Ok ladies, today we get up close and personal with our
breasts. This is a topic that caught my attention a few months ago, and now I have made it my mission to spread the word.
I’ve recently educated myself about bras – their sizing,
fit, cut, etc. The most shocking thing I learned was that 80% of women are wearing the wrong sized bra!! That
statistic, as far as I can tell, is unverified. But based on the bras sizes
stocked by most stores, and the average size of ladies, I’d say it’s an
accurate stat. And guess what... I was one of those 80%, but not any more!
It all started with this video
by Caty135, and became a multiple hour research project of mine (because I
don’t trust anything unless I’ve heard it from multiple unrelated sources...
it’s the academic in me). What I learned made a lot of sense, and I want to
share it with as many people as possible!
I will share this information in 3 parts. Guess what?? This
is part 1! YAY!! Part 1 is about the bra, how it works, how it doesn’t work, and
common problems. Part 2 will show pictures of an ill-fitted vs a proper fitting
bra, and describe the difference. Part 3 will show how to measure yourself,
so you can get your own shiny new bras that
fit!
First off, let’s get some bra anatomy terminology out of the
way. I assume most ladies know these terms, but the one I didn’t know was the
gore, which is the little segment of fabric that holds the cups together in the
front.
How a bra works
An effective bra gives a woman’s breasts support to provide
lift and alleviate pain and future health complications.
A bra gives its support from the band, not from the straps, and therefore, a bra’s band needs
to be relatively tight, and the straps can theoretically not be there at all.
That’s why it’s possible to make and wear strapless bras.
The cup of a bra should be large/wide enough to completely
encompass the breast.
When you first purchase a bra, it
should fit properly when the hooks are hooked on the first (the loosest) column of hooks. The tighter
hooks are designed to extend the bra’s life, so as the band’s elasticity
weakens, you can use the next column of hooks, and the next column of hooks to
maintain the proper fit.
Common fitting problems
The most common problem among the
80% of women wearing the wrong sized bra is that their band is too big, and
their cup is too small.
- If your straps cut into your shoulders and the back of your band rides up your back, your band is too big!
- If you can stretch your band any more than about 1” away from your back, your band is too big!
- If your gore does not sit flush against your sternum, your cup is too small!
- If your underwire is painful, uncomfortable, or digs into your skin, your cup is too small!
- If you have the dreaded quad-boob, your cup is too small!
When you decrease your band size, you need to increase your cup size!
Did you know that a C is not a C is not a C?? A C cup is smaller on a bra with
a 32” band than a C cup on a bra with a 36” band. Cup sizes are based on the difference between the size of your rib cage and your bust, not just the size of your breast. It's a ratio thing.
↓↓ This is really important ↓↓
Your breast tissue moves... Not
like bouncing around, jiggling movement, but something called “breast tissue migration”. When
you put on a bra, make sure you do the swoop and scoop featured here
so that all of your breast tissue is right where it belongs: in your cup!
Ok, so there are some bra basics
for you. Stay tuned for part 2 to see examples of bras that do and do not fit.
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