Binding alternatives?

Let's see I don't know how useful this will be but I will try. What I use different methods for binding. I originally used two sports bras and put one backwards. The ones I started out with were loose but it's what I used. You can also wear baggy clothes, that can help but I have big boobs so doesn't work as well for me but u can try. I think patterns on shirts can help as well. To be honest I usually just hide in my baggy black hoodie but I hope this helped!

 

Have you ever tried an actual binder? I have the same problem as you: I am prone to full blown panic attacks if I can't breathe deeply. Even sports bras have caused me anxiety in the past. My chest is probably a bit larger than yours (I definitely couldn't get away with just taping my nips), what I imagine to be 34B/C (haven't worn an actual bra in like ten years), and I bind every day now with zero discomfort or difficulty breathing, particularly with my gc2b half tank. It is stretchy and comfortable enough that I can even jog in it without breathing problems. I would strongly suggest you at least try getting a real binder, and if you are on the border of sizes, definitely go with the larger size if you are worried about comfort/breathing. I think breathing really only becomes a problem with larger chested people or those who are wearing the wrong size. With a small chest, you shouldn't have a problem with that if you are wearing the right size. Just a word of advice, I have several binders from both underworks and gc2b and the ones from gc2b are definitely stretchier and easier to breathe in, though I prefer the underworks ones aesthetically. The material underworks uses is so stiff and restricting it has practically caused me blisters around my armpits.

So yeah. I am practically a C cup and my gc2b half tank makes me completely flat with absolutely no breathing difficulties.

I am focusing on the half tank and not the full tank only because I know you are active and I hate how the full tank rides up every few seconds if I am moving around too much. Otherwise the full tank is just as comfortable.

 

I have some chronic pain issues, so sometimes even wearing sports bras multiple days in a row compress too much and are painful. I read somewhere you can use those tank tops with the built in shelf bras and fold them up over your breasts to create a flattened layer, I think it would be better to sew them in place so they don't bunch up personally. I'm able to pass w/out a bra in a baggy shirt if a slouch because my chest is small and I'm also quite thin. I recently bought some plain fabric bras from a company called TomboyX, they don't have any compression but just create an extra obscuring layer I think, wearing multiple tank tops / undershirts or a compression / underarmor type shirt would do a little bit too, anything to add bulk to obscure them.

 

Sizing Chart – gc2b

Check that out! I wear a small in gc2b and underworks. I am pretty near the border of small and medium (my chest is about 33.5", shoulder width about 16"), but in gc2b at least, my breathing is still not constricted. The only reason I kinda wished I had gone for the medium is because the material rides up a little high and doesn't always give me full coverage so I have to pull it down a lot or I get some underboob. But like I said, the material is very stretchy. But still, if you are hypersensitive the the breathing thing, go for the size up. Only if you are really close in size though. Especially since you are small chested, you won't require a lot of compression.

I was "binding" with sports bras for years (not really realizing that was what I was doing), and for me, binders are actually more comfortable. With sportsbras, most of the tightness is in a band around the ribcage. With a real binder, the compression is spread out.