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Is Waist Training Permanent?

Posted on by Rachel Barb
Is Waist Training Permanent?
21
Oct

There are a lot of myths circulating about waist training, and when you first get started, you’re sure to have some questions.  Let’s just start by saying no, waist training won’t crush your ribs or internal organs.  A corset will compress the soft tissue of your torso in order to nip in your waist, but not to your physical detriment.  Otherwise, the practice probably wouldn’t have persisted for literally centuries.

Wearing a corset likely won’t make you faint, unless you lace it so incredibly tight that you can’t breathe or take a sip of water (always a no-no).  While the myth of the fainting couch persists, the truth is that women of the Victorian era did a lot more than sit around in parlors and sip tea all day – they led normal lives, in their corsets.

What about the results?  Is waist training permanent?  Unfortunately, the answer is no.  However, you can enjoy semi-permanent results when you waist train, so let’s talk a bit about what that means in practical terms.

Semi-Permanent Results with a Waist Training Schedule

An old proverb says if you give a man a fish, he’ll eat for a day, but if you teach him to fish, he’ll eat for a lifetime.  The same basic principle applies to waist training.  Sounds fishy?

Well, simply wearing a corset isn’t really enough to significantly and semi-permanently narrow your waist.  Anyone can put on a compression garment for temporary waist reduction.  If you want semi-permanent result, you need to follow a waist training schedule.

How does it work?  If your only experience wearing a corset was a rather uncomfortable span of several hours on your wedding day (P.S. Check out our favorite corsets to wear under wedding dresses), you might naturally worry about donning this support garment all day, every day.  The good news is, you’re going to work your way up to it.

You’ll start by finding the right corset, and it can take some time to decide on the style and size of corset that’s right for you.  When you’ve done this, you’ll need to season the corset by wearing it snug, but not too tight, for short periods of time, say a couple hours a day. (See: How to Choose the Right Corset Style for Your Body Type)

Over the course of several weeks, you’ll incrementally increase how long you wear your corset during the day, and as you’re more comfortable and your corset becomes seasoned (i.e. conforms to your curvature), you can increase hours of daily wear and tighten a little more.  Soon you’ll be wearing your corset all day, every day and comfortably trimming up to four inches off your waistline (or more if you eventually transition to tightlacing).

What you’ll start to notice is that when you take your corset off, your waistline remains smaller – not quite as small as with the corset on, but smaller than when you started.  As long as you keep wearing your corset daily, you can maintain these semi-permanent results.  When you stop wearing your corset, your waist will begin to revert to its former size, all things being equal (i.e. barring weight fluctuations, etc.).

Modifying the Way You Look and Feel

There is some concern about the “body modification” aspect of waist training.  Is wearing a corset actually body modification?  Sure, but so are a lot of things you wouldn’t think twice about.

For example, did you have braces as a kid?  Have you ever considered breast implants?  Both of these are forms of body modification that are considered totally acceptable by society, and even tattoos are becoming common and accepted these days.

In other words, you shouldn’t worry too much about how other people feel about body modification – you should spend more time thinking about how it can make YOU look and feel.  As you now know, waist training delivers semi-permanent waist reduction.  This can not only change the shape of your body if you keep it up, but also boost your confidence and help you to feel good about yourself. (See: Corsets and Confidence: How Corsetry Can Boost Your Ego)

This is really no different than losing weight (or gaining, in some cases), toning your muscles with exercise, getting a really fabulous hair cut and color, or simply putting on your favorite outfit – the one that you look amazing in.  All are tools to help you shape the way you see and feel about yourself, and waist training is simply a tool that offers semi-permanent results.

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