Tomima’s Blog - Lingerie & Underwear Expert

I think all of us at one time or another have wondered about the proper sequence of undergarments.  Let’s say you have a pair of pantyhose, a panty, and a piece of shapewear.  In what order do you put them on?  Do you wear all of them or forfeit something?

We posed this question to 13 of our shapewear vendors including Spanx, Bali, BodyWrap, Va Bien and TC Fine.  We were stunned to hear they all had the same response.  It was, forget the panties, put on your pantyhose, and then put on your shapewear.

Are you surprised?  We here in the office were.  For starters, most of us felt panties should be worn.  The reason the manufacturers feel they aren’t necessary is because they all make shapewear with a cotton crotch or an accessible crotch.  Therefore, shapewear is specifically designed to eliminate the need for panties.

I took a poll of the women in our office about this.  The responses fell roughly along age lines.  Our younger crowd agreed about not wearing panties.  Many had tried panties on under their shapewear, but found that the panty created an additional line - even when they tried laser edge cut panties like Commandos.  Our more mature crowd simply likes the idea of panties and wouldn’t consider not wearing them.

The reason pantyhose go on first is because if put on over shapewear, they tend to slide down due to the slick nature of the shapewear fabric.  You can spend the night feeling your pantyhose inching down your body and finding yourself in the ladies room several times in order to pull them back up. The panthose can also cause a line that otherwise would be smoothed out if shapewear was put on over it.  Now, that said, there are several shapewear pieces that have silicone gripper tape along the legs to keep the shapewear in place. Putting this gripper tape on top of pantyhose renders it worthless, and could possibly cause a run in the pantyhose.  So, there can be some conflicting results in this situation.

Personally, this is what I do.  I don’t wear panties.  I also don’t wear pantyhose.  If I want leg covering, I buy thigh-high stockings.  Since my shapewear of preference is a biker short style, I first put on my thigh-highs, pull up my shapewear, and make sure the top of my stockings are secured by my shapewear.  Now, I really only have one layer on, I’m comfortable, not hot, and have a very simple solution when I need to visit the ladies room.

Does anyone have any better ideas here?  If so, I hope you’ll post them here in comments.

Find shapewear at HerRoom in these departments:
Shapewear

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One of the most common issues fielded by my fabulous customer service department is inquires about nipples showing through a bra and how to prevent this. It’s actually kind of fun reading how women try to pose this inquiry. It can be as subtle as "I’m looking for a bra that provides modesty" to "I need to turn off my headlghts" to "I want a bullet proof bra" to "I’m trying to hide my huge erect nipples!"

I have heard various lingerie experts claim that nipple show-through can be handled many ways. For example, some feel a lined bra will do the trick. Others have said that placing the nipple on a bra seam in the cups will mask the look. And, of course, there are those contour bras where the cups have a thin layer of foam or padding fused inside the bra cups.

Being skeptical of some of these claims, I decided to bring in a model of ours who has constantly erect nipples (For the uneducated, one side-effect of breast augmentation can be permanent nipple erection). I had her try on a standard molded bra, a lined bra, a seamed bra and a contour bra. I then had her put a t-shirt on over each of the bras. Let’s see what worked.

Molded	Lined

Seamed	Contour

As expected, the molded bra did nothing to conceal the situation. The lined bra seemed to have little or no impact as well. I found this a little surprising given that so many women and manufacturers swear by this solution. But, if you look at the t-shirt shots, the molded and lined bras look virtually identical.

The seamed bra did a pretty good job of reducing the "headlights." However, you have the two-edged sword of having the seam show through the t-shirt. So, basically, you sacrifice "bullets" for seams.

The contour bra option, also known as the t-shirt bra was the best performer. A thin layer of padding or foam can turn your headlights right off. But, the downside to this style of bra is for women with larger breast size who don’t want to add volume. Even that small amount of foam can make their breasts look larger.

Though I only showed these 4 bra styles, I want to also let you the reader know that there are other solutions to this problem. For example, an earlier blog post of mine discusses the Bali Concealer bras currently on the market. They too are contour, but have a very rigid flower shaped decal on the inside of the cup to keep a woman smooth across her breasts. Other options are to put one of the nipple concealer products directly over your breasts. This will smooth over your nipples and allow you to wear your existing bras. Some of the more popular products include Dimr’s, Smooth’m nipple concealers, No Peek Pads, Sassybax Nips and FashionForms Breast Petals.

For a link to all these options, go to:
Nipple concealers

There’s a fairly new phrase that’s popped into our vernacular: back fat. When a woman is walking away from you, and the back of her shirt is bumpy because her skin isn’t laying smoothly, this is considered back fat. Bras are the major contributor to this unattractive look. But the right fitting bra can also be the solution.

There are several reasons for back fat. The first is not wearing your bra correctly. Many women put their bra on by putting their arms through the straps and fastening the bra in back. However, they forget the final step - pulling the bra back down so that it anchors under your shoulder blades. Left unadjusted, the back will creep up pushing your back skin up with it and back fat occurs. Another reason for back fat is wearing a bra with a band size that is too large. That’s right. Contrary to what you may think, back fat is created when your band isn’t tight enough. This means your bra back will creep up and push your back skin with it. The proper bra band size will anchor the back of your bra keeping it in place and giving your back a smooth look. IF the wings and back of your bra are too skimpy, this too can cause back fat.  Wider sides and back are more flattering under fitted clothes and create less bulge.  I know, it looks too "granny."  But, who’s going to know but you?  I’d rather have a wide back on my bra and no back fat, than some skimpy bra that leaves bulges. .Finally, back fat is created with age. As we get older our skin becomes less firm. And, with additional weight gain, our skin tissue becomes soft and spongy. Consequently any form-fitting garment we wear will create some indentation on our back.

I have a couple ideas for us older women. First, consider wearing one of the new shapewear camisoles instead of your bra. They are a great solution in that they give you support and smoothness all the way down past your waist. A couple of great choices:

	This is the Flexees One Fabulous Body Everyday Control Camisole. The reviews have been very favorable with several D cup women finding the support acceptable enough to be worn without a bra. For firmer control, this is a winner. Again, the reviews are raves and even from D cup size women who wear this camisole without a bra.
	The Nancy Ganz Sleek Underneath Camisole is a long-standing favorite, even with D-cup sized women. The cup area of the camisole is actually molded, so it provides support without that smushed-together look. It also receives rave reviews at HerRoom for comfort and a fresh, clean style.
	This camisole from TC Fine Shapewear is also another winner with great reviews. Unlike the others, this Seamless Firm Control Camisole 444 has a built-in shelf bra for added support, and has a gripper edge along the bottom to prevent creep.

HerRoom takes "before/after" shots of all it’s firm control shapewear to show you what kind of control and smoothness to expect. You can see from the images, that this camisole gives great lift and support to your bust, pulls in your tummy, and smooths your sides

There is a company out there that specializes in creating undergarments to eliminate back fat. They are called Sassybax. Started by a former model, the Sassybax line includes a bra, a strapless bra and two camisole styles (with and without underwires). There are no openings on any of these garments, so they are stepped into and pulled up. The back is very smooth. This comes in sizes S to XL. However, I don’t recommend it for women above a C cup because the support just isn’t there.

The Spanx company has recently launched a new bra called the Bra-llelujah. The claim is that their non-adjusting straps will remove any signs of back fat. However, the jury is still out on this one.  So far, several D cup women have complained in our reviews that there is a lack of support.

You can find more bra fitting solutions on HerRoom.