Boobs, I mean, Bras, and the eternal frustration

YES.

Very OTM. And fuck the "just hand wash it" brigade. How about they make a bra that can take a machine washing instead of me having to do laundry like my goddamn great grandmother?

JENNY I TRIED TO SEND YOU A CARTOON TODAY BUT YOU LEFT THE INTERNET

Where did that thread where you asked about buying a suit go?

Good grief, it took me about 20 minutes to figure out you were talking about Facebook. I was like "Left the internet? Why didn't she just send it to me and I could look at it again when I was back online?"

Isn't the suit stuff in the No Boys Allowed thread?

BTW wore the zebra print jacket/black wool pencil skirt ensemble to another job interview today.

One day me and that jacket are going to walk into an interview and the interviewer is going to be like "I NEED THE WOMAN WHO WEARS THIS JACKET TO WORK HERE AND ALSO I WILL PAY HER A LOT OF MONEY."

Sarahel the bras I like from target are made by vanity fair, I think. They are great but I am a B cup - I don't know how they would work for the larger bobbed ladies.

I just had a Transforming Bra Experience that has shifted my entire Boob Identity.

Fed up with the escaping left nipple, tonight I went into Nordstrom and requested a proper bra fitting. A no-nonsense, knows-her-shit bra lady came into a large dressing room with me, had me take off my shirt, and immediately said: "Wacoal iBra, totally wrong size."

Already I am impressed that she identified the make and model with no cues. The size is a 34C.

Knows-her-shit bra lady then proceeds to measure my rib cage sizes up my boobs.

She disappears onto the showroom floor and returns within a minute with eight or so bras (Natoris and Wacoals) that she helps me in to. All but two fit me really well and are decent looking to boot.

The size of these wonder bras?

32DDD. That's right, down a band size and up four cup sizes.

I purchased four new 32DDD bras, two nude and two black. As knows-her-shit bra lady wrapped them up (dispensing intersting info like how best to wash, which hooks to start on, the importance of rotating, all this shit I had never heard before), she made me promise that I would immediately dispose of all of my 34Cs.

And thus I subscribe to a New Bra Paradigm in 2012.

dang

This makes me feel like I don't know anything anymore. I mean, I've been living with these boobs for a long time. How could I not realize I was way off base on their casings?

That's astonishing.

I need to do this but I'm afraid they'll tell me the size I'm wearing is too big and I need to go down.

I think one thing that had me so out of whack is that I grew up hearing/thinking that double Ds were "big boobies." Big meaning bigger than mine. Now I think it is finally dawning on me that when I think of big boobies (I have a couple of close friends who are WAY bigger than me), they aren't double Ds--they are like Fs. Knows-her-shit bra lady said Norstrom carries up through Ks!

LOL. Yeah see in my mind double d's are basically huge knockers. Maybe I'm wrong! Anyway I am glad you've found good bras. I literally only have one I like right now. I need to find a good knows-her-shit bra lady and get some new ones.

what is the difference between adding letters (dddddd) and going up a letter (to single e or whatever)?

are the sizes at all consistent across brands?

x-post - TBH I didn't even know bras came in Ks!

Come to DC, we will buy all the awesome bras!

My boobs definitely don't qualify as huge knockers--I kinda want all of the ladies of ILX to see my boobs in the raw, in the old 34C, and in the new 32DDD. It is a revelation!

I am so, so, so much more comfortable in this new bra. What have I been doing with my life etc. etc.

Bra lady said that depending on the brand, a DDD may translate as an E or an F. Which then makes a K entirely possible for truly huge knockered ladies.

I was gonna ask - the smaller band doesn't feel uncomfortably tight?

I sort of hate bras in general though so I dread being told I need to go down a band size and then being uncomfortable. If I can get away without wearing one (like under a sweater) then I go without. I hate them that much.

It doesn't feel uncomfortably tight, but it does feel like it is the weight-bearing part of the bra--with my old (larger-banded) bras, if felt like the shoulders were doing more support. This smaller band also actually stays straight around my chest and doesn't ride up like the larger band. I think it was the ride-up of the larger band that allowed the smaller cups to hold my boobs, but in such a way that nipple escape happened.

xpost

I kinda feel like I have found a new calling.

lol

Interesting! I have the band riding up problem. It sucks.

Spent all day dragging the straps back onto my shoulders and hooking the back down to do some supporting instead of crawling up to my neck under my clothes. HELLLLLP MEEEEEE

Yeah, it might be worth a shot going down a band size? I was forever fiddling with the strap adjustment, thinking that if I kept lenghthening the straps, it would help with the ride-up. . . but no dice.

xpost to E. Laurel, that sucks!

Hahah that bra is terrible, I'd throw it out but it's my last one in black. Time to drag my boobs to Macy's and do some shopping.

I need to do this but I'm afraid they'll tell me the size I'm wearing is too big and I need to go down.

This.

I don't understand why that would matter if the bra fit.

I can understand thinking that going down would be more binding/uncomfortable, but the riding up thing is really uncomfortable as well!

