i'm about a b cup, but bras are just uncomfortable, and they make my breasts squish down a little and not look as full. well, it's just this one sports bra, but i really feel like it's unecessary to wear a bra. my moms a DD, and she does, but that's another story obviously.
I have to wear a sport bra when I am out on walks or exercizing.
Too much jiggle in the jello.
I think you should at least try and wear a sports bra. I know what you mean though it does seem kind of pointless if you don't have breasts. I ususally wear a push-up bra when I go out dressed for that added ump. When i'm at home it's either sports bra or no bra in a tank.
You should probably find your bra size then, if it's uncomfortable for you. It shouldn't be that uncomfortable. If it is, you're probably doing something wrong. :P
Have you been to a specialist bra shop and had a proper fitting? I found it made a big difference. I haven't got much, but feel uncomfortable if I am moving around without a bra. Too much jiggling.
Karen.
No, I don't really bother with bras much :) After I found some that comfortably fit well I happily wear them
If bras are in any way uncomfortable for you, or the straps slide down at all when not tightened fully, or you can fit a fist (or worse, TWO fists!) under the bra band, or you have armpit rolls, or you have the dreaded quadriboob (to test for that, push ALL your breast tissue into the bras, including any armpit rolls and excess back fat-that's probably all breast tissue!), or if your breasts get squished by bras, you're wearing the wrong size. There's a MAJOR misconception out there that you have to add a number to the underbust to get the band size (you don't-your underbust measurement is your band size), or if you have sagging breasts, or if bras and that the cup size is unrelated to the band size (a 28F has smaller cups than a 38C). I figure this would be especially important for transwomen for similar reasons why it's especially important for younger girls-their breast tissue is still growing.
I recommend you check out Eternal*Voyageur, Thin and Curvy, Bras I Hate, Braless in Brazil, and the other bra blogs along the same lines. They have heaps of really helpful information.
I think it is really important to get a professional fit. It makes a major difference. BTW I have never had any issues getting a professional fit, even when I used forms. Money talks, as usual.
I use a bra pretty often and after a while I forget that I am wearing it :D.
But some time ago when I wore the wrong size it was not comfortable at all, it became painful after a while.
Let someone check out what kind of size you need :).
That's the thing, getting the right bra that fits well makes all the difference :) It took allot of trail and error but I finally have a good idea what works and is comfortable
Now I feel awkward without a bra
yeah, a sports bra is probably not going to be the most comfortable for every day wear.
Pretty much what all the other girls said.
It is worth wearing one from the standpoint of it will help reduce the amount of sag you have in the future.
A good bra will do good things for your figure, clothes can look better on you. I'm a C but seem to be firm enough to go without. I do have to hold on when going up and down stairs though!! I am finding now as they are getting bigger I wear bras more and more, it is just more comfortable. If you don't feel you need them then go without, enjoy the freedom.
Quote from: Stealthy on April 04, 2012, 04:41:13 AM
There's a MAJOR misconception out there that you have to add a number to the underbust to get the band size (you don't-your underbust measurement is your band size)
I've read that you're supposed to add a few inches to your under bust for the band size. I never understood that. My underbust is 36 and I wear a 36a right now. If I added a few inches to that, the thing would be falling right off of me.
You're certainly not supposed to add inches-it's a really ridiculous idea nowadays, a holdover from when bra bands were tight and you needed the extra room. Since about the 60s or so, bra bands have been elasticated and you should wear the same as your underbust measurement.
You don't 'need' to wear a bra.
Ok let me restate that, no research I have ever seen, and research has been done in this area, has ever shown bra's have any long term health benefits, but 'can' have health implications.
However, I wear a bra, I wear one because society says I'm supposed too. Our society has rules, sometimes we have to obey them whether they make sense or not. Well, we don't 'have' too, but there's usually consequences for not doing so.
Also, here's a comparision between a poorly-fitting bra and a properly-fitting one:
(https://www.susans.org/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Flatimesblogs.latimes.com%2F.a%2F6a00d8341c630a53ef01348664dadb970c-pi&hash=e971193202d42e6fe814cfcab5bd7655712de399)
If yours looks like the first, something went wrong...for instance, you might have gotten fitted at Victoria's Secret :D
No, my tits are too small and I look worse with one than without one! they seem to look better without wearing a bra.
I never wear one. I've had implants and it's much more comfortable without one.
Yes... my nipples rub against my shirt and it annoys the crap out of me. Plus even with no padding, they make my breasts look bigger and better.
Before my implants, I rarely wore a bra. Then again I was only about a size 32A which is practically nothing. After my implants, I must wear a bra when I'm out and about. If you have big ones, it's pretty obvious to others when you don't wear a bra and to me, it's not cute. Especially if your hard as a rock nipples are showing through. I don't wear a bra when I'm at home though.
Being itty bitty, I do wear one, lightly padded. Plus I can't hardly go without at work as no one wants to see nipples. I also feel kind of naked without one at this point.
I wear a bra.. to support my 36C breasts...
I found my bra's very comfortable.. you actually forget that its on... I feel the straps for the first 10 minutes when I put one on in the morning, then you forget they are there.
I personally wear a lot of underwire push up bra's... it makes my girls look good.... I love to show a bit of clevage..
It was a big day in my transition when I had a need for a bra.. i.e. something to support.
Get a professional fit...
There's a lot of women saying here to get fitted professionally, and I'd have to be the dissenting voice.
