Boobs, I mean, Bras, and the eternal frustration

I didn't really get boobs until i was in my 20s though which was sort of strange.

me too - i had always yearned for bigger boobs, then when i got them i realised they were really not worth the trouble.

To be fair, and to crossover w that "things your mom said forever" thread, one thing my mom said forever was, "You're so much more...voluptuous than I ever was."
laurel your mom is obsessed with talking about bodies, my GOD!

I didn't get "real" boobs until my twenties. I thought I was done at 18 but I grew an inch in height between the my 19th and 20th year, also had to start shaving under my arms. Previously there was nothing there. I went from went from a 34B to a 38C between my 21-26 years old despite losing what my mother called baby fat everywhere else. This is why I don't think young girls should get breast implants as high school or college graduation gifts. You are still growing and changing sometimes until you are 25 or so.

As you may have noticed, LL, my mom is obsessed with TALKING. Lots of things have been said over the years, many of them repeatedly!

My bra feels great today, btw, being 3" smaller!!! I can't believe I've been wearing it so loose for months and months.

Question to all: How long do you keep a bra, on average, before throwing it out & replacing? Usually my answer is "under the underwires stab me in the soft tissues" but this whole band-size thing is making me revise that estimate downward.

*Until the underwires stab me

^^

Yeah. I mean - until the other week I literally had ONE BRA that I would just wash every couple or night or so and it had been that way for at least a couple years. It was a dire situation.

It is said that if your bra has the correct band size, the underwires will stab you less because they are held snugly against the body in the right place. Also the friction of wearing a too-big band won't erode the underwire casings.

Per my email, I bought my last round of bras on July 19, 2010 and since I don't really have any plans to replace them any time soon, I'll go ahead and say two, two and a half years. I have four, wear two each week, and wash them in the god damn washing machine like the good lord intended (but I don't put them in the dryer).

Although thinking about it, I bought those bras because the underwires were popping out of my last set. I lost an underwire from one of these bras but I just sewed it back in.

When the underwires stab me, it's because they've worked their way out of the casing by breaking through the lining fabric after like 3 years of ownership or more, so that's probably way past the time when I should have jettisoned them for other fit/quality reasons.

You all sound v sensible, I will assume that proper fit would prolong the wearability and proceed accordingly.

Wait, I forgot to add my conclusion sentence:

Therefore, I replace my bras every two, two and a half years, but that's about when the underwires start springing out of them like springs from snake nut can.

I was somewhere relatively public, like a doctor's office waiting room or restaurant or the bus, and my underwire had wormed its way out of the casing and was poking up out of my shirt right in the middle of my cleavage. I actually poked myself in the chin when I looked down to see what the hell was happening to my boobs.

Real laffs in office.

Then I had no choice but to just pull it all the way out and I was stuck running around at half-mast with one boob up and one boob down until I could get home and address the problem.

I felt like a chick lit heroine.

my bra situation has been dire for years and years and years. once upon a time i found these amazing t-shirt bras, i forget the brand (it was in nz), but they were a perfect mix of underwire/lightly-lined/not-stiff, and they provided that nice kind of relaxed-boob-70s-style kind of shape AND they were really comfy. but they were cheap and would stretch out like crazy after a few weeks and be totally useless.

while the target bras i got the other day are still not entirely the right fit, i was amazed by how bad my old bras feel in comparison.

how do we feel about bralettes? i might get some for summer since i don't think i am going to the magic bra/boob store anytime soon.

(although i would like to go with you, jenny, i don't know where that store is or if it's downtown, but that's a two hour roundtrip journey for me, and therefore so not gonna happen)

It's off the Sedgewick Brown Line. I don't know why I said after work. I don't care when we go if you want to go.

I had my 'current' ones for a good 4 years or more, good old Marks & Spencers. They've held up well, just me that's changed. I am pretty desperate to get back to M&S actually.

M&S online all the way

M&S are great. I also like getting Freya and Fantasie from Debenhams (sale only cos I go through bras very quickly).

I have several cup sizes on my mother, who more than once has shamed me in public by asking if I'm wearing a bra. Gave me a complex for years.

I've been buying my bras from Debenhams but every time I find one that fits they discontinue it and then (optionally) bring out ones in the same range which look similar but fit completely differently i.e. not at all, so next time I'm going to M&S, where I may also be able to find a lingerie assistant over the age of 19 to measure me.

