Men: Here’s How To Hide Puffy Nipples – A Step-by-Step Guide

For most guys, having puffy nipples sucks.

It’s one of those body conditions that can leave men of all ages very self-conscious in and out of clothes.

This article covers the following:

• Hiding puffy nipples with tank top undershirts
• Puffy nipples in pre-teens & teens
• Hiding puffy nipples with different types of fitted & compression undershirts
• Solutions for those who sweat a lot & have puffy nipples

Hiding Puffy Nipple Question

Here’s an email from a reader looking for a tank top style undershirt that will offer chest flattening to mask his mild puffy nipples:

Hi, Just wondering what you would recommend for very mild puffy nipples?

I’m in very good shape, I go to the gym regularly but have slightly puffy nipples that poke threw my shirts.

I have been taping them down with electrical tape but i can only wear dark shirts or shirts with writing because the tape shows through the shirt. Fully aware that’s not the healthiest, I decided to see what other options I have.

I use muscle shirts under my Tees everyday but without tape my nipples poke through.

I’m thinking of buying a compression undershirt. Something that would look like a wife beater. I like to wear v-necks so I’m looking for a low cut undershirts.

I just need something that will press my nipples down.

My concerns with compression under shirts are:

– They are obvious aka not natural looking

– Too tight and not comfortable

– Makes me look to thin taking away my chest muscle look

– Hard to take off and put on

They all look extremely long — every undershirt I see looks like they would hang out the bottom of most shirts .

I buy my wife beaters small so they don’t hang out because I cant stand tucking my undershirts in all the time

Anyways I really hope you can help because taping my nipples is not the healthiest and I want to be able to wear plain white shits, or golf shirts.

– Shawn

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How To Hide Puffy Nipples (with Tank Top Undershirts)

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Heya Shawn,

Ok, finally I have a couple minutes to offer up some suggestions (:

First about length — there is no short slimming/shaping undershirt. So if you want something shorter, you’ll have to have it hemmed to your length preference.

In short, I think you can find a good tank top solution in one of the following:

1. Cotton/Spandex Stretch Tank Top

A sized down cotton/spandex blend (90/10 or 95/5) tank top could do the trick. This would be the least expensive option, and give you some chest smoothing around the nipple area.

The key to this solution is buying one size smaller than you normally wear, because it will provide more compression than if you bought your regular size. The tank will fit tight, but not as tight as a compression tank top.

2. Corewear Compression Tank Tops

A Corewear compression tank top would definitely flatten puffy nipples. In addition, this particular performance tank top provides posture support.

Also, being more of a performance compression tank top, they have a very technical-looking design, so they look pretty cool by themselves. As an added bonus, you can wear these to the gym if you want too. Since you’re in good shape, a Corewear compression tank top might be a good choice.

Website: getcorewear.com

3. Underworks Compression Tank Top Undershirts

Underworks is well known for their compression clothing and they have a wide selection of tank tops with different levels of compression. To be honest, they have so many compression tank top options, it’s hard to know which to pick.

Prices range from $18-$34, and any one of their shapewear tank tops would certainly do a good just in hiding puffy nipples.

Website: underworks.com

4. Leonisa

The Leonisa Torso Toner (zip up, v-neck but does not look as “regular”) or their control or extra firm control tanks.

Website: leonisa.com

5. Spanx for Men

Spanx for Men Cotton Comfort (some compression) or cotton compression (more compression). These look pretty much like a standard tank top.

More information: undershirtguy.com (link searches my site for articles about Spanx)

All the above will offer flattening of the chest, and look most like a traditional tank top (or undershirt).

Fabric Paint?

Here’s another idea that I think is worth considering — use fabric paint.

Basically, this reader painted a wide strip across the chest of his existing undershirts using fabric paint.

The paint is thick enough to create a smooth appearance, but flexible enough to maintain comfort.

I think it’s a pretty creative solution, and one that I would try.

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Side Note: Even men who are in really good shape, or even those who body build can struggle with and want to get rid of puffy nipples.

Here’s a thread on bodybuilding.com that started way back in 2006.

It has 30+ pages of fantastic dialog among men young and old, who had either puffy nipples or gynecosmatia — all looking for advice on how to get rid of them.

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Puffy Nipples in Pre-Teens & Teens

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Here’s another email I received recently from a mother in search of chest compressing undershirts for her son:

Hi!

