Getting Changed in Public Changing Rooms: Your Survival Guide
Give me the short version
The changing room is often harder than the swim itself, so make the room do as little work as possible. Put your swimwear on at home under your clothes, so you are only removing a layer rather than getting undressed. Use an individual cubicle, which you have every right to do, and call ahead if you are not sure what a venue's facilities are like. If you tuck, set it up calmly at home and wear a proper tucking garment that holds in water, so you are not fixing anything mid-visit. And if a room ever feels wrong, you are allowed to leave. Being prepared, not braver, is what makes it easier.
I have stood in a leisure centre changing room, towel gripped, doing the maths on how fast I could get changed before anyone looked up. The pool was never the frightening part for me. It was that small, strip-lit room I had to get through first.
I'm Robyn Electra, founder of Gaff and Go. For a lot of trans and non-binary people, the changing room is the real hurdle: getting undressed close to strangers, managing a tuck in a cramped cubicle, working out where to look and how long you have got.
The swim is the reward. The changing room is the toll gate. This post is a practical guide to making that part easier. Only you can judge what feels safe and comfortable for your own body, but here's what works for me.
WHY DOES THE CHANGING ROOM FEEL WORSE THAN THE POOL?
It helps to name why this specific room gets to us.
At the pool you are moving, you are in water, there is distance between you and everyone else. In the changing room you are still, you are close to strangers, and you are doing the one thing that feels most exposing: taking your clothes off and putting different ones on.
There is also the tuck to think about. If you tuck, the changing room is where it happens or where it has to be adjusted, and doing that with people a few feet away is its own particular stress.
So the nerves make sense. You are not being dramatic. This is the hardest logistical moment of the whole trip, and once you have got a plan for it, the rest gets a lot lighter.
COME READY, LEAVE LESS TO CHANCE
The single biggest thing that helps is arriving with as little to do in the room as possible.
Where you can, put your swimwear on at home under your clothes. If you turn up already changed, the changing room stops being a place you get undressed and becomes a place you just take a layer off. That one shift removes most of the exposure. Our tucking swimwear is designed to be worn for the day, so you can tuck once, in private at home, and not have to think about it again until you are back.
If getting changed at home isn't an option, bring a plan instead. Know what order you are doing things in. Have your swimwear at the top of your bag, a towel within reach, and your going-home clothes packed so you are not hunting for them half-dressed.
Small things, but they cut the time you spend feeling on show.
USE THE CUBICLE, AND DON'T APOLOGISE FOR IT
Most pools and leisure centres now have individual cubicles, and you are completely within your rights to use one. You do not owe anyone an explanation for wanting privacy.
Plenty of cis women use them too, for all sorts of reasons.
Wanting a door that locks is not a trans thing. It's a normal thing.
If a venue only has an open communal area, it's worth calling ahead before you go. A quick check of what the changing facilities are like takes the surprise out of it, and knowing what you are walking into is half the battle. If the setup doesn't feel workable for you, that is useful information to have before you are standing there in a towel, not after.
MANAGING THE TUCK IN A SMALL SPACE
If you are tucking for your swim, do as much of the work as you can before you leave home. A tuck you set up in your own bathroom, calmly, is always going to be more comfortable than one you rush in a cubicle.
For staying tucked in the water, a proper tucking garment does the job far better than anything you have to reapply. Our tucking swim briefs and one-piece tucking swimwear are built to hold through swimming, so you are not ducking back into the changing room mid-visit to fix anything. If you are new to tucking altogether, our how to tuck guide walks through it gently, with no pressure and no assumptions about where you are.
And if you decide not to tuck, that is a complete answer too. Plenty of people swim untucked and have a wonderful time. The changing room is stressful enough without adding rules you don't want.
WHEN A ROOM DOESN'T FEEL RIGHT
I won't tell you every changing room is a safe one, because that wouldn't be true and you would know it wasn't.
What I will say instead is that you get to make the call. If a space feels wrong, you are allowed to leave. You are allowed to use the accessible or family changing room if that feels safer. You are allowed to go home and swim another day. None of that is failure. Looking after yourself is the whole point, and there is no version of this where pushing past your own alarm bells is the brave choice.
Most days, most rooms, it's fine.
Being prepared is what lets you tell the difference and act on it.
AFTER THE SWIM
Coming out of the water is often easier than going in, but wet swimwear and a small cubicle have their own faff. Bring a second towel if you can, one to dry with and one to stand on or wrap up in. A change of underwear and something loose to pull on makes the trip home comfortable rather than clammy. And give yourself permission to take your time. You have done the hard part.
The changing room will never be the fun bit. But with a plan, it stops being the thing that keeps you home. If you would like swimwear that lets you tuck once and forget about it, our swimwear collection is a good place to start, and our FAQs are there if you have any questions. I hope I see you in the water soon!
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