A charming reminiscence, originally posted on the Girdles and More forum, in which the author recalls her first girdle with mixed feelings.
My husband ran across this site last night and wanted me to look at it. I was astounded to see the interest in something we hated when we were younger. First off, I don't believe my husband "stumbled" on this site. I have known for some time that he seems to have a real fetish towards girdles. I often thought he was joking about it until I started reading some of the postings. Perhaps he truly has a fascination with the undergarments.
Although I have never made a posting to one of these bulletin boards before, I thought I would at least share my early experience in life with girdles and being forced to wear them every day.
My first experience with girdles came when I was in seventh grade and was speaking to my mother on what I could wear to the eighth graders' graduation dance. I went to a small school but they always had a real nice dinner and dance for the graduating eighth graders, and the seventh graders were invited. I had not worn nylons before this except playing dress-up when my mom was not home; as she would have scolded me very bad if she found out I was trying her stockings on.
I told my mom that I wanted to wear nylons to the dance and she agreed that is was about time for me to start wearing them. I did not think she would have a problem because she wore nylons every day and evening. She even wore a skirt and nylons outside when she helped Dad work in his garden. She informed me that I would also have to wear a girdle to keep them up properly, and that besides it was about time for me to start wearing girdles as part of my normal dress.
I was not sure that I wanted the girdles, as I saw my mother on several occasions getting in and out of them and it did not look like fun. I told her that some of the other girls had a belt with garter attachments and some were just wearing some elastic garter rings to keep the nylons up. I knew that I did not want those as they were always complaining about them and were always rolling down, and required adjustments all the time. My mother told me that belts and rings were not any good.
That evening mom took me shopping for my nylons and a girdle. We were not very wealthy so we went to the local Hested's (an old five and dime store) to shop. She bought me two girdles; both were open at the bottom because I don't even recall seeing any panty girdles back then. One was just like an elastic tube, and the other one had metal stays on the sides with shiny panels in the front, back, and sides. I remember the tube girdle had four garters, while the "monster"- as I called it- had six on it. She bought me three pairs of nylons too. I had very little say about anything on the purchase. I could not even try on the girdles in the store because they did not have a dressing room.
When we got home I tried both of the girdles on. I first thought I would like the tube girdle, as there were not a lot of restrictions on it, but that changed. My mother wanted me to wear both of them for a while to get used to them. I really only cared about the nylons but according to my mother, nylons and girdles only work together.
That evening I wore the tube girdle most the night with one of my new pairs of nylons. I was getting aggravated because the girdle kept rolling down at the top. I was not the slimmest little girl back then, and had a belly, and I guess that caused it to roll down. Anyway, I put on the stronger one that had the panels and the metal stays on the sides, and soon found out that it stayed where it was supposed to be. Although this girdle was very restrictive and I disliked the tightness, I noticed in the mirror that my little belly had disappeared. All of a sudden it seemed like it was not so bad after all.
My mother had me wearing the girdle and stockings for several evenings in order to get used to them. Of course, I ran my first pair of nylons and was in a bit of trouble with mom, but she chalked it up to a new learning experience. I told her that I hated the tube girdle because it kept rolling down.
I was getting kidded a lot by my Dad and two brothers about wearing nylons and seeing my garters and occasionally my girdle. My mother told me that this is normal and men really like us to wear them.
My mother came home from work one day and had a big surprise for me. She had bought be two more of the good girdles and about six more pairs of stockings. She also informed me that I should start wearing them to school everyday. I liked the idea of wearing the stockings but was not sure about wearing a girdle daily. When I hesitated a bit on the idea, she told me that it was not an option. I was becoming a young lady and part of the process was not only to wear stockings daily, but also to wear my girdles daily.
I knew of two other girls at school that were told the same thing. About half of the seventh grade class was wearing nylons frequently while it was even more common for the eighth graders.
What I did not expect was the mandate to wear girdles every day including the evening. Unless I was doing something really rough outdoors, I was now required to wear the girdles.
Looking back I can't believe that I was the one that asked to wear the nylons and it turned out that I could not get out of them. Even in the summer, the girdle had to be on all day and evening with only sleep time for freedom. We did not have air conditioning and I can remember helping mom in the kitchen, with the sweat running down from my girdle and down through the nylons. I begged my mom to let me take them off but again I was informed that wearing these are just part of being a lady and the discussion was over.
I remember one Saturday morning when my mother woke me up because I was sleeping late. She wanted some help canning beets of all things. Yuck! Anyway, I said I would get up and help her if I did not have to put my girdle and stockings on. That's when she game me the "I'm the Boss" look and told me I could wear my girdle or just stay in bed all day. I decided to protest and stay in bed for a while but soon got bored and got up, showered, and put my girdle and stockings on and went down to help my mother with the canning. She just smiled at me and said I looked nice.
Sorry I rambled so much, but thought I would share my early days with this group. I can tell more if anyone would like to hear my early days.
Oh, and by the way, I am not a daily girdle wearer but do have several in my drawer when I need help looking good in a certain dress or suit. Once in a while I will also wear one if my back is hurting and it seems to help quite a bit.
I also noticed that my husband is overly nice to me on those days and after reading the rest of these postings, I might have an idea why. Men can be so silly sometimes, but I love them.
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Originally Posted January 2001