D cups after a year?! All right! Hey wait a minute... :/

[melissa_h]

It really does vary by manufacturer, and the rules shift a bit if you get into plus size as well.  I've also seen places advocate measuring above the breast vs at the nipple (which would typically account for the +4 for measuring under).

A 42A can fit like a 38B ... depending on the fabric type.  I know there's another conversion in there, because some manufacturers don't like to push past the 38/40 band size.   

That said, so far, a 42A fits really well for me, just difficult to find aside from a few manufacturers I've found thru amazon. Push much past 38, and B becomes the min size for most.

[Jenna Marie]

Well, all I know is, I've been professionally fitted as 38DD - and the woman eyeballed me for a minute and came right back with the right size.  (My wife, now, took about an hour of trial and error...) So I have to assume my dimensions were not particularly unusual to a person who'd fitted thousands of women for bras. I'm not skinny, but even cis women's breasts are 30-60% fat tissue; that doesn't make my breasts any less real than anyone else's.

With that said, I also strongly recommend getting professionally fitted (by a real expert) *because* those online calculators can return really weird results. My wife, for example, got told that she was anywhere from a 32B to 44G. That's not very helpful.

[kris2147]

It may be worth spending some time over at . It has a measuring guide for trans people that's very accurate. It'll be a lot larger in the cup than you expect (and likely smaller in the band)
The only thing to be aware of is that you should probably size down one or two in cup sizes depending on how you calculate it to account for the difference in the ribcage. Don't add 4 inches, that'll give you a too large band and a too small cup, in a bra the band should be very snug as it does all of the work in supporting the breasts.
Btw, the community over there is super welcoming and are more than happy to assist trans people in checking measurements and sizing.


Mod Edit- no links from competing forums please. TOS 1.

[kristincardigan]

The honest truth about those bra size charts is that they are all over the place. The only way to get a good bra is to go in and try them on. I remember bra shopping online with my wife and there is no science or standard. All I can say is welcome to wild world of women's clothing and throw all logic out the window. Learn to love the mystery and magic of every brand and store fitting different than the last!


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[JLT1]

The honest truth about those bra size charts is that they are all over the place. The only way to get a good bra is to go in and try them on. I remember bra shopping online with my wife and there is no science or standard. All I can say is welcome to wild world of women's clothing and throw all logic out the window. Learn to love the mystery and magic of every brand and store fitting different than the last!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This^^^^^

Just don't get so big that you can't try one on in the store.  THAT is a real problem....

Hugs
Jen

[abd789]

This is another reason I love thrift stores.... the big one near me has a zillion bras (they only put out the clean ones, lol)  and many are new with tags.... but they are usually 1 or 2 dollars. I grab several each time I go and if I find a super awesome keeper, I just ebay or google and buy a couple new ones using the tag and size on the thrift one. Ive used this as well for jeans and tops as well

[Dani]

Ladies please, i did not mean to brag or cause any controversy about my bra size. I just wanted to mention what is happening to me. Yes, I was very overweight, but so far I have lost over 110 pounds and I am still losing weight. My breasts are more than a handful each. I went shopping last week and came home with a 42D bra by fitting trial and error. My under band measurement is about 39 inches and still going down. My breasts now have much more glandular tissue than what I had before I started hormones. Yes, I can feel the difference between glandular and fat tissue.

We used to say that if the shoe fit wear it. I guess the same applies with bras.
Four months ago I wore a 40C. Now I wear a 42D. This is the honest truth.

[Lady_Oracle]

i am not jaleous of man boobs at all and this message wasnt addressed to you .  Sorry if you think the hat suit you.


@Jessika , if i was taking measurement like this i would be  37 bust- 31 underbust   wooot i am 32 A B C D E   , omg i am 32E

lol..

this is how to have your real measurement :
http://www.lasenza.ca/customer-service/size-charts/size-chart-bras

please note this part under the chart :  If you measured 29 inches in your under bust, you are a 34 band size.


band size is not synonym of underbust size

adding inches to your band size is an outdated form of measuring. I measure exactly 29 and wear mostly 32 band sizes, 34s often slip and are too big.

The most accurate bra size calculator is this one http://www.brasizecalculator.tk/

Also learn your sister sizes everyone, helps a ton when shopping. Balconettes are great for wide set breasts which most trans women have that start hrt past puberty, unless of course you get breast aug done. Ideally any bra with a wide center gore is best.

[archlord]

Well thats weird..  my breast clearly look like A cup but according to the calculator i would be  :

i am  31-31.5 at band


Estimated Bra Size
32D/DD
Nearest Sister Sizes
34C/D   30DD/E


wich is not accurate  even with sister sizes... i wouldnt be getting a BA in 18 days if this was the case loll! 

