Spandex: Friend or Foe?

I love some spandex in my pants, just like everyone else – 1-2%.  It keeps the bottom from being saggy and you can wear them multiple times without them being all stretched out.  It’s flattering and comfortable.  Same with shirts and blouses, and a lot of tees.  However, I confess, that I am just done with spandex in everything.

I understand that spanx is usually necessary with a body-con dress, but I don’t wear those.  I’m more of a flowy skirt kind of gal.  I like some spandex in my dressy tees, the ones I wear to dinner or church.  But I am sick and tired of ordering a shirt that’s advertised as cotton and having it fit snug and clingy.  No. Just no.

 Around the house, on weekends, at the grocery store and running errands, and on long car rides, I just want to be comfortable.  I want to be able to stretch it out and have it stay stretched out, hanging loosely so it doesn’t show any potentially unflattering body anomalies. So if I get sweaty, it just hangs a little flowy and doesn’t show the sweat.  I have taken to carefully reading the product descriptions to find those that are truly 100% cotton.

Recently I ordered a new swimsuit, the exact same style and exact same size as before, even though I was 30 lb lighter.  I took it with me to the pool without trying it on, having already thrown away the old one.  Friends, this thing had more compression and power than a garage door spring.  I thought I was going to hurt my back getting into it.  It was very difficult to get into it at all, let alone gracefully in the locker room. No longer was it a lined bathing suit; now it was tummy control and slimming! It was even harder to get off after it was wet.  I used it a couple times and then had to rethink things.

I understand if you are going to a pool party, particularly with co-workers, then the spandex is a good thing. But I’m just swimming laps.  Free movement would be nice.

So I bought the exact same swimsuit two sizes up.  Excellent! I could get it on without contortions or heavy breathing! But within about five wearings, it stretched out. My boobs were droopy and too much water was swishing down the front as I swam my laps.  Plus the fabric was sliding up my bum so my cheeks were showing.  This is not good. Doing the freestyle, my bum is all anyone would readily see.  I have bought these swimsuits for years because they stayed in place over my bum.  So back to the tight one, and it is sloooowly stretching out. I can live with it.

But then . . . my dog has to wear a t-shirt because he has allergies, skin issues and it’s a sensory thing.  It keeps him from scratching and it looks really cute.  We have two great t-shirts we got off Amazon (and about another six that never quite worked).  They were wearing out so I again ordered the exact same dog shirts.  I couldn’t believe it, they had spandex.  Really?  For my dog?  They ran smaller and I couldn’t stretch them out.  He does not need a body-con t-shirt.  He needs comfort even more than I do.  So back to Amazon with them and I ordered a size up.  They came and I had to get them off the porch in the rain, but they fit.

I’m really tired of everything commercial pushing idealized bodies.  We are human, not AI generated figments of men’s imaginations.  We are women, we have bodies, we bear children, and, if we’re honest, we eat ice cream.

A couple of years ago I read an article about women and the obsession with a thigh gap.  I had a thigh gap briefly in high school, but it was the result of disordered eating and obsessive dieting, and not at all healthy. Such a disservice to women, young or old.  But in this article was a man’s opinion, and I loved it.  I wish I could find the article and give him credit.  He said, “Never once when I’ve met a woman have I ever wondered if she had a thigh gap.  Almost without exception, when I encounter a woman, my first though is, ‘Oooh! A woman! I like those!’” Women, this is the kind of man we all need in our lives, and I have learned a lesson from him.  Without any spandex and without a thigh gap, I can just be a woman in a bathing suit swimming my laps.