The 'professionals' don't really care about getting you properly fitted. In the majority of corporations (Victoria's Secret-I'm looking at you and your insane fitting instructions), the fitters don't even know how to properly fit bras themselves! If you happen to have a Bravissimo nearby, you can get professionally fitted into a properly fitting bra, but the majority of you probably wouldn't.
It's very easy to fit bras yourselves. A guide:
1: Get a soft measuring tape (in inches) and remove your bra.
2: Measure directly under your ribcage. Pull tightly-the two sides of the tape need to be lying flat against you and meeting each other-but not enough to be uncomfortable. Basically, measure as tightly as you want the actual band to fit.
3: The measurement is your underbust size. If you have an odd number, you'll have to change it slightly.
Let's have three hypothetical women. Woman 1 gets a 29 underbust measurement. Woman 2 gets a 30.5 underbust measurement. Woman 3 gets a 27.5 underbust measurement. (All of these measurements are more likely than you'd think-two-thirds of women have an underbust measurement of 31 inches or less.)
Woman 2 would wear a 30 band, and Woman 3 would wear a 28 band. That's not too difficult. But what about Woman 1? This all depends on what's most comfortable for her. She should buy both 28 bras and 30 bras and see which one fits best. Usually it's the lower number that fits best, but this doesn't hold true in all cases.
4: The underbust size is your exact band size. No adding some random number. Nothing like that. If you measured 26, you're a 26. If you measured 56, you're a 56 (well, actually, large bra bands are much more stretch, so theoretically you could go down several bands).
5: Next comes the cup size. As you can tell, if you were a 36 and have just downsized to a 32, this is going to change. You may not like the letter. Society's instilled it into you that a DD cup is huge, and now there's a good chance you'll be wearing something bigger than that.
Measure around the fullest part of your breasts (nipples, usually) to get the cup size. Then check it on the table below:
Less than 1 inch difference between cup and band: AA
1 inch: A
2 inches: B
3 inches: C
4 inches: D
5 inches: DD
6 inches: E
7 inches: F
8 inches: FF
9 inches: G
10 inches: GG
11 inches: H
12 inches: HH
13 inches: J
14 inches: JJ
15 inches: K
16 inches: KK
17 inches: L
18 inches: LL
Let's say that Woman 1 has a difference of 5 inches (making her full bust measurement 34 inches), Woman 2 has a difference of 13 inches (making her full bust measurement 43.5 inches), and Woman 3 has a difference of 9 inches (making her full bust measurement 36.5 inches).
Woman 1 would have a DD cup (that is, she would if 29 bands existed), Woman 2 would have a J cup, and Woman 3 would have a G cup.
6: Put together the measurements to get your band size. Woman 1 would wear either a 28E or a 30D, most likely the 28E. Woman 2 would wear a 30J. Woman 3 would wear a 28G.
If the band size that you get still seems to look like the wrongly fitting bra in the picture given, or you have a very large underbust measurement (above 42 or so), you may want to size down.
Let's bring in Woman 4. Woman 4 measures 50 inches below the bust and has a difference of 8 inches. This obviously equals 50FF, doesn't it? Well, not necessarily!
While she could wear a 50FF, the bra bands for 50 bands are very stretchy. Fat on the ribcage (um, not implying that you're fat, Woman 4...*ducks*) compresses easily. She should probably go down a few bands to get her perfect fit.
You'd probably think that the bra size equivalent to a 50FF would be a 48FF. This is inaccurate-it's actually a 48G. You go a cup size up when you go a band size down, and vice versa. (This also serves to prove that Woman 2's 30J is actually much smaller than the 50FF/48G that Woman 4 would wear.)
So, what Woman 4 actually is is probably somewhere around a 48G/46GG/44H.
Now Woman 1's in a properly fitted 28E, Woman 2's in a properly fitted 30J, Woman 3's in a properly fitted 28G, Woman 4's in a properly fitted 44H, and they're all happy to finally be wearing comfortable, pretty bras and are spreading the news among their female friends and relatives.
7: Enjoy your new bra :)
Also, all the measurements given are in British sizes. All good bra stores use British sizing-none of the other sizing methods are concrete enough. This means you pretty much have to buy bras online. It's actually better than buying in-store.
People spot women who don't have a bra when it's apparent, and think it's gross. Just a thought. I don't go that far, but I do admit that wobble-wobble combined with those clear bumps in the shirt from nipples are offsetting.
hmm, I'm the opposite, I like seeing braless women. Nipples are great! Unless the poor girl is running, and then all I can think is ouch!
Since I spend most of my time in jeans and a T-shirt I have a collection of Rhonda Shear Ah-bra's, they are the ultimate casual wear thing. I call them my slingshots, because they are so stretchy. What is good about them is that they keep the girls from "going south" and from jiggling excessively or looking too pointy and showing off nipples too wildly. They're inexpensive and work for this old girl. Black and flesh tone bras cover the whole spectrum, white shows through everything including white tops and makes the statement, "See, I'm wearing a bra." I do have a couple of Leading Lady bras in case I decide to femme up and show a little cleavage. Bra's become a necessity when you get some breast development, and even more so as you get older because gravity stretches the tissue if you go braless and they will droop as well as become repositories for more fat which can be good in some cases and repulsive in others. Nothing is uglier than a pair of dangling boobs swinging back and forth like windshield wipers on a school bus! ;D