# Ladies: How do you hook your bra? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 21, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408 "2005-07-21T02:27:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/1 "2005-07-21T02:27:07Z")
Do you link the hooks in front, swing it around, and stick your arms in the straps? Or put your arms in first, then reach around to hook it up? I use the swing-around method, myself, but today I saw someone attach her bra by reaching around to fiddle with the hooks. It intrigued me. Isn’t that the hard way? ---
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/2 "2005-07-21T02:43:38Z")
I think it is, especially with a bad shoulder. I do the hook & twist. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/3 "2005-07-21T02:44:15Z")
I use the swingaround method because I’m normal. I only use the reach around method when someone has been feeling me up in the closet and we got caught. I might also do that if I were in a changeroom because it would cut back on naked-time. Always looking to trim naked seconds when strangers are around. But just getting dressed I do the swingaround every time. Much easier. ---
**Author:** ![lorinada](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5e925/32.png) [@lorinada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lorinada)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/4 "2005-07-21T02:46:21Z")
For decades I did the put the arms in first, reach around to hook routine. But since about 1998 one, the other, or both of my shoulders have been [frozen](http://www.aafp.org/afp/990401ap/1843.html) so I’ve had to adopt the hook then twist around routine. Since it appears my right shoulder is going to permanently have greatly restriced ROM I guess that’s the way I’ll be doing it the rest of my life. Sure is a pain trying to get that thing around when you have wonky shoulders and you’re still damp from the shower! ---
**Author:** ![cruel\_butterfly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5daacb/32.png) [@cruel\_butterfly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cruel_butterfly)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/5 "2005-07-21T02:46:25Z")
I reach back. Apparently, no matter how hard I try, hooking my bra in the front is something I _can’t_ do. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/6 "2005-07-21T02:47:47Z")
Hook and twist. If I hook in back, it’s unbearably uncomfortable. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/7 "2005-07-21T02:51:51Z")
Never been a twister. My boobs are entirely too big… as is my stomach. 😃 Don’t you get all chafed that way? It took me approximately five minutes to learn how to hook it in back. Of course, I’ve been wearing bras since I was 9, so I’ve had time to perfect my technique. ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/8 "2005-07-21T02:54:34Z")
Wow. Mine are all back latches… I pick up my bra, latch the hooks up… then pull it over my head, like a sweater. Adjust as needed. I rarely have any problems with twisted staps, missed hooks. It’s all done ahead of time. The most I usually have to do is gently lift my breasts into the cups. Once in a great while, I have to pull the back strap away from my back to get a minor twist out. Snaps back, good to go. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/9 "2005-07-21T02:55:12Z")
Okay, I just tried it the swing around way. It’s about 100 times harder that way for me. Plus, now I’m all scratched from trying to get my arms through the straps… and it took me several minutes to get the girls in the right spot. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/10 "2005-07-21T02:55:24Z")
> [@FilmGeek](#): > > Don’t you get all chafed that way? It took me approximately five minutes to learn how to hook it in back. It’s only one quick spin once a day so there’s no chafing. I learned this way from my mom. She also taught me the double-loop shoelace thing that made me look like an idiot til sometime in highschool when I taught myself the single loop and pull-through method that all the cool kids use. I’m probably putting my pants on two legs at a time or something too. ---
**Author:** ![MissGypsy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8491ac/32.png) [@MissGypsy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissGypsy)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/11 "2005-07-21T02:55:47Z")
I settle my boobs into the cups and center the shoulder straps on my shoulders, and reach back. Just out of curiosity, I went and got my bra and tried it the other ways. Ow! That was uncomfortable, hooking in front and swiveling the bra around. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/12 "2005-07-21T02:57:58Z")
Hook and twist, of course. ---
**Author:** ![AThingWithFeathers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecae2f/32.png) [@AThingWithFeathers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AThingWithFeathers)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/13 "2005-07-21T02:58:50Z")
Hook and twist. I’m deficient in hooking anything I can’t see with my own eyes. ---
**Author:** ![jabiru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@jabiru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jabiru)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/14 "2005-07-21T03:00:26Z")
I can’t do the hook-in-front-and-twist thingy, although I’ve tried it. The girls just don’t sit comfortably that way. So, arms in, bend over and hook at back. 40+ years of doing it thus, so I can’t see me learning any new tricks now. ---
**Author:** ![Telperien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/65b543/32.png) [@Telperien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperien)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/15 "2005-07-21T03:02:13Z")
I do the swingaround. I’ve tried and tried to hook it in the back, but I never manage to get them all that way. ---
**Author:** ![harmless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/2acd7d/32.png) [@harmless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmless)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/16 "2005-07-21T03:04:06Z")
Better that than popping my shoulder out of socket trying to reach around back. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/17 "2005-07-21T03:20:52Z")
WTF!? I swear I don’t know any women personally who do anything other than reach behind and hook (which is what I do). Yet so far we reach-behinders seem to be the minority. FTR, whenever I’ve tried the hook and twist, I always seem to get something caught and squashed along the way (and my boobs are not that big). Not only that, but hook and twist seems kind of… “little girlish” to me. Maybe because my mom is a reach-behinder, so that way seems like “the grown up way” to me. Odd. I never thought about it before. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/18 "2005-07-21T03:27:32Z")
Interesting you should bring this up. I was just mocked last weekend by my friends for the swing around method. I usually just wear a stretchy pull-over thing (I’m barely a B so support isn’t that important) but only had a black one so it showed thru my t-shirt. A friend loaned me a nude one but it had real underwires and hooks. They all (four friends) maintained that the reason I can never get bras to fit right is _because_ I do the swing around and if I hooked in the back so I could lean over and fill the cups, the bra would fit better. (they also maintained that the shaking yourself into place method I learned from my mom was wrong) I dunno. I don’t see how it could make that much difference. (I’m also unconvinced that I need to wear underwires…) ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/19 "2005-07-21T03:37:21Z")
I learned the hook and twist thing when I was in training bras, but I’ve been reaching behind to hook my bra since…I don’t even know when, it’s been that long. It just seems to work better. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2005, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408/20 "2005-07-21T03:38:26Z")
> [@Hello Again](#): > > FTR, whenever I’ve tried the hook and twist, I always seem to get something caught and squashed along the way Well you’re hooking and twisting it around the waist, not the bust, so it’s not like you are squashing things. But I do think it looks more sophisticated to hook in back. That’s why I do that when someone’s looking and I would probably show my daughter to hook in back because it’s more…sophisticated. I liked it in the late 80s and early 90s when there were lots of front-hooking bras. Those were cool. Lately I only have the back hooking ones. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ladies-how-do-you-hook-your-bra/313408.md?page=2)