Hate it when the underwiring pops out, I bought a bra last year which fitted and I liked but the underwiring squeezed out after about 3 wears and would not stay back in. I was v cross.

i did it! went to nordstrom's and spent $180 on... 2 bras. so poor right now :(

but i got this one, which is my absolute favourite bra style.

chantelle bras are gorgeous

they are, but goddamn, i never even spent HALF of that on 2 bras before. AND i'm gonna have to hand-wash and line-dry them!

oooh sooo nice! i want and must have

found a bra i decently liked at target and went back to buy another in a different shade and it looks like they are discontinuing it! noo.. picked up two in weird colors for $8.50 each, but couldn't get one in a neutral color that can be worn under white :(

i really wish i didn't wait till 32 to figure out my actual size start wearing really quality bras

this bra is amazing. but now i'm looking at the chantelle bras on sale on the nordstrom site and thinking "hmmm $51-55 isn't THAT much for a bra..." since i just spent $90. plus i got 2 black bras, and i mean, come on, i REALLY need a white one and a nude one, AT THE VERY LEAST.

the target t-shirt bras? i got one a few months back - super comfy and fairly flattering!

White bras are actually amazingly un-useful! I think bras shd only come in nude and black. And comedy patterns/colors, obv but like where utility is concerned....

I mean because you can see the outline of a white bra through white clothing, because--shockingly!--your skin is less white than the fabric.

That brings you down to only needing 1 nude one, and that's only $50. Nbd.

but i need a white one to wear under a red and white summer dress! because i don't like nude straps showing

Oh well then I can no longer help you justify buying 2 more bras.

are there bras that come in comedy patterns? what would be a comedy pattern for a bra?

like a recursive bra, patterned with bra-adorned boobs, wearing bra-patterned bras? that would be funny

There's this pinkish-red bra I really like (but $$$ - red version of one of the Rigby and Peller ones) but if I get it, damned if I'm also getting the knickers, which are just ridiculously priced. But I'm never going to find cheapo knickers that really match. I wish I could convince myself that black knickers and red bra is ok, but I can't.

seen elsewhere:

<i>I was at Nordstrom Rack today and they are having their bi yearly clearance sales (up to 75% off in some cases). In the lingerie section, I noticed that they actually had a range of sizes!</i>

I don't own any bras in "colors" or patterns, so I kind of meant comedy to be any color tbh! I sometimes look at figtree.com longingly for the prettily beribboned and patterened specimens but I never buy them. Too impractical.

Same. The ones I bought last month were very pretty but in a very basic practical way. Two black and one nude with a little lace/detailing but pretty no nonsense. They were all 30% off and all under $40 a piece. I get fancy lingerie for special occasions but have never been all that into it. If you're doing it right it's just gonna end up on the floor sooner rather than later anyway.

for pale skin, some shades of pink or lavender blend under a thin white tee the same as a beigy-nude bra. i used to have a lavender bra that was better than any beige bra i'd tried.

i love the idea of pretty bras but always end up going with practical.

haha "comedy bras"
it's funny cause it's true

i like nude bras under white and light-coloured t-shirts bc they really do make you seem nude! except with gravity-free boobs

imo brightly-coloured bras with thin straps are really good for wearing under spaghetti-strapped tops - it looks more classy than a regular black/white/nude bra strap, esp in a contrasting colour.

i'm mostly a black bra kinda girl tho, but if there's ever (so rare) a dark purple or dark blue or dark green version, i will go for that in a heartbeat instead. but, yes, rare to find...
and i don't often wear white or really light-coloured t-shirts anyway

comedy bras to me are bras with patterns of colour and texture so that you can therefore only wear them under, i don't know, sweaters?

i think on another ils thread we were briefly talking about the ubiquity of the "fancy t-shirt" and how this is what i and many of us wear rather than blouses (i know you wear blouses though, Laurel!) and other types of tops (what are these tho i do not know. dresses i guess. or something.) anyway, the comedy bra is only a friend to the fancy t-shirt when it matches the fancy t-shirt in colour.

xp! :)

I have a turquoise blue leopard print bra which believe qualifies as a comedy pattern. Also my bra with Eiffel Towers on the straps.

omg!!!

If you're going to have a little sparkly thingy perched somewhere, which so many bras do, it might as well be the Eiffel Tower imo.

If you're doing it right it's just gonna end up on the floor sooner rather than later anyway.

haha, this is why my underwear are all basic solid colored cotton briefs

See rosemary knows what I'm saying.