And I live here, with my breasts that are actually larger than the OP’s. Which means that if she actually lived in Hicksville, NY, I could tell her where to shop for attractive, comfortable, durable, affordable bras.*
*I have good luck at Lane Bryant, actually. Better quality than Frederick’s, last longer, some styles at least are reasonably comfortable (inasmuch as a size 38DDD bra can be comfortable, at any rate), and are not all reminiscent of my grandmother’s undies.
On my first trip to a ‘big girls’ bra shop, the best piece of advice I got was to not judge a bra by simply trying it on, but by putting your favourite top on over it, and seeing how the profile looks. Perhaps that would help your friend feel more comfortable in a proper fitting bra?
This is what bugs me about them saying women are all wearing the wrong size bra and need to get fitted. Even if they then tell you a size, it doesn’t matter because the bras are all different. It comes down to which one feels right, which is what women (think they) are doing anyway.
ok - so I evidently have no idea what size I am. I used to think I was a 48DDD, then I tried fitting myself using the dressing room chart and the handy tape measure they left, and thought I was a 52DDD. Today, I asked the girl to measure me, and she tells me I’m a 42H or 42I, depending on how it’s made. But when I go by the actual measurements, I come up with a 42J.
What the heck?? cries Now what do I do?
To whomever recommended Soma by Chico’s:
Thank you!
I got fitted, and even though I lost/gained a bra size (from 36D four years ago to 34DD), the bras all fitted nicely, and even the strapless felt supportive.
But it was nice to be fitted, and to know that the bras from that company at least, fit well at 34DD (except one, that fit OK at 34D).
Yay! I have decent functional bras for a while! I’ve kept wearing hand me downs from my sister and old bras (some mom got me when I was in high school). Anything from a 36D, 34D, and 36C. Other than the Somas, the 36C and 34Ds fit the best, the 36Ds are getting big.
I think that was me who recommended Soma by Chico. I know I’ve been happy with the bras I got there.
And whoever recommended Her Room? Thank you! I found a couple of bras that are so insanely comfortable I can even wear them comfortably to work in all day at home sitting at my computer, when normally any bra ends up digging into me so much I just take it off and wear an undershirt (even though my boobs are too big for that) – it’s either that or sit there and tug at my stupid bra all day. Only problem with these paragons of bra-hood? They were a closeout sale, and by the time I got them and tried them on, there weren’t any left in my size. 
And apparently nobody else in the US sells them.
ETA: melodyharmonious, all I can suggest is an extended trying-on session – you’ll know which size is best by how it feels. And I’ve also learned to raise my arms over my head when trying on a bra; if it rides up, forget it! It doesn’t mater how good it feels otherwise if it rides up because it will make me crazy.
::Applause::
Mahvelous OP, Welcome to the Dope!
I am a 38 E who is no stranger to the F cup, so I feel your pain.
I don’t remember where I found the bras that changed my life, but they are called Lilyette, and for some reason they run large – I can squeeze into a 38 DD. They are an underwire push up bra. I never used to wear underwire until I found these bras–they are amazingly supportive and durable and comfortable, about $50 a pop. They have lasted – get this – over a YEAR, and still in great shape. They have a padding but it’s not thick, and they really are just miraculous. I feel like a normal human being when I wear them instead of some kind of freak of nature. I know, you’re thinking, ‘‘push-up bra? Why do I need a push-up bra?’’ but trust me, they have some kind of wonderful minimalizing and shaping effect. I would never have guessed, but there you go.
I for the life of me still cannot find a decent sports bra or strapless though. The problem with sports bra is that in order to get one that fits my cup size, I have to get one that’s too loose around my waist and therefore completely unsupportive. At present I just make do with one that’s way too small. For strapless, after an exhaustive search last summer I finally found a decent Cacique strapless which gets the job done but it’s still not exactly stellar support. Usually the dress ends up doing most of the work.
Don’t even get me started on swimsuits. :mad:
Yep. Sluttiest Little Red Riding Hood EVER 
Pssst! Check the join date.
congodwarf just let her membership lapse in anticipation of the Board going free sometime this decade.
Damn. Never in my life have I appreciated my 32B so much. Never. I will hug the girls a little for you ladies struggling with your bras.
A boggled mind, I haz it.
I ask the following question in all seriousness…how can you back stand it?
Christ! I put on a lead-shielded apron and wear it for a half an hour and my back hurts.
:: salutes all those of the majorly massive mammorages ::
Sigh.
The Dope is really going downhill.
71 messages, and no one has posted the obligatory request for pictures yet?
Howard Hughes
Declan
fine
Pix?
and it is bra shopping season this weekend <shudder> I know the make and model and size, it is the cost that is terrorizing me.
My favorite bra-shopping place is a family-run business. Although there are several sisters, the person in charge of underwear is a guy. Talking with him once, he said that it’s because guys are a lot more embarrased to ask an opposite-gender person for underwear than women. And yes, he autosizes any woman he meets, but being able to stare at customer’s boobs without getting slapped is an interesting benefit.
I’ve gone up and down a little and he’s always given me the right size. And, unlike most other stores in town, he has more than two no-underwire models! Some stores don’t have a single one… and in one I was informed that C-cups are “way too large” by a waif who looked like she wore tit-covers rather than bras.
The lead-shielded apron analogy doesn’t work because you can take it off . . . These are attached and didn’t just appear one day (although sometimes I swear they did) and so you learn to adjust.
Another thing - my dad always taught me to stand up straight (i’m also a little over 5’9") and not hunch. In reality, that makes a huge difference too.
The only reason why I would consider breast reduction is so that I could wear pretty bras again - but when I mentioned this to my bf yesterday, his reply was “Noooooooooooooooo” so y’know.
Word. And why do Bs need underwire now? It’s hard for me to find comfortable bras that aren’t thin-strapped shelf bras (which, luckily, I can usually get away with) or way more reinforcement than I need. Really, I don’t need things with crisscrossing straps and reinforcements and stuff. I don’t need strips of metal to rein (reign? I think rein…I don’t know.) 'em in. Fabric and a little elastic is fine. Stop it. Just stop it.
But they won’t.
Be grateful you don’t have four boobs.
Rein, beanpod. Reign -> what kings do when they wave to the massed public; rein -> strap for telling a horse what to do; rein in -> to “brake” a horse or contain something which tries to overflow.
During the time when I was on the bigger side (bigger for me, that is, I think it was a C), it was extremely difficult to find a bra that didn’t have extra padding. OK, let me get this straight: my boobs have grown, so I’ve had to discard several blouses because they were either too tight or into “line of holes” territory… and you want to add extra filling? What am I, a chocolate cookie, that you think I need more filling?
I have two friends who are both enormously endowed. I think they’re both Gs, but I’m not sure. They haven’t let me measure for myself or anything. One of them is so big that was unable to breast feed her son. They complain about having to buy bras too.