This is one of those topics where I'm sure many members have funny stories about early experiments to share for us all to laugh and learn from. My own adventures involved filling bras with stockings pushed inside each another, bags of bird seed and even spare socks – anything to fill the void.
It was a void I needed to fill, even if I was sketchy about the whys and hows.
That was back in the 1970s – unimaginably long ago, I know – when there was no realistic chance of finding a community of like-minded people who could share advice like here. Gender expression wasn't so much locked in the closet as in search of a closet it could be locked in. There were hardly any specialist shops and the few that did exist had no way of promoting themselves beyond coy box ads in magazines, because the internet did not exist. Be very grateful for the resources we have today.
Let's suppose you've decided to take the plunge and want to take the first step towards buying something better than cup fillers you can make at home. There is an overwhelming choice of forms available these days, almost all of which are made in silicone. They can be split into two main categories: separate breast forms (often but not always sold in pairs) and breast plates.
Breast plates differ from breast forms, because the forms are attached to a sheet of silicone which covers the front of the chest and extends at least partially over the shoulders when the plate is being worn.
There is an in-between category of breast forms where the forms are permanently attached to some sort of harness. These leave the chest free other than where the harness and the forms make contact, but although they are cheap enough to fall into the 'first experiments' category, the mechanics of wearing them can prove disappointing.
From now on, I'm going to call separate forms which need to be bought in pairs just 'forms', and breast plates 'plates'.
Types of forms
Forms come in every shape, ranging from teardrops, through triangles with rounded corners, to asymmetrical. Most ranges consist of a series of different sized forms identified by numbers, or less helpfully, by cup size.
We will get onto why classing forms by cup size is unhelpful in the next post in this set.
Many forms have non-adhering backs and most of these are designed to be worn in a 'pocketed' bra, although some can be attached with surgical skin adhesive. If you put forms like this in an ordinary bra which isn't fitted with pockets or don't use adhesive (assuming the forms are compatible with it) then they will work their way out.
This always happens inwards and downwards at the most inconvenient moment possible, causing sudden and dramatic alterations of shape. As in, 'Why do you suddenly have a breast where your belly button should be?'
Wearing forms with pocketed bras
You can buy attachable pockets for ordinary bras as loose items from some lingerie retailers - which are sold for women who have had mastectomies. Bras with built-in pockets are sold by specialist surgical suppliers like Amoena (with them do make sure you specify both left and right pockets). I notice Transform make a pocketed bra with sheer cups which looks fun, but with many high street chains also offering more demure pocketed bras for less, you have plenty of options if your second name isn't 'look what I've got'.
If finances are tight and you are adept at sewing, you can make your own 'half pockets' – a triangle of material attached to the inside of the bra running from the top of the gore between the cups one each side to the point where the cradle attaches to the cup at the lower edge of the band and from there around the bottom curve of the cup. This is plenty to keep most forms in place, unless you are contemplating something really wild.
The advantage of non-adhesive forms is that they are cheaper than self-adhering ones, but the downside is that don't feel anywhere near as good as self-adherent forms do. Why? With self-adherent forms, the weight is on your chest wall and the bra band, while with non-adherent forms in pockets, the weight falls on the straps of your bra followed by the band.
Regardless of what follows, inexpensive non adherent forms in a pocketed bra are probably the best way to start, especially if you are in doubt.
Be aware that wearing larger (read, heavier) non-adherent forms will also cause bra straps to cut into your shoulders and when you lean forward, the cups will hinge at the gore and swing away from your chest. It doesn't matter how tight the band, this will always happen, so be aware of it if you decide on this kind of form and bra system. So if non adherent forms in a pocketed bra are your first experiment, don't go mad on the size! A form that lets you be a C cup is plenty and a B is even more practical.
The biggest disadvantage of wearing non-adherent forms with pocketed bras is the additional expense of modifying every bra you buy, which adds up if you own more than a few. Pockets also detract from the look of bras, most of which are designed to look attractive. Part of the problem is that pockets have to be slightly larger than the forms which go into them, so the fit will always be less good than it would be with self adhesive forms.
