This post is all about styling your stoma bag. You all know I’m a big fan of my stoma. Transforming my life from chronic illness to feeling free in more ways than one, but something big is happening… I feel a change in the cosmos. It’s embracing a stoma bag by accessorising it. In this blog post I’ll talk about where my fellow ostomates can redefining their confidence and dress up their stoma bag, making stoma accessories accessible.
Grey, black, white, beige
Given that stoma bag are medical devices it’s a miracle they come in more colour than one. There is a limited range of colours manufactured, also unsurprising due to the variety of different stoma bags!
I was given a handful of different bags to try after my surgery and while I liked the look of a black bag made by Salts, it wasn’t for me because of the lingering fart smell it gave me when I had leak after leak threatening to escape the adhesive plate.
A small handful of companies manufacture bags in black, grey, white and skin tone. While I appreciate the skin-toned are designed to be more discreet than the other colours, and some may even prefer it but I have no issue about someone seeing or knowing about my stoma bag so this one is not for me.
After all, someone noticing my stoma bag can start a conversation about it and lead to greater awareness, which is never going to be a bad thing in my opinion.
My bag of choice
For my non-stoma readers, stoma bags come in all shapes and sizes. Not only do you have different sizes for the bag itself, typical coming in maxi, midi or mini, but the base plate (the big that attaches the bag to the skin, come in different shapes and sizes too.
With all this variety, after surgery we need to shop around, try them out and pick the one that fits like a glove, feels secure and gives us the least amount of leaks.
My bag of choice is the Sensura Mio convex bag by Coloplast. You tend to stick to your choice until there’s an issue, for example, I was on a flat bag until I woke up night after night with a leak in my baseplate over and over until I switched to a more convex shape.
Coloplast announced fairly recently the Sensura Mio ‘collection’, shall we say, is now available in black, Hurrah! I’ve already seen some beautiful people show it off around on instagram (I’m waiting for it to be ‘released’ in Australia soon!).
Styling your stoma bag
As well as healthcare companies expanding their colour offering, there are some innovative, talented entrepreneurs around making bag covers in every colour and fabric you can imagine!
These bag covers are in the shape of a stoma bag, have a round hole to go around the back of the bag, and can be slipped onto any stoma bag. I can’t yell enough about how great these are, and I can’t believe it took me a full year to purchase one.
Bag covers not only add a pop of additional colour to your outfit, but they’re incredibly soft on the skin, and my purple Satin Collection bag from Osto.mefashion has me wanting to wear it 24/7. I love the creativity of the bag and honestly wish I had one in every colour.
I’m thinking about white silk cover for our wedding day- even if nobody can see it, proving the point that it’s for me, and not anyone else. This isn’t so somebody else can feel comfortable about a stoma bag, this is about us feeling more confident in our own bodies, which includes our stoma bags.
Saying that, you’ve got to see how I styled my stoma bag at a recent festival-themed event, in my post ‘The disco bag‘ with a cover from the Osto.mefashion disco collection, you can’t miss this iconic handmade outfit by yours truly.
Other companies you can check out that are making this ostome fashion accessible are OmyNo2Bags on Etsy, Spooniethreads.com.
What I’d love to see
We need more bag covers that look sleek and sexy, feel good and uplift ostomates around the world! Let’s say a fashion company that offers co-ords with stoma bag covers, a bikini that goes with my stoma bag, or even a tan friendly stoma bag solution. When I get a little tan I always get a white circular tan line going above my bag plate, it’s the small things!
How do we feel about pockets on them? Somewhere to store a little lip balm? My keys? No, perhaps not. Imagine, a pocket for your coins on the pocket for your poop!
Send this post to your friends with a stoma bag, or get them a nice gift voucher at one of the shops mentioned as a thoughtful and supportive gift!
