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For the first time today ever I wore a bra to work, it was a nude c cup bra with matching colour knickers and felt very comfortable to wear although admittedly towards the end of a 12 hour shift I was adjusting  the straps on top of my shoulders but overall I found it a positive experience and a small step in furthering my transitioning, do/did other trans ladies see wearing a bra for the first time as positive step to becoming female

Cayla x

Quote from: Cayla on May 25, 2019, 02:54:15 PM
For the first time today ever I wore a bra to work, it was a nude c cup bra with matching colour knickers and felt very comfortable to wear although admittedly towards the end of a 12 hour shift I was adjusting  the straps on top of my shoulders but overall I found it a positive experience and a small step in furthering my transitioning, do/did other trans ladies see wearing a bra for the first time as positive step to becoming female

Cayla x

@Cayla
Dear Cayla:
I  very much enjoyed reading your positive report, and rest assured that this is a first of many new and enjoyable experiences in you transition journey.

Thank you for sharing and posting.
I will be eagerly looking for more updates and reports from you.

HUGS and well wishes,
Danielle

Well, my first time wearing a bra was when I was about 12, so maybe it doesn't really count! ;)  It probably was a significant step.

The first time wearing one after coming out to my wife was a big step.  I was a couple of months into HRT, and even though I was still in male mode when in public, the girls were begging for some protection.  Taking that step told me that my physical transition was passing the point of no return, and that social transition was inevitable.  I was happy about that.

Congrats! I was terrified! I started a lot earlier than I needed to really, just wearing something pretty flat under my clothes to get used to it. I can't really get by without it now though!

Quote from: Cayla on May 25, 2019, 02:54:15 PM
For the first time today ever I wore a bra to work, it was a nude c cup bra with matching colour knickers and felt very comfortable to wear although admittedly towards the end of a 12 hour shift I was adjusting  the straps on top of my shoulders but overall I found it a positive experience and a small step in furthering my transitioning, do/did other trans ladies see wearing a bra for the first time as positive step to becoming female

Cayla x

Cayla,

That is a big step and congratulations!
When I first wore a bra, I wondered why except to feel good, as there was almost nothing to put in it! :)

Chrissy

Quote from: Cayla on May 25, 2019, 02:54:15 PM
For the first time today ever I wore a bra to work, it was a nude c cup bra with matching colour knickers and felt very comfortable to wear although admittedly towards the end of a 12 hour shift I was adjusting  the straps on top of my shoulders but overall I found it a positive experience and a small step in furthering my transitioning, do/did other trans ladies see wearing a bra for the first time as positive step to becoming female

Cayla x

That's  wonderful.
I tried with a illfitting one and took it of within a few hours.
A few weeks ago I bought one that feels wonderful. I wear it almost every day, today it third day in a row.(I need more of them).
I have long days as a truck driver, I am finding the more I wear it, the less "adjustment" needs to happen near the end of the day.
I feel fantastic wearing it.

I think wearing a bra can get old after  while!  It is pretty warm here where I live, and a bra is another piece of clothing that traps heat close to the body.  I try to find every excuse not to wear a bra, as long as I can keep a certain amount of modesty, I do not wear such a contraption anymore.  I need to wear one under sheer tops, but the thing comes off, as soon as I am back home.  My girls enjoy the feeling to be liberated again!
But i still can remember the excitement I felt wearing a bra for the first time!

Quote from: Cayla on May 25, 2019, 02:54:15 PM
For the first time today ever I wore a bra to work, it was a nude c cup bra with matching colour knickers and felt very comfortable to wear although admittedly towards the end of a 12 hour shift I was adjusting  the straps on top of my shoulders but overall I found it a positive experience and a small step in furthering my transitioning, do/did other trans ladies see wearing a bra for the first time as positive step to becoming female

When I started wearing a bra daily, I stopped in at a bra shop during lunch and was fitted.  I then bought one I liked and asked for the tags to be removed, so that I could wear it the rest of the day and went back to work.  No problem and I have been wearing a bra daily ever since.

BTW, you mentioned a C cup.  Do you have something to fill it?  I was a 38A, which fit me quite well, until I started on HRT and now have to buy new bras.

Thank you all for your experiences, I remember trying on bras when I was younger but yesterday was my first full day wearing a bra at work and in public, I do have breast pads but didn't use them as the bra I wore has stretch cups to fit your anatomy but at some point soon I will use the pads to fill me out more as I get more confident.

Cayla x

Hi Cayla,

I know how excited you must have felt wearing your first bra. I went out and bought my first one last week and was on cloud nine. I put it on as soon as I walked in the door. I really don't have much to fill the bra with, but hopefully that will change after I start HRT. Regardless it felt amazing putting that thing on.

