Binding
From CosplayWiki
Binding is what female crossplayers do to reduce the size of their breasts to appear to have a flat chest like men.
Contents |
Warnings & Disclaimers
Binding HURTS! As a crossplayer you are taking a serious risk. Binding your chest will result in pain, gasping for air, possible removal of skin and even fainting at conventions! If it hurts or you can't breathe, please, TAKE THE BINDING OFF! Then next time, don't bind so tightly. Even though the tighter the binding is, the better your costume may look, the risk of troubled breathing and even fainting is much higher so be careful. Take the time to take it off every once in awhile if you can't breathe or when it really hurts. You have been warned.
How to bind with a closed shirt
Keep in mind that when I did this tutorial, I used myself as an example and I wear a B cup, but this tutorial should still work for anyone bellow or above a size B. I don't know how well it will work for someone who has heavier assets, though.
But on with the tutorial!
Materials
- ACE bandages. Preferably the wider ones that are at least 6 inches wide.
- a very tight sports bra or compression shirt/a really really really tight tank top.
- waist trimmer/straight corset - the ones meant to make your tummy smaller/tighter or a support belt (back brace) - this can be used for women with larger chests
- If you cant get ACE Bandages, you can use cloth or an obi + pins
- Tape. I personally prefer to use tape since my bandages are old and worn out; but please be kind to yourself and try to get tape that is good for your skin! Or if your planning on using masking tape/duct tape, be sure to wear the compression shirt/sports bra underneath before the tape.
What can you use the closed shirt binding for?
Obviously the closed shirt binding is for when you are crossplaying as a character with a "closed shirt". You can usually do this even with a V-neck shirt. How deep the V-neck cut is usually decides what binding to use. If the V-neck cut is too deep to the point where you can see the binding, use a different type of binding.
Process
Binding with a closed shirt is reasonable easy. Just wrap the bandages around your chest using either ace bandages or tape. Personally, I prefer to wear the sports bra underneath plus the compression shirt over it then the bandages over. It makes you very flat. The reason I prefer to wear the tank top as well as the sports bra is because the ace bandages I have are all worn out and stretched out and I find a hard time keeping them on without the use of pins. So if my bandages do end up coming off, I still have the shirt and bra underneath to help keep me flat as I use that opportunity to run to the bathroom to repair the binding. But I usually end up using whats within my disposal. Which usually ends up as duct tape. To keep my skin intact and unhurt, I put on the bra/shirt on then using a friend, I have them pull the tape tightly and have it wrap around my chest.
Also, usually by having the bra and shirt together with the tape/bandages, it helps to completely flatten your chest. Now if you are someone smaller than a B cup then there is no need for you to do the bra and shirt trick. You usually can go ahead and bind your chest just using tape or the bandages. But to play it safely, if your using the tape, have the tight sports bra on! Save your skin the torture of peeling it off! Also, if your going ahead and using the tape trick without a bra underneath. Apply the tape right after taking a shower/bath so your skin is clean of any dirt that would keep the tape from sticking.
Now if you were to wear a tight shirt that requires binding, like if your planning to cosplay as Advent Children Cloud or as Leon Kennedy of RE4 no matter what the size of your chest is, the tape/ace bandages will see through the top.
So use the bra or go ahead and bind with the tape or bandages and over it, wear a compression shirt to cover the lines from showing on the tighter top.
How to bind with an open shirt
The open shirt tutorial is basically when you want to crossplay as a character that wears an open polo shirt baring some chest skin or characters whose shirts have a deep V-neck cut. Such as; Himura Kenshin, Miyavi/Gackt (jrockers)
This I must say is one of the harder ways to binding but it works for pretty much all cup sizes but! I will warn you it will hurt! It will hurt more while your taking it off. So by using this binding, you should be prepared to the pain of binding and the risk of more pain and possibly skin lost while taking the binding off.
Materials
- TAPE - thats all you need. I suggest using tape good for your skin, such as Sports Tape.
Process
Before putting on the tape, be sure to have taken a shower before applying the tape. This will prevent the tape from not sticking because of the dirt/sweat you have gathered throughout the day.
First you take a strip and bind vertical over your chest/nipplege, from the bottom of your breast to the top. This helps hold the tape on as well as its a lot easier for you to flatten it. Remember that you are binding a bare chest because you will be exposing a supposedly flat and bare chest as well! So there is no need to wear a compression shirt or sports bra underneath. And from where you stopped, you then want to start binding horizontally, so starting from the bottom, take a nice long strip and put the end just before your initial vertical strip. Go around your chest, to your back and end at your shoulder blade. Make sure the tape sticks to your skin, there are no air pockets; those could lead to blisters and weird shapes XD and pull tight! Continue up making sure to overlap the horizontal pieces.
I usually like to have my sister or a friend with me to have them pulling on the tape so its super tight. Remember to when binding the chest, bind it away from the center of your chest.
Do each side separately, so both of them are bound up and back, it'll make you flat. You don't wanna go around your whole chest and make a freaky uni-boob. At first it'll look like nothings happening, but about 1/2 of the way through you'll be pretty flat. When I said you will be binding away from the center of the chest, it means you are not going around your chest like you would for a closed shirt. This tutorial is for open shirts.
Note: Sports tape will not rub or peal off even if your sweating. So there is no need to worry about it coming off while in a con.
Notice how I only have one only one side, you have to do the same step to the other side. Leaving the center of your chest completely empty of the tape so you can open up your polo shirt and fool everyone into thinking your a guy! Also, please take note that I didn't complete the whole binding, normally you would want to pull on the tape ALL the way to your sides so its completely flat. I did not do that.
To keep your open shirt/polo shirt from flying open and revealing to the world your crazy binding, use double sided sticky tape and tape down the flaps of your shirt to your skin so even if the wind blows, your shirt will magically stay close to your skin! Also, to help blend the tape with your skin, as to even if you manage to show at least part or all of the binding by accident, it wont be too obvious! I personally like to use foundation and dab it onto the bandages and it blends well enough with my skin so its really never too obvious i'm binding Also, the amazing thing about sports tape is, it will absorb the liquid foundation well without it peeling off! Sports tape are made to absorb sweat anyway
Note: This may be the weirdest of things to do while crossplaying with the open shirt but...I would strongly suggest either tanning or apply foundation onto the exposed chest area to even out the colors of the skin as we normally don't tan our chests XDDD that way, it wont look too weird nor too obvious you are a girl
How to take the tape off from skin
Since you are binding directly onto your skin, its a lot harder and it hurts more to take it off XD I would never suggest to just pulling it off with one swipe as it would HURT! Now if you have the patience of the gods you can sit still and slowly peel it away. Baby oil helps peel it off faster and eases the pain a little more. The other way to do it is to literally sit in the shower and burn your skin with really hot water. The hot water + steam from the shower will melt away the stickyness of the tape to make it a lot easier to peel off. Also, I've been told that shampoo helps eat away the stickyness away as well. I guess its all in the chemicals XD.So either way, your feeling pain XD
