PART 2: The basics; Buying a Waist training appropriate corset

This is the continuation of the previous post PART 1

Now that you have decided that you can fit Waist Training into your daily routine, you can start researching brands and saving some money, because good corsets are not cheap. not even OTR.




2.- What will you need to buy?

2.1 .- One thing that you will need plenty of, is liners, you can also wear camis or tank tops underneath your corset, and this is something that you should never skip.

Forever 21

The reason for that is that you need a breathable material between the corset and your skin. This will keep the corset dry and clean, thus extending it's life, but more importantly, it will keep your skin fresh and avoid the contact with the sturdy fabric of your corset.

Corsets are meant to be very strong and for that reason, the fabric may not feel very comfortable against your skin, another issue that you might experience if you skip the liner is that some corsets do nor have a modesty panel, and the laces could hurt your skin .

ebay

Tip: I bough some spandex tops from ebay and they were very cheap, I cut two of them to make them tube tops, and left the other two as they were.

Some times I wear those tops, and other days I wear Forever 21's camis which are pretty cheap too.

2.2 The most important thing to buy is a corset, and this involves a lot of research

2.2.1 OTR (off the rack) Semi custom or Custom made.

All of these corsets are useful, the right one for You depends on what you need and what you can afford.

Tip: Underbusts are recommended for waist training, Overbusts can be used, but they will not be as comfortable and it will be a lot more difficult to find one that fits you.

Drawn by Christine Wickham
This is Lucy of course! click to see a very
important post of hers about
 how to determine fit and proportions

When money is an issue, or Waist Training can't be a priority in your budget you can look for a good OTR that fits you, if you do your research a lot and are a bit lucky you could find a corset that fits your 4 most important areas:

A) Underbust
B ) Waist
C) Ilac crest

You will also need the vertical measurement from A to C

Many sellers have a chart, and you can use that to see if a corset will be good for your body shape or not. Some other corset sellers tell you how much more inches will it have at A) and C) compared to the waist (B) but if they don't  you can always ask them .

OTR's have standard sizes, and unfortunately not everyone has standard bodies, so some people will not be able to find a right OTR for them,  in that case, semi or fully custom will be their only option.

Also, Waist trainers that expect to size down a few times before getting to their goal, can start with OTR corsets, and then move to custom once they have trained for some time, and need a more pronounced curve. Remember that when sizing down in OTR you will have less space in the Underbust and Ilac crest, and not only the waist, in this case those two measurements are what determine if the corset fits you.

There are may sizes offered in standard corsets just as shown in this beautiful painting 

In my case,  I started with a  natural 26 " sometimes 27 " waist. And my current goal is to get a 22.5" natural waist.So far I've managed to do my training using OTR corsets only .

I started using a size 22" corset, and slowly trained until closing the corset. by then my natural waist was 2" smaller. A size 24".

But no matter how many hours I wore that corset it would not help me shrink anymore, because it was completely closed, and I could not size down on that same model since it was very tight on the bottom and it would cause some muffing top.


I could have gone custom back then, but I was happy with my reduction and decided to keep using the same size corset for many months.
Just recently I decided that I wanted to pursue my original goal again, and get that 23" waist before my wedding ( 7 months from now ).

Luckily the brand I use came up with a few new corset styles, so I managed to not go custom yet.
If I ever try to get a smaller waist I 'll need a custom corset because my measurement are no longer close to the standard. For now, I think my goal is not that extreme and hopefully I'll get there in a few months

If money is not an issue, Custom made are the best bet. because they are meant to fit you perfectly.
The down side of custom made corsets is that they are expensive, and it takes much more time for the corsetier to get all of your measurements, the fabric you chose, make a pattern just for your body etc.

Cora form the lingerie addict has a great article explaining Why are corset expensive 

I must say that if I had the money I'd already be wearing custom corsets, I love my Orchard Corsets, but after almost a year training I know that this investment is worth it, and that I will definitely wear them a lot.
Besides, most people can close their first corset the fastest, and the speed of the process then slows down.

Chart by Mystic City Corsets 

The last corset is the semi custom, this is a great alternative too, since the corsetier can  alter a few important measurements such as the height of the corset, or the height of the waist, this can make a corset a lot more comfortable.
But is less personalized thus less expensive than a custom corset.

Whether you have the money or not, I'd recommend starting with an OTR (Of course if you fit into the standard sizes) which usually go between size 18" to size 34" , just so you can make sure that you will feel comfortable training daily, besides, you can close your first corset in a  few months and for me, it's hard to make a big investment if I won't wear the corset for a long time.

The 3 options are good, and depending on your natural measurements can decide which one will work better for you.

Just keep in mind that you need more than the waist measurement to decide if a corset fits you. So forget about those corsets marked in sizes S, M, L etc, that's rarely a good sing unless they provide the measurements mentioned above like  this:


 2.3 How many corsets will you need?

It's recommended to buy a couple of corsets instead of just one, so you can alternate between them, but it's OK if you decide to start with one, while you save some money to buy the second one.

After a while you will probably buy a few more ;) I have bought 5 corsets during my journey, and while I could have saved all that money to get a custom one, I do like the variety, and I know it will extend the life of my corsets as well. When you size down it's easy to sell pre-owned corsets at prices between 60- 70 % of the original price. And you can use that money to buy a new one.

I sold one of my older corsets to my friend Claudia when I sized down, and I gave the other one to my mom as a gift, she wears corsets daily as well, but she does it only for back support.
Which takes me to the last topic...

2.4 What's your purpose (Not the same as Goal) ?

Corsets are worn by both man and women, and many aren't looking for an amazing hip-spring or getting more curves, but only for the support they offer, some others do it for posture, and there are people who use real corsets for fashion.
Some people even use them to help them with medical conditions, so the purpose is a very important factor when choosing a corset.

I'll only talk about Waist training today, since that's the purpose I am more familiar with.

When using corsets for Waist training, the purpose is to get a smaller waist, in order to get that result you will need a corset 4 to 6 inches smaller than your natural waist and you can keep sizing down as you progress in your training. (remember that there are many important measurements involved, not just the waist)

Right now I am wearing a corset 6 " smaller than the waist size I started with, I could even go for a smaller size, since my natural waist is now at 24", but there is no OTR corset that works with my new measurements

To this day my measurements are:

29 "            Underbust
24"             Waist
32 "            Ilac crest
9"               Height  between Underbust and Ilac crest

Hope you find this post helpful, :)

and if you have any question you can use the comment box below :