Spanx and such ...

M&S do a 'wear your own bra' control body that's good but if you get hot flushes maybe not! Spanx are a bit restrictive though and quite thick fabric but do the job!

On a different note, I was once told that I shouldn't wear hold up stockings while pregnant as they would restrict the circulation! I asked my obstetrician who fell about laughing!

Many years ago I bought a pair of control pants similar to Spanx- it was a French make & I cannot remember what they were called. The label has now faded away but they are still going strong & are so comfortable to wear I don't know I have them on. I cannot even begin to think how many times I have worn them. I wish I could find out what the firm is called as I would like another pair!
I agree Spanx are too restricting.

I agree. If you think you need to wear a corset, loose weight instead. Much better for you than having your internal organs squashed up.

I put my back out trying to get the damn thing off - WAWOM!

Gosh, I remember girdles from the 1950s and 60s in the US.

Once I started wearing pencil (tight) skirts in my late teens, she insisted I wear a 'panty girdle' or a girdle with my knickers underneath, then you had your kit for the suspenders for your stockings. She thought seeing your bum outline was crude. (Erm, but she wore shorts LOL!)

I used to get terrible rashes from the stocking clips as they had nickel in them. I had to wrap them in tape. Finally you could get plastic ones, but not for years.

By then we'd moved on to tights so that all went away. Mother was not happy unless she wore control top ones. I would NOT. She got lots of bladder infections. I did NOT. Once trouser suits were permitted at my office in 1972, I rarely wore skirts and tights again.

I wore something like this at my son's wedding, out of vanity because I was being photographed. I had a floaty dress on, so no flattened bottom or VPL to worry about.

I wasn't too uncomfortable, but in the following 5 years I've never felt the need to repeat the experience. Maybe if I had paparazzi after me all the time I would!

Just shows how things have progressed in my lifetime. When I was 15 (1950) I was told by my mother and a neighbour that it was 'time I started wearing a corset'. Pink, with bones, suspenders added. I tried one on. No way.

I was told that if I didn't wear corsets I'd be 'all over the place'. Well, all those years later, I'm still not 'all over the place' and not only have I never worn corsets, I've never worn any form of controlling underwear. I haven't tried Spanx and I don't intend to.

I'm with Hammo on this! I wore a 'control slip' to an important event and afterwards had to stop in a layby to take it off. Sod what passing traffic thought, I felt as if I was suffocating!
It's like minimiser bras that squash the flab out under your arms like water wings ?

these things just push flesh into different positions your muffin increases three fold i wish the reason ladies take so long in the powder room was because they wash their hands!

Well my dears, if you squash it all in, where does it go? I can tell you where mine went!! It rolled up to the top of the control kicker things creating a perfect sausagey muffin top that hadn't been there before! Very obvious in a jersey dress! Getting them on and off would have challenged a contortionist. I do, however admire those ladies of our age who manage to get it right and look super in their dresses. Somebody must be buying them or else the companies would be out of business!

I can never workout this control underwear. Surely the flab has to go somewhere! Whats the point of a flat tummy if you end up with four boobs?

and I agree with Anya women are meant to have a round(ish) tummy.

I tried control underwear once and I could hardly move. Worse still, I could hardly breathe!

My mother also wore a tight corset for social events and fainted at a party on a hot day for the same reason.

I agree with others who have posted - avoid, and try to lose the inches by other means. Other options are to wear something looser. I'm not sure about "older" ladies wearing clingy stuff!

I read an amusing column in a newspaper a while ago that blamed the long queues for the ladies loo on Spanx. From this thread I can now see see that this could easily be true, with half of womankind in the loo sorting them out one way or another...

I actually like light control knickers, i think they make my clothes fit better. I've tried many and, also found that many make you sweat like to proverbial ?. Primark had the answer for me. Packs of 4 high leg (good coverage though) and i think they are £4.50. they are 95% cotton so no sweating. Obviously they don't last too long but for the price they are really good.

I've tried all sorts of shape wear and yes after an hour or so can't wait to get them off - it's also incredibly difficult to go to the loo

my DD once bought Spanx to wear under a dress at a wedding.She managed to get through the service and then rushed to the loo at the reception to get the things off! She only had a tiny handbag with her so stuffed them in the waste bin.

Never mind bringing you out in a hot flush, I was once tempted to try some on in M & S and they brought me out in an immediate, all over, blotchy purple rash. I whipped them straight off - well, as quickly as you can whip these things off - and the blotches went as quickly as they'd appeared. Just as well, as it was a couple of days before my DD's wedding. My face looked a bit like .

I wore something like Spanx or control underwear once. I looked like a sausage.

Spanx? - Never going to happen - I like to be comfortable. So what if I have a few lumps and bumps? That's the price I am happy to pay for having three babies.

PS women are supposed to have stomachs.

Never wear 'control' underwear. There are better options such as lose weight, tone up or if all else fails then choose your clothes more wisely.

There are downsides to these control garments, apart from discomfort, such as women in trousers with strangely flattened bottoms and VPLs. Not attractive, but then they can't have seen what they look like from the back

When I see photos of attractive young women in very tight dresses I think Spanx should be worn! Perhaps it's just me but showing their stomachs isn't glamorous. Same with some TV presenters. Get a 'roll on' I shout at the TV!! Just my age!

I only wore once and that was enough I've never been tempted again.
Sorry that's not much help but I'd rather be comfortable any day.