Like many people, I purchased several items I thought would be helpful for cancer treatment. We want to be prepared, after all. It’s one way we can have control during a situation that otherwise feels so far beyond our control.

One of the items I bought during my research was the Radiant Wrap, a silky garment specifically meant for wearing during radiation treatment, though certainly not limited to this time period.

The Radiant Wrap was designed by Maria Lucas, a fellow breast cancer survivor, who felt there had to be a better alternative to the sterile, unflattering hospital gowns she donned for radiation treatment every day. Out of a desire to have something she felt more comfortable in, she designed her own gown, and soon others were asking for a gown of their own.

This post is an honest review of the Radiant Wrap from my own experience. Additionally, this post is not sponsored by Radiant Wrap, nor am I compensated for it.

If you find that after reading this you’d like you’re own Radiant Wrap, use code BETHD5 at checkout to get 5% off your order!

Cons

Let’s start with the cons and get those out of the way, shall we? Also, some of the positives are in response to the cons, so be sure to read all the way through. 😉

Price

I’ll admit that at $60 each, I debated about getting a wrap. There were several lotions and oils I was also buying for radiation treatment, so I was a tad hesitant about spending any more than I needed to.

Oils Went Through the Wrap

I used a lot of oily products as balms for my radiated skin. Like, a lot. I friggin’ loved me some coconut oil on my sensitive skin! The bugger, though, is that oil isn’t very nice to clothing. It stained the cotton tee shirts I often wore, and the oils seeped into, and then through, the Radiant Wrap. So if I touched the wrap where my oils had been massaged in, my hand ended up with some oil on it that had gotten through the wrap.

Generally this wasn’t a problem, as it’s not like I was rubbing against walls, furniture, people, or what have you. But it was something to take into consideration if I was holding something against me, or if I touched that area of my wrap and then went to grab something else immediately afterwards – I might end up leaving oily fingerprints on the next item.

I can’t speak in as much detail about using Aquaphor. I think it went through the fabric a bit, though not as much as the oils. However, with the oils the fabric generally slid off my skin and may stick a bit. With Aquaphor, though, the fabric quite frequently stuck to my skin; understandably seeing as Aquaphor feels a bit sticky.

Wide Armpits

The wide armpits in the wraps are a pro and a con. The wraps fit multiple sizes, so it makes sense to have armholes that allow for the variances in body types. But that also meant I had skin-to-skin contact around the armpit area where the fabric was loose on me. This wasn’t a problem early on in my treatment; but later on, that skin-to-skin friction is an irritant that can be uncomfortable as the burn progresses.

The Back Would Slide

This was my biggest issue with the Radiant Wrap. One of the beautiful aspects of the wrap is it has no buttons or snaps, you simply wrap it around so it’s easy to put on and take off. But for the life of me I could not get the wrap to stay in position. I watched several videos, tried multiple times, asked my mom to show me what I was doing wrong, but kept having the same issue. A shoulder would slide off or the back would open up. Though I certainly wasn’t indecent or flashing everyone, I was regularly readjusting the wrap’s positioning.

To counter this, my mom helped me sew a single small snap to the top where I wanted the wrap to overlap. This helped hold it together, as well as hold it in place. But I still adjusted it more than I wanted and often had a peephole opening along my back. (Some people may like that, especially in summer, but I found it a bit drafty.)

I Couldn’t Wear it During Treatment

The Radiant Wrap is solid in the front, which is beneficial so it doesn’t slide open and flash everyone around you. But I also found this difficult to work with during my radiation treatment. The wrap was designed so you wouldn’t have to wear a hospital gown back to the treatment room. But as I only had one breast that was being treated, this meant I either had to undo the wrap and wear it backwards in the treatment room, or I had to pull it all down below the treated area leaving my non-treated side exposed as well.