Congrats to you!

xoxo

Lexxi

It certainly felt exciting stepping out knowing I was wearing a matching bra and knickers, I felt very feminine and feeling the bra around my chest felt good.  Lexxi it's nice to hear from a lady who has had a similar experience, it may sound like something small but I see it as something of a milestone in going public with wearing a bra as it can be obvious sign of showing your femininity in which people will easily recognize.

Cayla x

Quote from: Cayla on May 26, 2019, 02:24:19 AM
Thank you all for your experiences, I remember trying on bras when I was younger but yesterday was my first full day wearing a bra at work and in public, I do have breast pads but didn't use them as the bra I wore has stretch cups to fit your anatomy but at some point soon I will use the pads to fill me out more as I get more confident.

I'd say go with HRT, if you can.  There's nothing like the feeling of having real breasts.  I started HRT a few weeks ago and am already seeing significant growth.

I'd definitely be going on HRT if i can, I'd love to be able to have the feeling of my own breasts, it'd probably  take about 2 years for my referral to come through and then there's time after that to be prescribed HRT, I don't want to go down the unsafe route to starting on hormones so id have to bide my time.

Cayla x

Cayla,

I mentioned this in one of my posts about bras but you probably haven't seen it so I thought I'd tell you about it. I live in a really small town and I was at Walmart when I bought my bra. I had absolutely no idea how to pick one out.

Now I'm 6'4" and weigh 275 so sadly there will most likely never, ever be a time where I'll pass as a cis woman. (At least without having FFS which I don't think I'll ever be able to afford.) Also I'm divorced and everyone who knows me is aware of that. I was a businessman here in town and I know A LOT of people. So if I were to run into someone I knew I'm sure they'd be very surprised and confused to find me standing in the ladies undergarment section. Needless to say I was as nervous as nervous could be.

Anyway there I stood looking for pretty bras with absolutely no idea how to pick out my size. I wear either a 2x or 3x t-shirt and I hoped that bras went by the same sizes. Sadly there weren't any pretty bras in larger sizes. In fact I found exactly one bra that said 3x so I quickly threw it in my cart and headed for the self check-out, wondering the whole time whether it would fit or not.

Luckily for me the bra fit and it was perfect. I've since discovered that it's a sport bra, and apparently they don't make those in what I'd term as pretty. But that's okay. Now I know my size and shouldn't have any trouble buying other ones...next time though I'm shopping for them on Amazon. I won't run into anyone I know there. lol

xoxo

Lexxi

Quote from: Cayla on May 26, 2019, 06:12:52 AM
I'd definitely be going on HRT if i can, I'd love to be able to have the feeling of my own breasts, it'd probably  take about 2 years for my referral to come through and then there's time after that to be prescribed HRT, I don't want to go down the unsafe route to starting on hormones so id have to bide my time.

I used informed consent.  I told my doctor I wanted hormones and was referred to an endocrinologist.  It took about 5 months from when I told my doctor, until I saw the endo and got the prescription on that first visit.  Apparently, it took so long to get into the endo, because the protocols were changed in Ontario just over 3 years ago.  This has resulted in him being swamped with trans patients, on top of his regular work, in the hospital where his office is.

Lexxi it sounds like you had a little bit of an awkward moment at first choosing your bra but happy for you that it ended positively for you.  It must  be awkward knowing a lot of people in your town, I think it's something that as transsexual ladies that we have to bite our lips and think of the greater good in the sense that we are who we are I.e women.  When it came for me choosing my bra i bought mine of wish.com and is also a sports bra - nothing to fancy but something that can be used to make the first step to wearing a bra full time, I've now ordered a couple more.

Cayla x

Thanks AnneK I'm not sure I can do a similar thing in the UK, I will talk to them but they'll probably say I'd have to talk to my gender therapist, I'm in no rush in transitioning but here in the UK its ridiculously long even waiting to see a gender therapist- too long.

Cayla x

Quote from: Cayla on May 26, 2019, 08:08:08 AM
When it came for me choosing my bra i bought mine of wish.com and is also a sports bra - nothing to fancy but something that can be used to make the first step to wearing a bra full time, I've now ordered a couple more.

When I bought my first bra, to wear on a daily basis, I went to a bra shop to be fitted.  This store has no problem with men buying for themselves and they won't hire anyone who's not prepared to fit men.  They fully support, even encourage the LGBQT community.

That bra shop is certainly more expensive than Wally Mart, but the product quality and service are far superior.  I just told the fitter what I wanted.  She put me into a change room and brought the bras to me, just as she would any other customer.  Then, most important, she made sure they fit properly.

