How to reduce hip dips and get rounded curvy hips!
Our natural womanly curves are exemplified when wearing fitted clothing that hugs the hips and waist. One feature of many women’s bodies is hip dips or violin hips - a natural indentation that occurs between the upper and lower hips. This can occur for women of all sizes from 6 to 22 and up! Shaping shorts can slightly minimise the appearance of the indentation on some ladies, but in most cases the best solution is hip pads. Whether you are looking to reduce the appearance of hip dips, enhance your hips for va-va-voom curves, or want to balance out a top heavy apple shape, hip pads are a great fashion solution.
What to look for when shopping for hip pads?
When looking for hip pads it is important to get the right balance between a long hip pad that follows the natural curves of your body and blends in, and a short hip pad that is more comfortable to wear and allows for more movement. Every woman’s body shape is different, and some hip dips are high while some are low - the key to getting the right look for you, is to get hip pads that are customisable.
- You need the flexibility to adjust the pads to suit your body, which means that getting a shaper with pads already sewn in is highly unlikely to work. A defined position for the pads, attached to a shaper, will not allow you the freedom to move the pads to best flatter your shape. You want to ensure that the pads are separate.
- B Free hip pads come in a perfectly balanced shape that is generous in length to naturally blend into your body. This helps to create smooth rounded curves whilst disguising any hip dips.
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For size 16 and up, you may choose to combine 2 hip pads on each side to develop a longer and thicker pad. To do this, place the pads on top of each other and offset them vertically. Peel off the plastic to reveal the adhesive from the lower pad and stick it to the upper pad on the section that overlaps. Then you can use glad wrap to make one new long plastic covering for the new long hip pad (it should be roughly 1.5 times the length of a single hip pad). For ladies with an apple shape that want to add volume and curves to their lower body, you can choose to combine 2 or 3 hip pads to make a full and long hip pad on each hip. Often adding more padding on the hips can make you look slimmer, as it is not just about size, but more about shape.
How to position the hip pads?
Hip pads are best worn with seamless shaping shorts to hold them in place. First wear your shaping shorts without the pads and stand in front of a mirror. Then slide in the pads one at a time and adjust them (up or down and slightly forward or back) until you are happy with the effect.
Note that every body is different, but you can use the following tips as a guide:
- On slimmer girls who want curvier hips, we generally recommend wearing the pads with the fuller end towards the top (for a full upper hip) and the narrower end pointing towards the thigh (for a gradual curve back into your thighs).
- On curvier girls who want to balance out an apple shape or disguise hip dips, we generally recommend the narrow end towards the waist (to minimise bulk around the tummy) and the fuller end towards the thighs for fuller lower hips.
Another tip for most body types, is that it is generally better to wear the hip pads as high as possible (the top end should sit just below the waist). If the hip pads are sitting too low it will interfere with your movement, and it could make your legs look shorter. We recommend starting by positioning the hip pads high, and then lowering them until you are happy with the shape.
Remember that the best test for whether your hip pads are looking natural and giving you a nice shape, is to check your silhouette when wearing a fitted dress or slip over the top. In B Free fitting rooms, we always give our customers a seamless black slip to wear over the shaper and pads to see the final result (the results are usually very impressive).
Try it out for yourself - hip pads can solve a multitude of fashion problems and give you new confidence and curves that you never thought possible!