Accidentally stumbled upon your site, undershirt guy and hope you can help!!

I have M.S. so my shopping really needs to be online. Quite stumped on this though! I am a single mom to a 12 year old boy.

His pediatrician wants me to get him into a compression undershirt to help with man boobs (gynecomastia).

I tried ordering a couple of random shirts on eBay (I know…) and that flopped.

Now I have found you!!

My son is only 12, but has been in full blown puberty for about a year. He is growing at a ridiculous rate. Currently, he is 5’6″ tall, wears men’s size 8 shoes etc. He is not fat, does exercise regularly and doesn’t have a sugar filled diet.

Having said that, doc says that as he is growing so fast, hormones raging etc, he has developed boobs and he is mortified! I am told they should go away in a year or so but to a 12 year old that is an eternity.

Can you suggest a compression undershirt that focuses on the chest. Something comfortable, discreet.

I am desperate and really hope you can help!!! Thank you so much!!!

For most young men, the good news is that having puffy nipples is only temporary.

– Tanya

Thankfully, we do have compression, chest flattening undershirts that will help mask the condition.

In addition to the suggestions I made to the other reader above, I also suggested one other product.

Chest Compressing Undershirts for Man Boobs

Heya Tanya!

Good to hear from you and thanks for stopping by my site!

Based on everything you’ve told me, i’d recommend you take a look at:

1. Underworks (underworks.com)
2. GC2 Compression (gc2compression.com)
3. Leonisa (leonisa.com)

All three are reasonably priced, good performing compression undershirts.

Underworks and GC2 are definitely made for gynecomastia, but I believe Leonisa would work just as well.

They all have undershirt and tank top options, and will all look fairly natural looking.

Underworks has 4 compression levels, and each of the items have a slightly different appearance.

Some look more like a synthetic athletic shirt, and others look like a more traditional undershirt – though they have high compression at the same time via an inner compression lay and an outer visual layer.

I think you’ll be well served if you try any one of the 3 products above.

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Hiding Puffy Nipples With Undershirts

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Here’s an additional question from an adult male who was looking for an undershirt that would flatten his puffy nipples.

However, he didn’t want something as constricting as a typical gynecomastia compression undershirt:

Hello Tug,

Despite being relativity thin and muscular, I suffer from puffy nipples.

I have tried layering (cotton undershirt, polo, and wool half-zip for example). But if the last layer I wear is snug my nipples will show through.

I have read your articles:

Compression and Slimming Undershirts: Shapewear for Men

GC2 Compression Tank Top Undershirt Review

I’ve even purchased a GC2 compression shirt to help. While the GC2 shirt did compress my puffy nipples, I feel like it was over kill.

The GC2 is more for individuals with man boobs or for those looking for a slimming shirt.

Do you know of any shirts (short sleeve or tank top) for males that have padding over the breast/nipple area?

If not, do you know of any compression shirts that are less tight than something like the GC2?

I’m very desperate to find a solution. Thank you for your help!

– Steve

Puffy Nipples – Visuals

My Reply

Hey Steve,

So I thought of your question a bit more over the last couple of weeks.

Regarding your first question, there is no padded undershirt that I know of that is designed to conceal puffy nipples. There was only one other padded undershirt that was hand made by a guy named Greg Cross.

But i haven’t heard from him in a long while and assume he his not making those undershirts. Also, that undershirt was designed more to make you look bigger and not for concealing.

But there is good news!

There are a couple other companies making padded undershirts. You can see all my articles that cover padded undershirts or underwear, by clicking here.

My History With Puffy Nipples

Like you, I have slightly puffy nipples and will pretty much always wear some form of undershirt to help flatten them so they don’t show through my outer shirts.

In fact, it is for that reason that I began wearing undershirts when I was a kid.

At the time, I wore the ribbed a-shirts (tank tops) because they were the only undershirts available at the time that would offer some shaping/flattening.

As I got older, I began wearing regular undershirts from Hanes and Fruit of the Loom to protect my outer shirts from underarm stains, but didn’t like how they fit. At some point I decided to start looking for undershirt alternatives.

I bought a bunch of different products, and figured it would be fun to create this site to help document my findings.

Solutions For Puffy Nipples

I’ll categorize the potential solutions for you into three different undershirt categories:

1. Fitted
2. Light compression
3. Compression/slimming

1. Fitted Undershirts

These are products that have a comfortable stretch to them, fit close the body, and made with stretch materials like ribbed fabric or other fabrics blended with Lycra / spandex / elastane (all variations of spandex).

