/credit card you can pick up pre-paid style cards at wal-mart (if the internet is an option). You could also pick up a P.O. box as an alternate to having a package delivered to a friend.
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March 24th, 2012 at 3:07 pm |
I’d recommend pre-paid type credit cards and sending it to a friend’s house. You can buy the cards not only at wal-mart but also a ton of other stores, like Target or Walgreens or other drug-stores. They have Visa ones (which I think work online? not sure), but Amazon might be a better bet. Yes, you can buy binders on Amazon, I just checked. Search for “chest binder” in Clothes & Accessories. (Don’t be put off by all the ‘gynecomastia’ stuff, it’s just a condition in which cisgender men develop breasts. Sucks for them but kinda useful for us, haha!)
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March 24th, 2012 at 3:40 pm |
All those suggestions are good. You can also pay by mail order. It is a sort of check that you can pay for with cash. That is, if you can get to the post office.
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March 24th, 2012 at 6:28 pm |
I buy mine on Amazon, my parents didn’t know until I told them about for years after I started binding.
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March 24th, 2012 at 6:30 pm |
P.s. I’d recommend the gynecomastia tank top style ones.
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March 24th, 2012 at 6:31 pm |
just buy a bandage for sprained legs/arms at almost any section of a store where there are bandaids and the like. wrap it around you, done. it’s the perfect alternative to expensive and hard to get into the house binders. OR I’ve heard of pantyhose being used, just tear a hole in the crotch and cut off the legs. It all depends on how much support you need
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Anonymous replied:
April 10th, 2017 at 12:22 pm
Using bandage is very unhealthy and unsafe NEVER USE BANDAGES FOR BINDING
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March 24th, 2012 at 6:42 pm |
Bandages only work if you’re fairly flat to start though, depends how much flattening you need.
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March 25th, 2012 at 12:04 am |
Please please please do not bind with ACE bandage!!! Even with a sports bra or undershirt beneath it !!! I lived in a Mormon household in a VERY rural neighborhood and have tried every trick in the bloody book! For the future health of your chest, it would be far better to have your package sent to a trusted friends house with a pre-paid card of some sort. If that’s impossible, ask your school/college/medical councelor if you couldn’t use their PO box or personal address for delivery.
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March 25th, 2012 at 12:47 am |
Buy some spankies ( those things used to smooth out the lower half), the ones with the leg parts. Cut a hole in the crotch. POOF! You have a secretive binder! It works for large chests too. I am DDD and that is what I did for -years-. Then just layer.
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March 25th, 2012 at 2:32 am |
If you have (or can claim) any hobbies that involve dressing up, you could claim it’s costume. I know a few friends on the LARP scene who’ve used this excuse to explain buying a binder.
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March 25th, 2012 at 2:37 am |
When I was at the conference at Charing Cross Gender Clinic in London, the surgeon talked about top surgery and what was clear was that binding needs to done cautiously as inappropriate binding methods can harm the structure and complicate the later surgery leaving potentially less satisfactory results. I’d go with getting the proper kit and having it sent to a friends, and meantime I wish you all the best in your journey of transition :) x
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March 25th, 2012 at 3:01 am |
Amazon has saved my life in this respect… I’m also using Underworks.
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March 25th, 2012 at 8:51 am |
Hey! I have a small size binder you can have. I would be willing to send it to you. Its black. I don’t know what size you are, but you are welcome to it. It’s a gynomastia binder I bought for myself before I had my mastectomy.
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March 27th, 2012 at 4:53 am |
Funny…I think I was the one to write this initial question but I can’t remember for sure. Anyway, its the situation I’m in.
I’ve found a couple binders online that I’m looking into.
Next is about ordering it and sending it to a friend’s place—who do I ask and how do I assk?
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March 28th, 2012 at 8:18 am |
I found a friend whose parents don’t have much contact with mine, and asked her to order an ftm.underworks.com tri-top for me. She had it delivered to her house, and the next time we hung out I paid her back and she gave me my binder. It worked great!
The downside is that I had to rely on another person to remember to put in the order and to give me the binder, but the upside is that there was no record of a purchase in my name and no record of a purchase on my parents’ records that they might stumblr across.
Just a hint— underworks binders wear out in about 6mos of daily wear if you’ve got a big chest to hold down.
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April 3rd, 2012 at 4:29 am |
I’d add to that last comment that I wear mine daily and I only have to replace them every eighteen months or so and I have FF tits. That’s the tank top style underworks.
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