Take the pain out of bra shopping
There’s nothing worse than an uncomfortable, ill fitting bra, and yet apparently most women are wearing lingerie that is an incorrect size. Wearing a bra that doesn’t fit properly can contribute to health issues like back ache, but you may also suffer from red strap marks and a lumpy looking silhouette, which doesn’t look good under clothes.
The ideal bra will be comfortable all day long rather than leaving you feeling constricted or tense, will enhance your shape under clothes and won’t leave your skin sore or marked. Bra shopping can be agony if you don’t really know what you’re looking for, so the best advice is to measure yourself before you hit the stores and develop a strong idea of what you need.
To measure yourself, stand straight and measure your back size to the nearest number in inches, locating the tape measure just beneath your breasts. You might want to ask for some help with this to ensure the tape measure is in the right place. Add four inches to your measurement, and the result provides a guide as to the back size you need to start trying.
Your cup size can be ascertained by measuring around the fullest part of your chest and calculating the difference between that figure and your back size. Each inch represents a cup size – therefore a difference of three inches indicates a cup size of C.
Having an accurate bra measurement is helpful, but it’s not the key to successful bra shopping. There may be differences between different brands and cup style, material type and band/strap width all play a part in a bra’s suitability for your shape and size.
The perfect bra feels comfortable around the band, which should be straight around your back rather than riding up, provides adequate lift and support without excess strain on the straps and encases all your breast tissue without creating bulging in any area. If underwired, the side wires should rest against your ribs without constricting any breast tissue. The section between the cups should be flat against your chest.
If any of these criteria are not met, you need a different cup or band size, regardless of what the tape measure says! You should also consider how comfortable and supportive the material is, whether it has enough, or too much, stretch to it, how prominent the seams on the cups are and whether they might show through your clothing and how each bra changes your silhouette when you’re dressed. Taking a plain t-shirt shopping with you so that you can assess your silhouette in the fitting room is extremely helpful.
So be prepared to spend a while in the fitting rooms during your shopping trip and don’t get hung up on numbers; it really doesn’t matter what size you wear!
Go for comfort and a good fit every time.