Thank you  AnneK its something that I'd be doing in future in getting fitted for my bra size, transitioning is such a huge life changing decision, there seems like an ocean of things that we need to complete but something that all of us are willing to go through.

Cayla x

This post made me recall buying my first bra at a department store, I was like 20 then, it was this lacy soft cup (maidenform) 36c, I walked into this Mervins and just bought it. Afterwards I felt really good for getting up the courage to shop for myself back then (in the days of no online shopping), because prior to that it was all "borrowed" from Mom and sisters. I still have it today, it's like a small personal treasure and memento, yes I'm sentimental about my first bra  :)

Cynthia -

Thanks for sharing your experience cynthia, first bra is definitely a keep sake when I've gone up in sizes.

Cayla x

Quote from: Cayla on May 26, 2019, 09:25:07 AM
Thanks for sharing your experience cynthia, first bra is definitely a keep sake when I've gone up in sizes.

Cayla x

I am amazed to read what the first bra means for many here.  I would not ever get the idea to even think about keeping my first one.

There is a pretty detailed bra size calculator on Reditt, and it takes the AMAB problems into consideration (https://www.abrathatfits.org/calculator.php).  Doing this, I found out that I should have a 42C/D in standard US sizing.  This may be one of the reasons that my current 40 B feels pretty uncomfortable.  I never thought that my boobs are that big!  On the other hand, I am working on developing them for 5 to 6 years now!

Quote from: Linde on May 26, 2019, 10:23:24 AM
I am amazed to read what the first bra means for many here.  I would not ever get the idea to even think about keeping my first one.

There is a pretty detailed bra size calculator on Reditt, and it takes the AMAB problems into consideration (https://www.abrathatfits.org/calculator.php).  Doing this, I found out that I should have a 42C/D in standard US sizing.  This may be one of the reasons that my current 40 B feels pretty uncomfortable.  I never thought that my boobs are that big!  On the other hand, I am working on developing them for 5 to 6 years now!

Thank you for posting this link, so nice to see realistic body shape used for diagrams.

It's true though that a small step can make huge difference, I'd imagine over the course of transitioning many small steps result in the overall big step in becoming the woman you are.

Cayla x

Although I still more often wear a shaping camisole more often than bras, I do like it that a bra can make it appear that my breasts are closer together.  They seem to be quite a bit of flat skin between them. 

If the shaping camisole is of open bust style, it can put them closer together, with or without a bra.  The bra is helpful for this for sure, as there is not much space between the bra cups in front, so that I think may be why the breasts are pulled closer together.

Chrissy

That's interesting to hear chrissyRyan I'd imagine you'd have to have fully formed breasts to wear camisole bra but I'd like to try one sometime.

Cayla x

Quote from: CynthiaAnn on May 26, 2019, 09:02:30 AM
This post made me recall buying my first bra at a department store, I was like 20 then, it was this lacy soft cup (maidenform) 36c, I walked into this Mervins and just bought it. Afterwards I felt really good for getting up the courage to shop for myself back then (in the days of no online shopping), because prior to that it was all "borrowed" from Mom and sisters. I still have it today, it's like a small personal treasure and memento, yes I'm sentimental about my first bra  :)

Cynthia -

Very similar to my age and experience in buying a bra. My first was actually from a yard sales (new with tags) that my mom had purchased a big box of clothes intending to donate, and I snagged the bra that actually fit. She never said anything I'm pretty sure she knew that I took it. Sadly, I threw it out at some point.

The first one purchased was around age 20 like you. Now like many women, the bra comes off as soon as it can and I look for excuses/outfits not to wear one :) Still I probably wear one about 5 days a week. Congrats to the OP!

Quote from: Cayla on May 26, 2019, 12:23:09 PM
That's interesting to hear chrissyRyan I'd imagine you'd have to have fully formed breasts to wear camisole bra but I'd like to try one sometime.

Cayla x

Well there is no bra built in for any of my camisoles, shaping or not.
The open bust models allows you to wear a bra with the front of the bra not covered up.

The top front edges of the open bust camisoles (under the shoulders) do lift my breasts up and inward so it makes me look like I have more, and the breasts do end up being closer together.

The back of the camisole can come all the way up or not, depending on the style.
The shaping camisoles gently taper my waist down, so it makes my breasts looks bigger in relation to the underbust area with the camisole's compression.  It hugs my body and feels so soft.

The body shapers would not typically shape as dramatically as compared to what a corset can do for you for making significant mid-body curves.  But they are far less binding than corsets and I can wear camisoles all day easily.

Chrissy