[Lady_Oracle]

Its probably cause all of your muscle mass around your back and chest area hasn't rounded out yet. Until that muscle mass is gone and your fat has redistributed into female patterns then bra sizing in general will be sort of awkward, any calculator wont work accurately either. Best bet is just to measure your underbust/ribcage and go from there rather than focus on the cup size difference. Go to any shop and experiment with that band size in various cup sizes, find whatever fits best.

like I had little muscle mass when I started hrt. It made a profound difference in how bras/top fit me when I lost it all. I started at a 36 band size prehrt, shrunk down to a 32 after about 2-3 years.

[archlord]

Its probably cause all of your muscle mass around your back and chest area hasn't rounded out yet. Until that muscle mass is gone and your fat has redistributed into female patterns then bra sizing in general will be sort of awkward, any calculator wont work accurately either. Best bet is just to measure your underbust/ribcage and go from there rather than focus on the cup size difference. Go to any shop and experiment with that band size in various cup sizes, find whatever fits best.

like I had little muscle mass when I started hrt. It made a profound difference in how bras/top fit me when I lost it all. I started at a 36 band size prehrt, shrunk down to a 32 after about 2-3 years.

Yess!  you just explained what transwoman arent getting...  They arent D cup, they have lateral muscles and fat that increase the circumferance of bust,  not the bust (breast) itself.

Pre-HRT muscular i had 42 inch bust,   Pre-HRT rid of muscle( 5 month later) i had  34 inch bust   then after 3 month HRT i have 37 bust .  However there is clearly some muscle/fat left there that i may even have gained in male pattern after starting hormones   ( from 8% to 21.5%  some went on my back probably) 

This means... most of us and i  cannot use calculator/chart yet . You need to try many bra at store and find what is confortable and is your size


Male back :



Female back:



those images show how muscle stack in woman/men back  ... the band measurement is not took at the widest point and also not at the narrowest point but directly under the bust..   You can see that womans tend to have a more  rectangular back then mens ..  ( it depends at what degree ... dont show me a picture of a bodybuilder woman that take testosterone injections 4x per week lol)


i repost this from an earlier awnser i gave

this is how your breast would look like if they were 36D   : http://herbrasize.com/36d-breast-size/
i really doubt they look like this .

[Tech_Nymph]

Oh the struggles of womanhood.
Like when men sit around talking about their junk being bigger or smaller then other men's.
And here we have tit fights. Arguing about B cups D cups and band sizing. It's hilarious!

Here's the cure-all solution. Measure your garments to your proper fitment.
They are like pants, with all sorts of vanity sizing to flatter us.
Measuring tape doesn't lie. Use it.

Best of wishes gals.

[Beth Andrea]

My band size is 48, with a 52 bust...makes me technically a 48D...but when I went in to try bras on, I took one look at the 48D's and realized a D cup is big enough to fit a softball!!

Mine are more like tennis balls...the pecs and lats (which make up most of the masculine "V" chest shape) really throughs throws off the scale they use for bras, given that the bust line (measured around "the fullest part of the chest") is even higher on the pec+lat triangle.

I wear a 48B, btw.



ETA: correktion...D'oh!

[Beth Andrea]

Oh the struggles of womanhood.
Like when men sit around talking about their junk being bigger or smaller then other men's.
And here we have tit fights. Arguing about B cups D cups and band sizing. It's hilarious!

Here's the cure-all solution. Measure your garments to your proper fitment.
They are like pants, with all sorts of vanity sizing to flatter us.
Measuring tape doesn't lie. Use it.

Best of wishes gals.

Tit fits?   

[Tech_Nymph]

Tit fits?   

^^^YES!!^^^

[boheme]

Ah, the old bra size debate...

The whole adding 4 inches to your band size started as nothing more than "vanity sizing": clothing manufacturers know that a lot of women have insecurities about size, so far easier to sell a 34C bra to a customer than a 30F that makes her think her perfectly normal breasts must be huge...

Of course, some companies added 4 inches to the band and shrunk the cups; some kept band sizes at +0 but made cups bigger; others increased the cup size as the band size increased, so a 32D became a '32B', a 34E became a '34B', etc. As such, nobody really knows what any particular company does, as it varies so much -- and if a store uses a rule such as +4 for all of their bras, they obviously don't know either!

I do wish all the size shaming and misconceptions around cup sizes would go away though. 'A DD cup is really big!': uh, no, for most band sizes, it really isn't.

[abd789]

I tried on a DD today and it fit well.....   Didnt fit 2 months ago

[Dani]

Today I got measured:

Chest above the breasts - 43
Chest across the nipples - 46
Chest just under the breasts - 40

You do the math.
I went to the store and tried on several bras with sizes ranging from 40C to 42D.
I went home with the 42D.