If you wear a bra on average for 12 hours per day an uncomfortable bra will be impacting you for 84 hours a week! Before you resort to burning your bra, we’ve cracked the top five common myths so that you can start to love your lingerie again.
Most women need to try on 6 or more bras in “their size” before they find one that fits “okay-enough”.
Do you relate? We can blame the lazy, old-school bra industry for our pain... Most brands only try their new styles on a size 12B (34B) model, who has been carefully picked to best fit this size. Other sizes are sent straight to your local retailer without ever being fitted on a human! That smug friend you have, who’s never had any issues? She’s probably a 12B.
So, the next time you are struggling in the fitting room, remember, it's the bra industry, not your body that's the problem!
This myth is odd and we struggle to find where it originated. It’s so strongly held that whenever we post about petite fit issues, we get comments from outraged bigger busted women, who just cannot believe small busts have their own issues. Unfortunately, for petites, they’re quite wrong.
Two key issues plague more petite busted women - wires that are way too narrow and cups that gape.
Half empty or half full? We say, wrong cup! After fitting hundreds of women we can confidently say we’ve never had a small busted woman we can’t find a great fit for. Usually, by some combination of making her band firmer and ensuring that the wire in the cup is wide enough to capture all her tissue, we get to a fabulous solution without the need for padding (unless she’d like it).
Narrow wires a problem? They simply need to be replaced with wider ones.
Everyone seems to have gotten on board promoting the myth that D-cup is a large bust size. We blame men’s magazines, fibbing celebrities and ‘fashion’ lingerie brands who cap their sizes at a D-cup...
We’ve fitted lots of breasts and the standard D is honestly not that big. Sometimes we’ll still see a celeb say they’re a D and we know if they came into get fitted they’d be closer to a G.
It’s also worth being aware that cup sizes are relative to the band size - so a 12D is a cup size smaller than a 14D… An 8D is actually equivalent to a 12B! Not that big, huh?
Contrary to what lots of women believe, wires should not be uncomfortable. We’ve converted lots of sceptical friends back to wires away from bralettes by correcting these common issues.
The underwire is stabbing your armpit - you need a wider wire or smaller back (which will hold your wires open).
Wires dig in between your breasts - this is usually due to your bra band being way too big (or less often cups being too small for you). It’s counter-intuitive when something is hurting so much to make anything tighter… but it’s often what’s required! Still don't believe us? Try wearing the back of your bra open - you'll find the wires start to dig between your breasts.
Wires dig in underneath your breasts - either your bra band is too small or your breasts are too big for the cups.
Firstly, before we go any further, your bra straps should NOT be holding up your breasts. The band of the bra should hold at least 80% of their weight, not your shoulders.
If you have the right band size but still find yourself repeatedly pulling up your bra straps, you'll likely find that your bra band is too big. A band which is too big triggers a cycle - first we tighten our straps to both hold their cups firm against the breasts, the straps respond by pulling the back of the bra up. Once the back has ridden up the straps become too long and fall off!
If you experience this try putting your bra on a tighter hook and make sure it stays in place, at least 4 fingers below your shoulder blades all day.
Good lingerie should make you feel beautiful, work under your clothes and be comfortable. Whether you're a 6A or a 16D there are options for you, for 80+ hours a week of increased comfort and confidence, it's worth investing in finding a style that works for you.
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Experiencing your own niggles? Take our quick survey to find the root cause of your fit issues.
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