<p>Today I put on a cute new sweater dress and a pair of black opaque tights for the first time this season. </p>
<p>Which reminds me of a continuing issue - WHY do all tights have to be “control top” or just so gosh awful tight!!!? I mean, obviously they can’t be loose at the top but I HATE the feeling that my waist area is being sucked in and any “excess” bulged at the top!</p>
<p>I’ve bought a size bigger without much luck. I am not a large person, not overly tall. The legs feel great and I love having the option to wear tights and a skirt/dress and still be warm for our winters, but I hate the suction at my waist!</p>
<p>Anyone in agreement with me? Anyone have a solution? Or brand solution?</p>
<p>I haven’t worn pantyhose in years (and won’t) but don’t understand why all these leg products have to be “controlled” at the top - I can deal with what’s up there and don’t NEED to have it all sucked in!!!</p>
<p>I have this issue also, and I am tall and have long legs, so it just makes it worse.</p>
<p>I have a pair of Maggie’s cotton tights also, and they are softer and not uncomfortable. The other thing I discovered last winter is wearing thin leggings instead of tights when I’m wearing boots. It looks just like tights, but much more comfy.</p>
<p>I detest pantyhose and tights for that reason. Last year I found some ‘No Nonsense Essential Basic Opaque Tights’ at Walgreens and I swear they are the most confortable tights I’ve ever worn-they feel like soft cotton. Plus they are about $4 a pair. I have a drawer full now.</p>
<p>I wear a 34" inseam and only the largest size of tights is long enough for me, so the waistline always comes up to my armpits or else makes a roll of fabric at the waist. You can’t win. I wear them all winter, anyway. My new trick is to cut the feet off of them and wear warm socks under my boots. It’s much more comfortable than putting socks over the feet of the tights.</p>
<p>I’ve found the tights at Target (store brand is Merona) are without any extra hugging through the hips and waist. I got some cute sweater tights this fall! They have a M/T size that doesn’t slide down but isn’t too tight either.</p>
<p>It is amazing how hard it is to find stockings and tights without any control top. My D is a singer and is very thin and the last thing she needs is restriction around the waist and belly area when she sings. She can’t just run in a store and easily find non control top anything. Some of the ones that are not advertised as control top are still uncomfortably tight.</p>
<p>Glad to hear I’m not the only one with this issue…</p>
<p>I often get tights at TJ Maxx - Hue is a favorite brand (except for the control top!) - but I’ve tried other brands and had the same thing going on.</p>
<p>Oh, goodness, this thread made me laugh because I immediately thought of a picture that I saw of an overweight cashier wearing beige tights. One had to do a double take, as it looked like she had forgotten her pants! And yes, the tights were opaque. So if you do wear opaque tights, be sure that they aren’t beige or anywhere close to your skin color!</p>
<p>Is it somewhere nationwide like Whole Foods???
No, it is a local co-op, but it seems like something Whole Foods would carry, I mean they have * shoes!*</p>
<p>Except when I have to go to court, I wear tights to work almost every day from late October until the following spring, including when I’m wearing pants rather than a skirt or dress, and find the control top kind unbelievably uncomfortable too, especially by late in the day. So I always try to find the non-control top kind. I used to buy them at CVS when I lived in New Jersey, but now I live in Manhattan and Duane Reade – which there’s one of approximately every two blocks! – doesn’t seem to carry them. Which is annoying. And I keep forgetting to order them online. Same with pantyhose, although I find them less comfortable than tights even if they’re not control top. Which is why I generally try to limit wearing them to a few weeks in each of the spring and fall, when it’s too warm for tights but not yet the season to go with bare legs. Although the older I get, the less inclined I am to do that even in the height of summer…</p>
<p>Also, I cut vertical slits all the way around the top of the pantyhose and that seems to help a little bit with that binding feeling right at the waist. We had this discussion at my book club recently and several women admitted to cutting slits in their pantyhose to make them more comfortable.</p>
<p>Ok! So this is apparently a problem!!! Why doesn’t someone in the tight manufacturing business create both types - control and non-control!!! (someone more than the one at Emerald’s co-op!)</p>
<p>Especially given that so much of America is overweight - I don’t know how larger people even get them on! I usually buy what is usually Large - the next size up would be plus size. I am not tiny for sure, but I AM a 52 year old woman who doesn’t want her middle squeezed and popping out of her tights!!!</p>
<p>Wow! After all these years, I thought I was the ONLY woman in America who preferred non-control tops since they are so hard to ferret out. I have learned to read hose/tights packages VERY carefully and have gone years without wearing skirts and dresses. My pet peeve is the issue of the hosiery legs getting twisted as I put them on, so that it takes a try or two or three not to have tourniquets on my legs.</p>
<p>Although I wouldn’t normally go out to buy a control top, I actually don’t mind them. At least the top stays in place; I don’t find it restrictive. I sure do mind when my pantyhose is way too loose up top or gets stretched out. Those I throw out immediately because I do not wear suspenders.</p>
<p>CCsiteobsessed, start by scrunching the pantyhose right down to the toes, into your hands. Line up the toe, then slowly move the hose up your leg. I eliminate that twisted feeling.</p>
<p>What I hate is when the legs get baggy and start to droop. I figured out a lot time ago that pantyhose is one of those items where it’s worth it to invest more money. Cheap ones don’t hold their shape very well (though expensive ones run just as often in my experience). All I have to say is thank goodness pantyhose have been out of style for a while. I read recently that Kate Middleton may have started a trend by wearing them. I hope not!</p>