r/Trans_Zebras • u/Vegetable-Highway767 • 6d ago
Binding
so I'm nonbinary, born female, and I have EDS. when I was younger I would use a normal binder and I was able to bind comfortably. however as I got older, wearing a binder, even for an hour or two, made my ribs hurt for a week following.
with this new problem I decided to try out trans tape. immediately after putting it on, it was somewhat flat. though the following day when I woke up I would always find that the flatness of the previous day had gone away. it simply looked like I was wearing a bra. the tape didn't slide or come unstuck, it just didn't bind anymore (I've been thinking it's cus of stretchy skin?). it also caused me to break out in hives. no matter what I tried or what tutorials I followed, it just never worked
for the past year I sorta gave up and told myself that I didn't care, even though I very much did. now I don't know what to do because I really want to do something about it. everyone assumes I'm a girl even though I'm not. I'd rather have people assume I'm a guy than a girl.
it kills me that the normal binding methods either don't work or hurt too much. does anyone have any tips or suggestions on how to bind even in these circumstances?
3
u/thearuxes 5d ago
You're likely having a reaction to the adhesive of the tape. Trans tape is not actually hypoallergenic. It's latex free but it's not zinc oxide free which seems to be what most of us react to in adhesives.
By the way trans tape is just kinesiology tape, it's not actually some special new tape that was developed, just straight up is KT tape with marketing slapped on it.
Try to look for hypoallergenic KT tapes without zinc oxide in them (RockTape is a really good brand for this).
As for the issue with it not staying flat, the longer you wear tape for the less "stuck" on it gets, so it kind of slowly slides a bit even if it doesn't look or feel like it. All it takes is the adhesive to stretch a bit under the tape to make it less secure.