There are other stretch fibers, but I’ll focus on spandex since it has the lion-share of the market.

The most common blend undershirt is either 95/5 or 90/10. The first number is the primary fabric percentage and the second number is the percentage of spandex in the fabric.

One example of this category of undershirts are 95% cotton, 5% spandex undershirts. Check out my article about how to find the best cotton spandex undershirts for more details.

There are such a wide variety of these types of undershirts, that it’s hard to recommend something specific. For me, fitted undershirts do a great job in flattening my chest/nipples enough to keep them concealed.

I really liked the Alfani Stretch undershirt, but I recently got word that they were discontinued for a second time.

2. Light Compression Undershirts

Here are some examples of light compression shirts:

• Under Armour compression fit
• Adias Techfit
• Nike Core fitted Deflex or Pro core tight
• Cool Clothing USA Compression Fit
• Starter compression

Most of these compression shirts contain moisture-wicking synthetic fabrics like polyester (any brand of fiber) or nylon.

If you’re a heavier sweater, i don’t think this type of undershirt would be a good solution because you’ll likely sweat through them easier, but if you’re not, it’s something to consider.

Keep in mind that this category of undershirts will wear and feel more synthetic most of the time, so they won’t have the natural feel of cotton that you get with most undershirts in the fitted category.

I think you could go with pretty much anything here, but if your puffy nipple condition is more prominent, you might want to size down to ensure you get a closer chest fit

Just be careful of the armpit size when you size down because you might find them to fit too tight in this area.

3. Compression / Slimming Undershirts

This category covers pretty much every undershirt designed to slim or conceal man boobs.

It includes products like:

• The GC2 undershirt you purchased
• Corewear
• Spanx for Men
• Underworks
• Leonisa (Leo)
• The “As Seen on TV” InstaSlim compression undershirt

As you found with the GC2, with many of these products you get all around compression and maybe a bit too much for what you actually need.

Of course some don’t perform all that well in the slimming area, but do provide a good amount of chest flattening. If you dig through some of my reviews, you’ll easily identify these.

Out of all these products, Underworks is the only one I know of that offers different compression levels. I have one of their light compression undershirts that I wear to gym a lot, and it might just be a good option for you to consider.

You may also consider sizing up one in your GC2 to get a slightly looser fit.

A Lot To Consider

I realize there is a lot to digest here, but there are a good number of options you can consider.

I hope the information helps you find an undershirt that meets your needs!

If you narrow down your search some and want my opinion on a couple different products, email me back and i’ll be happy to help you further.

It would be great if you could keep me posted on what you wind up buying and your thoughts.

Follow-Up On The Puffy Nipples Issue

I checked back with Steve to find out what he wound up doing, and got the following reply:

Thank you Tug — Great suggestions.

Despite your nice write ups, it was tricky to look at the ‘masking puffy nipples’ article and judge how extreme the compression was.

Every time I saw “compression” I thought of the very heavy compression provided by the GC2 and I didn’t want to take random guesses when I’d have to pay for each attempt.

I think the “fitted” category would best suit my needs assuming there’s enough compression. I will first try the Apt. 9 ripped layering undershirt as I have a Kohls right near me.

I’m going to go out right now and grab one. I will definitely let you know how it goes. Thanks again!!

– Steve

then…

Hey Tug,

I’ve been using the Apt. 9 96/4 shirts for about a week now and I bought 3 of them.

I am normally a medium size, however, to get the kind of compression I wanted I had to buy a small. A small provided more compression than I thought it would and I am satisfied.

A downside to buying a small — the shirt really hugged my armpits / underarms.

In order to reduce the build up of heat and for overall comfort I very carefully cut the sleeves off of one of the shirts as a test. 

This worked well enough and is much more comfortable than my tank from GC2. Not that the GC2 is a bad undershirt but it didn’t fit my needs.

I might try a 90/10 shirt just to get a little bit more compression but overall I’m happy with the Apt. 9 shirt.

Thanks for taking the time to make your site and respond to my e-mail with such a detailed post.

I’ve been struggling to find a solution to my problem and you pointed me in the right direction!!

– Steve

Steve’s Hack: Concealing Man Boobs & Puffy Nipples

Steve wrote me back and said he wound up cutting the sleeves off of all his Apt 9. shirts.

