Waist Trainers vs. Corsets vs. Post-Pregnancy Garments: What’s the Difference?

We asked the experts to break down the health effects of these buzzed-about garments. (Photo: Ole Graf/Corbis) 

Thanks to celebrities like Kim Kardashian West, Khloe Kardashian, and Kim Zolciak wearing waist trainers that nip the midsection into cartoonish proportions has become the new Hollywood “it” thing. And now, everyday women are experimenting with the waist-training trend.

Ruben Soto, founder and CEO of hourglassangel.com, says that sales of the company’s top three waist trainers have increased 250 percent over the past year. “We have seen growth over the years, but recently the trend has exploded in popularity,” he tells Yahoo Health. “We can’t keep them in stock.”

But the trend has also caused plenty of confusion about the difference between waist training, corset training, and post-pregnancy corsets (which Jessica Alba reportedly wore for three months) — and what the devices can actually do.

Although each of the garments works similarly — by cinching the waist — the messaging surrounding them influences how they’re used. This, in turn, influences how people use them — which can determine the extent of any detrimental effects to health, says Sheryl Ross, MD, an OB/GYN and women’s health expert at Providence St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California.

Likewise, the fit and materials used to construct a corset or waist trainer can heavily influence how the garment affects your breathing, posture, and comfort while wearing it, says Autumn Adamme, founder of Dark Garden Unique Corsetry in San Francisco, California, who has created corsets for Dita Von Teese and other celebs.

So, what’s the difference? Overall, not that much. “They’re all similar things with different names,” says board-certified plastic surgeon Stephen Greenberg, MD, author of A Little Nip, A Little Tuck: An Insider’s Guide to Cosmetic Enhancement. “Waist trainers in general don’t do anything in terms of long-term effects to decrease the size of the waist,” he tells Yahoo Health. “And, in fact, some of these waist trainers and corsets have been found to be a little bit dangerous to your health if worn in the long term.”

Related: Why Waist Training Is a Really, Really Bad Idea

Waist trainers, as the name implies, suggest that you can “train” your waist to be smaller. “The messaging behind the waist trainer is misleading and it can be dangerous,” Ross says. “If someone actually believes they’ll lose inches the tighter it is, if you look in the mirror and you see your waist shrink a size, you might tie it tighter. The tightening limits your ability to take deep breaths, to move freely, to eat, really to even walk comfortably.”

Postpartum support garments, in contrast, are meant to do what the name suggests: support loose skin and the abdominal muscles in the first couple of weeks postpartum. “They do support the abdomen well, and I think psychologically it helps women feel better, because your belly doesn’t feel so loose,” Ross says. “But I don’t think it can do much physically to shrink the uterus faster or improve blood flow to a Caesarean section incision. It’s just a supportive wrap, and that’s what you get from it.”

Part of the distinction between corsets and waist trainers has to do with how they fit, Adamme explains. “Corsets reduce the waist by compressing the waistline, but also comfortably support the ribs and hips,” she says. “Some waist trainers being sold simply compress the whole midsection — a far less comfortable approach, as this squeezes the ribs, resulting in the notorious inability to breathe.”

Many waist trainers also lack boning, which means they can roll up or bunch on the midsection. “Well-made corsets are supported with steel boning, which keeps the length of the corset consistent, no matter how snugly the corset is pulled,” Adamme says. Poorly constructed corsets, on the other hand, can twist around the body and cause back problems, “just like wearing a back brace that forces your body into a poor posture and holds it there.” A corset must also be positioned properly on the body, with the waistline parallel to the floor, to avoid problems. A corset that is tilted forward or too high on the body will put pressure on the ribs and make it hard to breathe, Adamme adds.

Another difference between the various types of waist cinchers: the material. Some waist trainers are made of latex, supposedly to encourage a thermal effect (translation: sweating) that aids weight loss. The truth: While you might lose some water weight from sweat, it won’t have any effect on fat loss, and you’ll gain the weight back as soon as you rehydrate, Ross says.

Related: A Flatter Belly with Just One Move

The inflexible latex also makes it possible to fasten the waist trainer incredibly tight — too tight to be healthy. Pregnancy support garments such as belly bands and shapewear such as Spanx, on the other hand, are typically made of a stretchy material that supports the skin but offers some give. “If you size it correctly, the amount of pressure that the material puts on your body is a little more controlled,” Ross says. “And there’s no false or misleading claims about what it can do, so you buy your normal size, as opposed to a waist trainer where people think the smaller, the better.”

Can waist training actually change the look of your waist? It depends who you ask, and what you’re trying to do. Adamme and others in the corseting community claim that it is possible by consistently using properly shaped corsets, and gradually decreasing the size over time. (She also recommends wearing a corset that is comfortably snug rather than tightly laced.) Even then, this is more effective for getting a smaller waist while wearing a corset than changing the actual shape of your natural waist.

Greenberg says that it’s not anatomically possible to reshape the waist as an adult using waist training. “If anything, there’s nothing more than temporary results for any of these waist trainers,” he says. “Because of the anatomy of the body, as soon as you take it off, the body goes back to the way it is.” In fact, Greenberg adds, many of his clients come to him for tummy tucks or liposuction after using waist trainers or post-pregnancy support garments and being disappointed in the results.

Even Soto, whose company sells numerous waist trainers, admits that the results are temporary. “We do not have evidence that it has a permanent effect after discontinued use,” he says.

“The bottom line is that waist trainers, corsets, or other support garments don’t have any long-acting effects on the shape of the waist or weight loss,” Greenberg says. “They might make you feel better or look better while wearing them, and wearing it is not going to substantially hurt you, but I don’t think it’s going to substantially help, either.”

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