Because the room was cold, and for the sake of modesty, I wanted to leave my untreated breast covered. But turning the wrap around in the room would basically mean half stripping once I got there. (I know, I know, they’re looking at, touching, and moving my remaining breast anyway, so it doesn’t really matter. But I’m not the kinda gal to just walk in and pull her shirt open…. It’s not like anyone’s handing me Mardis Gras beads or anything…)

Rocking my Radiant Wrap to my last treatment. Obviously this was a Snap I sent a friend that day. 😉

Pros

Despite the cons I experienced, there are a ton of pros to the wrap!

Comfortable and Flattering

Materials may vary slightly, but the wrap I got was very lightweight and comfortable. Sometimes it was a bit chilly to wear around in April and May when I had my radiation treatment, but it’s perfect for summer or warmer areas.

And the fit is flattering! It hugged closely enough to show I had curves, but also draped in such a way that it hid my muffin top and other curves I perhaps didn’t want to be accentuated.

Because of the fit and material, it doesn’t look at all like a garment designed for radiation treatment. I could absolutely wear this to the store or other errands, or even out with friends, and it would look cute.

Gentle on the Skin

In part because it’s lightweight and silky, the material didn’t aggravate my radiated skin. It only gently rested on the skin rather than creating friction, which helped to not further irritate my skin.

Convenient for Hospital Visits

Even though I found it hard to wear the wrap during treatment, it’s still convenient to wear to other types of doctor appointments, like when your primary oncologist does your regular exams. It’s easy to slip off and tie back on, and it means not having to wear a paper gown. (Bonus!) And because you’ll be given a minute’s privacy to change, it means you have plenty of time to spin the wrap around so the front is open, unlike how I wanted to strip in the radiation room.

Fits a Range of Sizes

The wraps fit up to 2XL. On the one hand, this is why I had a problem with the wide armholes creating friction around my armpit. However, this also means you can gain or lose weight (ya know, like during chemo) and not have to worry about whether it will still fit.

It also means when you’re done with radiation treatment, you can gift your wrap to a friend without size being a major issue! Personally I think this is such a sweet idea, passing on your wrap to a friend as a gift when they have to start treatment. It’s like the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but with a Radiant Wrap!

So Which Side Wins? Pros or Cons?

Even though I didn’t end up wearing the wrap to treatment, and even though I had some struggles getting it to stay closed in the back, the pros to the wrap still outweigh the cons.

Though I wasn’t sure about the price, it’s still reasonable, it supports a small business, a business belonging to a fellow survivor no less, and this wrap will last a while! You can wear it daily during treatment and afterwards while you heal. Then you can keep it for your other appointments, or pass along the love to another patient who could use a flattering wrap like this.

Because I had trouble getting the back to stay closed and my oils leaking through, often I’d wear a plain black tee-shirt against my skin, then the Radiant Wrap over top of it. The black shirt was purely for practical purposes, but it certainly wasn’t flattering, especially since I still had no lashes or hair from chemo. Wearing my wrap over the shirt meant I had the practical layer first, but then could still look cute and feel cute with my wrap on the outside.

Check out Radiant Wrap’s Instagram, and there are plenty of women wearing their wraps to treatment and obviously in love with it! Perhaps it was a user error on my part getting it to stay put. Or perhaps those other patients figured out a way around the strip-n-spin aspect of wearing the wrap to treatment for one breast that I hadn’t thought of. Both of those scenarios are entirely possible! So just because I struggled wearing it for treatment and needed a snap in the back, that certainly doesn’t mean this is a common problem.

Final Thoughts

If I were back in March 2019 perusing the Radiant Wrap website, perhaps I would’ve been better off with a Radiant Robe instead of the wrap. The company also now makes cotton wraps, which I think would’ve really helped me regarding both the oils and the wrap staying in place.

That said, I still love my wrap. The design is beautiful, it’s comfortable, flattering, and multi-purpose. And if I do ever decide to pass it on, I can do so easily since it fits a range of sizes.

All in all, I would still purchase an item from Radiant Wrap… Actually, maybe two – both a cotton wrap and a robe. Between both items, I’d be set for whatever treatment threw at me, from surgeries to chemo to radiation to reconstruction. And then I could share the love with someone diagnosed after me.

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