He indicated he was really happy with this “effective and cheap” solution to hiding puffy nipples.

It basically sounds like he created a homemade fitted stretch muscle undershirt.

While it’s pretty hard to find them, instead of buying a stretch fitted undershirt and cutting off the sleeves, maybe it would be worth trying to find some fitted muscle shirts or tanks.

Spanx offers a line called their Cotton Control Collection, which offers less compression than their Compression line, but more control than a typical stretch undershirt.

Personally, I love this product and actually wear my Spanx Cotton Control Tank Top a lot. The trouble I have with it, frankly speaking, is that I feel it’s quite expensive at $58.

I’d love to see something like this priced around $25 – $30.

I just look forward to a day of a non-surgical procedure that eliminates that puffiness.

When that’s available, I’ll be first in line.

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Puffy Nipples & Heavy Sweating

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This question came in from a reader who not only suffered from excessive sweating, but he also has puffy nipples and is looking for an undershirt that will help him with both.

Hey Tug,

I have a very unique circumstance, which makes it VERY hard for me to find a good undershirt.

The first is that I have man boobs and since they are not weight related, the nipples actually puff up so I need a undershirt that is slimming per se. Second I sweat quicker then most people, and when I do its A LOT (sweat will show on my second layer when I have a 100% cotton undershirt on) so there goes the choice of moisture-wicking.

And lastly I need something that’s practical for everyday use. I’m only 17 years old so I cant afford spending $100 on a undershirt but $20 is more reasonable, since I would need a few for everyday wear.

I absolutely love your website, and I read every single review and more on it but I cant pinpoint the perfect undershirt for me. Any recommendations?

Regards,

Martin

Chest Compression Plus Sweat Protection: Layering Two Shirts

Hey Martin,

I’ve been thinking about your situation. It’s a little tricky because we need to find a cost-effective solution for you. Also, depending on how severe your puffy nipples are and where you sweat the most, we could go a couple different ways.

My first instinct is to recommend you to use a layered undershirt approach, as follows:

Layer 1 – Flattening

For the first layer, I’d recommend a tight, lightweight short sleeve compression shirt from Walmart, Target, or Amazon. Cost would be around $10-$12 per shirt or less.

This layer will serve a few purposes. First, the compression fit will help flatten your puffy nipples and will smoothen your chest so your man boobs are not so noticeable. Second, it will offer an additional layer of sweat protection between your body and your shirts.

Lastly, most compression shirts are made from a lightweight and thin polyester/spandex or nylon/spandex blend. If you find the right one, you won’t get warmer when wearing it — some will actually make you feel cooler.

This will also help you stay dry and comfortable because the fabric blend will help pull the moisture away from your skin and onto the second layer of undershirt where it can be absorbed.

Layer 2 – Sweat Blocking

For the second layer, I’d recommend wearing a standard 100% cotton undershirt. You can find fairly cheap undershirts at the same places listed above.

If you don’t get enough sweat protection, try using a sweat blocking undershirt. You can find a list of sweat management products here.

Alternatives To Layering

Here are some other ideas to consider.

Wear A Fitted Sweat Blocking Undershirt & Size Down

Instead of layering, you may want to find a fitted sweat-blocking undershirt, and size down one size. The smaller size could provide enough flattening to mask your puffy nipples.

Use A 7-Day Antiperspirant With A Compression / Shapewear Undershirt

Using a 7-day antiperspirant like Sweat Shield Ultra or SweatBlock to minimize your underarm sweat. Alternatively, you may want to consider asking your doctor for a prescription of Qbrexza.

Install Underarm Pads On A Compression / Shapewear Undershirt

Find super absorbent stick-on underarm pads (amazon) and use them on the inside of a men’s shapewear compression undershirt. Alternatively, you could remove the underarm panels from a sweat-blocking undershirt and have a seamstress or tailor add them to a compression undershirt.

DIY Sweat Blocking Compression Undershirt

Take some left over fabric, or cut out the underarm area of a less expensive undershirt, treat it with a super-hydrophobic coating like Rustoleum’s DWR, and have that sewn into the outside underarm area of your compression undershirt.

This would allow sweat to be absorbed into the compression undershirt, but the outside fabric with the coating would block the sweat from penetrating through.

Let me know if try either approach and keep me posted how it works for you.

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This article has been updated, re-written, and republished. The original comments below have been maintained for historical purposes.