Guest post is provided by Herb Kimble.
Fajas are a long standing piece of clothing that have just recently started to make a comeback. They are now growing more popular for young women as a styling piece rather than a medical tool.
The new trend around the world has been for women to be incredibly skinny or to have the perfect hourglass figure, and although corsets were given the ‘good riddance’ many years ago, it seems that fajas are taking their place in the modern world. Fajas moldeadoras are form shaping undergarments that women wear around their hips, waist, and up to their bust line to keep their stomach tight and to create the shape of an hourglass body figure. This new desire for young women to wear these tight fitting and form shaping girdles have taken on more popularity as famous Latina women are using them more and more, such as Jennifer Lopez or Eva Longoria, and also as our world focuses more and more on being thin in a time of obesity.
And young preteen girls are starting to purchase these, putting them in high demand of exporters and makers of the undergarments. This new trend of skinny women buying these has inspired the creation of even an ‘extra-small’ faja- showing that these are now being used, not just by larger women trying to fit into a certain shape, but small and thin women thinking they need to hide extra pounds.
Fajas were not always used for this purpose, however. The word ‘faja’ in English translates to ‘wrap’, implying a body wrap, which is exactly what it is. Fajas originated in Colombia, who is the largest exporter of cosmetic surgery procedures. Colombian fajas were initially used after a stomach surgery, such as gastric bypass or a tummy tuck, to help tighten the skin back up and keep the abdomen and internal organs in their place until the stomach healed. These are still used today by doctors who give these to their patients after a surgery. Fajas are also used by women who have trouble losing extra belly fat after giving birth, because they tighten the skin in that area. In addition, fajas are thought to contribute to weight loss because they are so tight around the midsection they can make the wearer lose their appetite.
And Colombian fajas are still considered to be the best in the world- high quality and has excellent results, whether actually used after a surgery, or just in general for a woman trying to follow the current fashion trend. Local faja making businesses are starting to spring up, due to the rise in the demand of this new undergarment in an effort to achieve what is popularly determined as ‘beautiful’. In the meantime, people are still using them for health reasons, and will continue to do so, even as the demand for popular use rises much faster than the demand for medical use.