Bra lady also explained to me how the underwire should lie--again, a revelation.

xps

I kinda feel like I have found a new calling.

yay! another bra evangelist. i can go on and on and ON about fit, because having the right size made an incredible diff in comfort, and how i looked, too. i gained an inch in my bust measurement because i'd been squashed down!

laurel--the back riding up means your band size might be too big. that might help yr strap problem too. http://www.breakoutbras.com/sizing

(when trying on bras, keep going up a cup size, until you find a cup that's too big. the size under that is your size, even if it seems like a crazy size.)

(isn't it crazy how the underwire should lie? and having it flat in the middle--did not know that was POSSIBLE.)

also, those crazy alphabet cup sizes? they're not what you think. this is from thinandcurvy.com, showing the diff in band sizes and how they change her profile:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-CKU61X3PimM/TdwMi0xYIPI/AAAAAAAABcQ/QylXzgfBRyg/s640/bra_band_size_compare_30GG_28H_26HH.jpg

Mine always lay flat in the middle but I don't think they go as far back into the armpit as the ones in the proper pics do? That's it. I'm getting fitted this weekend.

Oh I know, the band is on the smallest hooks already and it's so worn out it doesn't hold anything, basically. I just hate to throw bras out before the fabric actually splits apart.

erica, if you hate bras and don't have huge knockers or shape issues, what about doing the underwire-less bra? those look way more comfy than reg bras.

i NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEED to get sized bc i haven't own a comfortable bra in many many many years, but i just can't stomach flashing my boobs at some strange lady (i know i know i'm such a sissy, i need to harden up etc.)

what is the difference between adding letters (dddddd) and going up a letter (to single e or whatever)?

are the sizes at all consistent across brands?

― mookieproof, Wednesday, January 11, 2012 6:38 PM (55 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

To answer your second question, not even close. There are size charts linked from this page that demonstrate this and answer your first question.

http://www.herroom.com/find-the-right-bra-size,940,30.html

^^^that is kind of insane!

it seems like there should be money to be made in doing this stuff properly, like sizes that make sense and everything?

otoh maybe women's attire is a cartel, as it seems (in my v. limited experience) that many things 'for women' are mysteriously more expensive than 'unisex' or 'male' things

Women's clothing sizes aren't standardized in the US Mooks so a size 10 from one store might be totally different than that from another. It's ridiculous and maddening tbh.

Although tbh the variety of sizing and the different fit models does allow women a slightly greater chance of choosing a brand/fit model that most resembles their actual bodies. It takes a lot of doing, though. And it means that the numbers in sizes are almost completely meaningless, except to distinguish one garment from another.

inevitably if i shop for jeans there will be exactly one pair in the store that fits me, at best, but i guess the sizes are at least supposed to correspond to waist/inseam inches in theory. and presumably the number in (american) bra sizes is inches, right?

the idea of 'dress sizes' as even numbers is just madness tho. there must be a better way?

anyway, sorry -- i am clueless and don't mean to hijack or anything, god bless us every one

Don't apologize! The eternal frustration of finding clothes that make us happy knows no gender.

E, I now realize that the underwire (if any, but even wire-free bra's have some sort of, er, cup-shaping-boob-stabilizing fabric construction where a wire would be) should lie down the vertical midline of your armpit and have no direct contact whatsoever with anything resembling boob flesh! It belongs further under your armpit than that!

wow I should go to bed before my writing gets any worse

But I will continue. . .

Justine, I would like to think that ladies would quickly get over any discomfort about having boobs hanging out if I were their bra expert. Like, with my lady, it was "sure I can take off my shirt." But it did feel a little weird to then take off my bra and have my boobs all hanging out with this person I just met like 23 seconds beforehand, but her very knowlegable and efficient manner made it feel A-OK in just moments, really.

i'm so happy about your boob/bra revelation!
i've had fittings and currently have two really great bras right now, but need a few more, so will go back to a couple of boutiques where knowledgeable ladies work. yaay well-fitting bras!

xp i know, i just can't quite work up the courage :/ so lame

The boob revelation has also helped me come to a conclusion about a "Weight Watchers vs. New Pants" thing that I have given more thought to than I really should have. I almost wrote about it in the sandbox on the no boys thread or whatever thread it was that we were talking about body image stuff, but I held off. . .

Anyway, FUCK THIS SHIT, I am buying new pants. DEAL WITH IT.

Justine, in my imaginary bra shop, I would be uber-sensitive to ladies who did not feel comfortable stripping down--that's not lame, it's just where they are! You work with people where they are!

So if stripping down didn't feel right, I would help you find a great bra by having you go into a dressing room and take off your top and bra, then don a button-down oxford, and I'd do measurements over the shirt. When it came time to try bras, I'd have you put them on privately and then put a thin, stretchy white T-shirt over it, and I could have a look (without seeing bare skin) at the bras under it and go from there.

Yeah it is so hard to find trousers that fit and are comfortable, whatever size you are. I seriously have to take off any trousers as soon as I get home, apart from my 'fat jeans' which are just jeans that are from Old Navy and therefore fit terribly.