"If a girl wishes to find a husband, her waist's inches shouldn't exceed her age in years, and she should marry before age twenty!"

Then there was (and still is) the much-debated question of how tight the corsets were actually worn. A good indicator for the degree of tightness, rather than just the waist size, is the hipspring, which is the difference between the hip and waist measurements. An uncorseted figure has eight to ten inches of hipspring, which increases with moderate lacing to twelve or up to fifteen inches. Devoted tight lacers can train from fifteen to twenty inches of hipspring.

Some did commit to more extreme forms of figure training, either encouraged or moderated by the parenting mother. These cases have been targeted by the journals and periodicals in the past, but also during the recent anti-corset episode of the 1960's and 70's. This has contributed to a distorted view of what was or is considered "normal" corset wear. Most wearers reduced their waists only by 3-4", which provides shaping and support, without being overly tight. With continuous training, the uncorseted waist will reduce over time, so that if a 3-4" reduction were maintained, this would eventually produce the admired 18" to 22" waists on the average young woman. By comparison, skin tight, belted jeans are capable of producing 1-3" constrictions and have been considered attractive for decades.

Figures with Fifteen to Twenty Inches of "Hipspring"

19th century school going girls were expected to wear moderate to tightly laced corsets during the day, and if they were figure training, then sometimes during the night as well. By starting from an early age, the shaping would happen naturally without undue stress on the body. The very flexible bone structure eases the body shaping process. It was probably inconvenient, yet without any torture as is so often presumed. The periodicals of the time often got carried away with the subject matter and would describe the practice as torturous and painful, where the reality was very different and driven by the care of the mother or governess to ensure proper figure development. It is important to realize that poor nutrition and minimal hygiene were major health issues, and the corset ensured at least a straight back and an upright posture. A British physician, Dr. William Adams, observed in his young female patients, that those wearing the tightest corsets had the straightest backs and consequently the fewest cases of scoliosis compared to the girls wearing looser or no corsets. The medical journals insisted on the supposed health hazards despite being unable to prove any of them. Later however, they did admitted (in public) that their tight laced patients lived long and healthy lives, which was embarrassing to the many doctors who had blamed just about any odd illness on tight lacing.