Self-adhesive forms are about 25% more expensive than smooth backed ones, but they have many attractions, the major one being that you can change bras without doing any more than put your arms through the straps and doing up the hooks. For most people who cross dress, they are the most practical solution.
Surgical adhesive for attaching forms
You can use surgical adhesive to attach some forms but if you do, do not forget if the doorbell rings you will not be peeling them off in a hurry, so a baggy top, a great story or absolute honesty will be the order of the day.
I have little experience of using adhesive because I find it inconvenient as far as preparation, application, setting time and removal time goes, but everything depends on your needs.
If you are only planning on wearing forms for a few hours at a time, adhesive is more of an inconvenience than an advantage. However, if you absolutely need forms to stay put without a bra or tight top to help hold them in place, adhesive is the only way to go, other than a pull-over the head type breast plate. And if you are planning to wear forms for several days, then adhesive is more or less the only way to go.
However, if you are planning to use adhesive, double check your forms are compatible, because the backing material of some more sophisticated forms is unsuitable. Applying adhesive to the wrong sort of form risks damage.
The other disadvantage of adhesive is the cumulative expense. The gold standard used to be made by Hollister, but it was variably available outside the US and no longer on the market. Substitutes have appeared in specialist stores, but none are cheap. If you buy adhesive, you will also require a compatible adhesive remover.
One thing to be aware of with self-adherent and especially with glued-on forms is that if you suffer from cholinergic urticaria aka prickly heat or hives, then you will need to be cautious, because there is no better place for heat and sweat than between a layer of skin and the back of a closely coupled form.
Beyond cosmetics
To my mind, the three most important qualities of a breast form are how easy it is to live with, how well it works with bras, and how it feels.
Cheaper forms are usually made from dense silicone, which means they are heavy, solid instead of squishy and may have shapes that look good out of a bra and bizarre in one. Plus, if someone brushes against a more solid form, they will know.
More expensive forms often have soft, flexible skins over a liquid silicone core and conform better because they are as almost as squishy as real breasts. The best forms (my experience is mostly of Amoena and Amolux) will pass the feel test, should your partner be so inclined.
What size should I be?
A good question, because on it much expenditure will depend. I had a fun time trying to work out the distribution of cup sizes in women in real life and despite being an experienced user of PubMed found little evidence I would trust, along with many surveys widely quoted in lay blogs that are completely fantastical because of built in statistical bias.
Cup size varies with body mass index (BMI) but in women with a BMI less than 25, the most common cup size is a B. The distribution among women in the west is in the region of 28% A cup, 46% B, 18% C and D or above, 8%.
Why is cup size relevant when I am choosing forms?
For three reasons.
First, the easiest bras to find are B cups with some ranges lacking an A and many not including any larger size than a D. If you opt for cups outside of the range B to D, your choice of bras will be more limited. That is not to say that you will struggle to find bras you like, just that there isn't the infinite choice there is for smaller cups.
Second, most women's clothes are designed to work best with an A or B cup and play progressively less well with larger cup sizes – and once you go above a D, a lot of tops and dresses simply don't fit. Say you decide to be a UK/US DD (that's an EU E), then it will be five inches (roughly 12.5 cm) further around your boobs than it is around your chest, which can be a problem because most non-stretch clothes only allow a couple or three inches of slack.
Dress sizes are a whole new world of hurt, but if you opt for D size forms, then in most fitting systems your boobs will need a dress or top two sizes bigger than your band measurement suggests. Which means that if you go for a top that fits your band measurement the gaps between the buttons will gape over your bra and if you buy a dress that fits the same way, it will ride up at the front and pull the waist up toward your armpits, assuming it fits at all. Clothes are for another article, but keep this in mind.
Third, it depends on how much you want to get noticed. There are numerous studies to show that guys take in breasts as part of their first glance at a woman – so if you are an outlier at the larger end of the scale, you will get noticed more often. Women do not look at other women's breasts so much. Perhaps you do want to be noticed by men and if so, that's fine, but if you are trying to blend into the crowd, a B may be your best option – a D or beyond is most definitely not.
Next, we'll look at breast forms in more detail.
