I get most of the gear to meet my gender-related needs from Sock Drawer Heroes. I order online, but SDH also has a physical store in Sydney. This shop is secretly a pillar of the Australian trans and gender diverse community - they even have a “Pay It Forward” program, where you can donate extra money during your purchase to help pay for gear for members of the community who might not be able to afford these necessary items.

In a recent blog post, I made some suggestions for ways to get the most value in terms of gender euphoria for a given investment of effort and money. Taking my own advice (for once in my life), I have applied this idea to tucking underwear.

So, I bought 1x of every type of tucking underwear available in my size on Sock Drawer Heroes. This way, I can test all of them over time and buy more of the ones that make me feel really good.

For context, on most days I wear a pair of tucking underwear plus a pair of cheap bike shorts (from Kmart) over the top. While wearing those two things, I feel very comfortable wearing any clothes I want, from skinny jeans to soccer shorts. The dream would be a pair of tucking underwear that work so well that I don’t have to wear the bike shorts over the top (the bike shorts do get annoying occasionally), but I haven’t found any such underwear yet.

And of course, I should emphasise that everyone’s body is different, and what feels comfy and euphoric for me might not feel the same way for you.

With that caveat in mind, here are my evaluations of each different brand/model of underwear.

My favourite

  • Rubies - Shaping Bikini Bottom (link). On the first wear, these felt extremely comfortable and were very effective. They’ve got a nice nylon/spandex feel, so they also seem to hold up really well with multiple wears (including during sport) and washes. These are probably the model of which I’ll buy lots (next payday!). Note that these are sized a bit differently, so I did go one size up with these - I bought L rather than M, which is the size I wear for the rest of the brands.

Strong contenders

  • Dys4ick - Luxe Tucks Panties (link). These are truly excellent. On the first wear, they might be a little bit more comfortable and effective than the Rubies. I’d definitely be comfortable with wearing these long-term. However, they don’t seem to hold up as well over time with repeated use and washing (I think in part because they’re mainly cotton?), and I don’t want to pay for new copies semi-regularly.
  • Dys4ick - Swim-n-Tuck Bikini Bottoms link. These are great. They might be slightly less comfortable for regular wear when compared with the Luxe model. They’re a bit finnicky to wear and seem to have less room, though of course this makes sense given that they’re designed for swimming.

Bread and butter

  • Origami: Customs Hipster Gaff (link). These are actually the model I’ve been wearing most days for the past year or two. They hold up well over time and they’re really comfy, but a bit less effective than the other brands/models on this list.
  • Urbody: High Wasted Compression Thong (link). These are comfortable and hold up well. The tuck is good but not fantastic, and there isn’t heaps of room. And since they’re thongs, there is naturally a higher upkeep in terms of cleaning and hygiene.

Not a huge fan

  • Tuck Buddies - Flattening Underwear (link). These are actually pretty good in terms of comfort and effectiveness. I’m not a big fan of the cotton material, but that’s really just personal preference. In part due to the material, these pick up a lot of lint and dust, which makes me really uncomfortable - again, that may simply be personal preference, as it has a lot to do with the fact that I live with dogs and the way my autism manifests (I don’t own any black cotton clothing for this reason). It’s possible that the other colours might be better in terms of lint/dust, but I wasn’t sufficiently excited about the comfort level or effectiveness to order other colours to test this theory.
  • Urbody: Gaff (link). I found these uncomfortable, and they seemed to lose shape after a couple of wears.