This is my island in the sun…

I used to love the summer. Not that I went out often in the summer, but it was nice for it to be warmer and better weather when I did go out. Now, I would be more comfortable gargling lava in the pits of hell with Satan laughing his ass off at me. Summer as a trans masculine person is AWFUL.

The past week or so here in the UK, temperatures have been hitting the high 20s and sometimes the low 30s (for those of you who work in Farenheit, that’s between 77F and 85F ish). While that doesn’t sound too warm to some, let me remind you all of something: we don’t have AC and our buildings are designed to hold in the heat because our winters are bloody cold with wind chill. Also we’re not used to those temperatures. Even just rewinding about five to ten years, our summers only maybe hit 25 degrees on a scorcher. We are not built to withstand heat, so 30 degrees is like putting a Brit in an oven.

So lets put this in the context of me, now. Like many trans-masc people, I wear a binder to flatten my chest to relieve dysphoria. I also tend to wear a compression shirt over my binder because my binders are either old enough that they don’t bind properly anymore on their own, or they’re half binders which make my stomach stick out a little unnaturally, so I have to wear a compression shirt to avoid looking pregnant or something. So that means that I have two extra layers on underneath whatever shirt I’m wearing. And as we all know, layers trap heat (that’s why jumpers exist for the winter).

It is like I’m walking around in a kiln. Honestly I have never been warmer. And I have a horrible tendency to wear black. I’ve always liked the color, plus dark colors are better at hiding any curves that decide to be visible for some reason, so it’s great dysphoria-wise. Until I end up wearing a black binder, with a black compression shirt and then a black t-shirt or shirt. I learned my lesson fast this summer and started looking to the non-black bits of my wardrobe (which is depressingly little). But no matter what color binder I’m wearing, in 25+ degrees, binders are hell. That’s the long and short of it, nothing to be done about it.Okay so that’s a bit of a white lie, there are SOME things that can be done to make binding a little less like being cloaked in fire.

Number one is hydration. It’s important for people who aren’t binding too, but I cannot emphasize how ridiculously important it is if you are binding. Your binder will make you sweat buckets (I’ll come onto that in a bit) so you need to replace the water you’ve lost. This summer I’ve drank more than I’ve ever drank in my life, and it’s honestly helped a lot.
Number two is shade. The shade is your best friend. Find it, stick to it, love it and cherish it. If there isn’t any shade, make some. Sounds dumb, but carry an umbrella — portable shade wherever and whenever you need it.
Number three is coolness. Put ice in your water, sticking to the shade, all of it will help you stay cool. I even saw a tip on instagram that suggested putting your binder in the fridge or the freezer before you put it on, but that seems a little extreme to me. But hey, if it works, it works.
Number four: shower. I know showering can be uncomfortable, particularly if you’re having a bad dysphoria day. But like I said, you will sweat buckets, and you will stink. Showering at least once a day can only be good for you, even if it’s just a quick rinse to get rid of the ew factor.
Number five: deodorant and antiperspirant. Oh my gods, I can never thank the inventor of deodorant enough. Not only was I stinking from the summer heat, but testosterone makes you stink as well, so deodorant has been a life saver. It actually helps to not only put it on your underarms, but also on and under your chest. It reduces how much you sweat in your binder, which will not only allow you to get an extra use or two out of it, but will make binding a lot more comfortable (especially if like me your chest is on the cursed larger side).
And finally binder breaks and washing. You will need to wash your binder more often, because a) it’ll stink and b) it’ll be sweaty as hell, which is neither good for the binder nor nice to put on. Make sure you handwash it or use a delicate/handwash cycle on the machine and NEVER TUMBLEDRY IT. It’s usually a good idea to have multiple binders so you can wash your binder when you need to. In the summer, half binders are the best because they cover less. Obviously some people are more comfortable in full length binders, but honestly half binders are so much better for the summer months.

Of course there’s all the usual summer safety stuff too: wear sunscreen, be careful of the tide if you’re on a beach, don’t burn yourself on the barbecue etc etc. But please be careful binding in the summer, especially in heatwaves.

In other news, I got a job! I have my first shift next Tuesday, and I have quite a lot of them. I know that I haven’t been particularly active on this, but that’s because I’ve been dealing with stuff for moving house this weekend and starting work next week, and suddenly a ton of time has gone by. Hopefully at some point next week I’ll be able to do some more posts, but I wouldn’t count on it until I get used to the routine for work. And that might take a while because it’s all night shifts. So I may die of exhaustion, but I’m sure it’ll be fine. Stay safe and have fun this summer, I’ll be back when I can! :)