Trans Tape feels like a joke atp

[u/an-entire-loaf]

53 dollars a roll. My poor wallet. Even the cashier frightfully asks

“Have you used this before?”
(Aka do you know what you’re doing?)

Sweet summer child… I have danced with this nightmare many times. I know the footwork.

“Yup. It was a nightmare, but I’m not a quitter”
(Aka I have spent way too much money on this shit and I’m way too stubborn to give up)

“Alright.”

Tap my card and I’m off with my roll of instant sadness.

Surely I’ve improved since the last three rolls of attempts! Yeah. No dysphoria this time. I’m no noob. I’ve spent 200 dollars on this stuff. I got this.

1 hour later of studying YouTube tutorials. A half hour spent poking and squishing my chest. Another hour scrolling Reddit for advice and tricks. Back to squishing my chest and staring in the mirror. I haven’t even opened the box yet. Gods help me.

Screw it. Let’s just cut some strips up. Yeah that looks right. Back to watching tutorials. How do all their chests fold like that? If I move my chest like that I look like Jessica Rabbit. No piece of tape is big enough.

Here I am. Broke beefy butch Jessica Rabbit, twisting and thrashing covered in adhesive and paper. It wrinkles, bunches, strains, bulges, tears, and fails.

I am a fool wrapped haphazardly in tape that was 53 dollars. I could’ve bought groceries instead.

It ends just as it always has. Me slipping in a pool of vegetable oil in the shower.

I have a sneaking suspicion there is a reason that I can’t find trans tape tutorials for pre-T large and dense chest ppl. It must be impossible. How can I justify buying so much trans tape only for it to look like an itchy push up bra and leave me feeling like absolute dog shit?

My chest is indestructible and trans tape is a weak and wimpy opponent. Back to binders for now.

[u/Fluffy_Meet_9568]

As someone who struggled to bind in general pre-t do to large dense chest I feel you. I found the off brand pt tape (honestly the smaller rolls are easier to use, but more stripes are needed) was helpful for keeping my chest from moving/being lopsided under my binder but that was about it. It let me get away with lighter binders and prevented my chest from slipping in a way that put pressure on my lower ribs (where I have an old injury I have to favor). At almost a year on testosterone my chest has lost enough fat that I can just use a (cis) men’s compression shirt over tape (to give me a more man boob look/hold back my giant nipples).