So what is the deal with underwire bras? Are they really more supportive or just another way to torture women?
They are more *defining *when you’re very large, not really more supporting. The support in a bra comes from the band around the chest that hooks in the back. The cup material shapes the breast and the straps should simply hold the cup to the chest on top - they shouldn’t bear much weight at all. It’s the band and the shaping of the cups that provides what most of us call “support”.
Underwires provide what I like to call “Divide and conquer”. Large and/or close set breasts tend to smoosh out into a uniboob with just cloth cups. Underwires help keep the sisters on their respective sides. Small breasts, or breasts which have a lot of space in the middle, don’t really benefit all that much from underwires. Large breasts not only look better in an underwire, but you get less boob sweat and chafing (and bacterial growth and it’s related odor) if you’ve got the Berlin Wall keeping things separate.
WhyNot,
40…oh, let’s call it an I cup. No one agrees on cup letter when you get this big.
Pepper Mill Loathes underwire bras, saying that they dig in unmercifully. She won’t buy or wear them.
I try to relate. My mental image is the Underwire Jockstrap, which I would never wear. But I’m not sure it’s fair to the bras to picture them that way.
They are torture and I won’t buy them or wear them. I’m sure a man made them.
I love them and will only rarely wear a non-underwire. They’re prettier and support me much better. I don’t find them uncomfortable at all. So I guess it depends on the woman.
When new, they’re more comfortable for me than most non-underwire bras, simply 'cause my breasts are both ludicrously large AND close set. Even with no bra on, I have cleavage. Even with an underwire bra on, I have cleavage, actually, but it’s a little more divided. Without an underwire, I’ll have uniboob (or worse, quadraboob) in no time.
They are definitely more uncomfortable when old and wearing out. The wires have a nasty habit of working their way through the fabric casing and poking you in the armpit or pinching the skin on your side at unexpected moments.
I’m not sure the jockstrap analogy really works though, either. Consider duct taping two small standard screwdrivers so the tips are jabbing into the fleshy part of your armpit. That’s closer.
A poorly designed underwire bra is a hellish device, but a good one that is the proper size (which is also, unfortunately, expensive) is a pleasure and a delight – and this is from someone of moderate size and who was of sufficiently perky shape to go braless through her twenties and thirties. I loved letting my girls be free then, and I was surprised to find out that I really do enjoy a pretty, lacey, supportive bra now.
But the fit matters. Get fitted by someone who knows women’s bodies, and who knows bras. (I got a great one at a lovely lingerie shop on Rue St. Denis in Montreal. Worth every loonie I paid for it.)
Not necessarily. I have medium-sized breasts with tons of space in between. With no bra, or with a bra without underwires, they head in opposite directions, basically out toward my arms. The underwires at least keep them pointing forward (although I still have no cleavage at all, unless I squish them together so tightly that it’s painful). As others have said, the key is an underwire bra that fits. Since I’ve found my particular style I have no problems with being poked, and I don’t even feel the wires.
This is all theory and anecdote, but I do think they provide more support. I find that wearing non-underwires puts more strain on my shoulders. I think, if properly sized, the wires help keep the band flatter around the chest–especially between and under the breasts. That way the chest band takes more of the burden and it’s not all on the shoulder straps.
Oh, right, 'cause they can’t make it over the fence on the sides. Of course!
Another woman with a moderate bustline checking in.
Much better shaping with underwire bras. I easily look a cup size bigger with the right bra, just because everything is shifted frontwise.
And fit is amazingly critical. I’ve put on weight since I bought my current set of bras. They were once so comfortable I could sleep in them. Now, they drive me crazy. Shopping Thursday! Horay!
This is interesting to me… I’ve got DD’s, but enought space to drive a Hot Wheel between them. I’ve really only ever worn underwires, as I assumed they were more supportive, but I yank that sucker off as soon as possible, sometimes in the car on the way home. I wonder whether a wireless bra would work for me?
You’ll take my underwire bras when you pry them from my cold, dead boobs.
Seriously, they give great support, and if they’re well made, a godsend. (I’m a 38D) They also push the girls up, and make for better cleavage.
I loves my underwires.
Except for that moment that every well-endowed woman has experienced (well, maybe it’s just me),which is the slight ping and sudden relaxation of one boobie. Eeek!
They tremendously improve FM reception in nearby radios. That’s one of the reason we men like boobs and lingerie. 
I have read, by the way, about “air travel bras,” without any metal parts to make the security scanners squawk.
In my (paltry 36B) experience, the presence or absence of underwire isn’t nearly as important as correct fitting when it comes to comfort.
Fit is everything. I cannot believe I walked around for 25 freaking years wearing the wrong sized, shaped etc bras. A month ago I went for a bra fitting at a new store and …yowza… disovering that Im actually a 38 E not a 42 C has made all the difference. I look about 10 lbs thinner wearing the right size bra, and now everything is a whole lot more comfortable too.
Underwire all the way. (Oh and the bra fitter told me, if the wire comes out, toss the bra, with the wires out, it doesnt do a darn thing and its useless. I used to pull both wires out and keep wearing the bra.)
And from a medical perspective, what WhyNot said. Lots less yeast infections, chafing and skin problems for large busted women who wear a proper supportive bra.
I nearly always wear them; while they are not incredibly comfortable, a properly-fitting underwire bra makes me look really good and keeps the girls in their place. A non-underwire is comfier but tends not to stay, and by the end of the day I’m not as happy.
It depends on the fit.
Ones that fit you are comfortable (and defining and supporting and look great) - ones that only kind of fit or don’t fit at all are torture. And ones that fit can turn into ones that don’t fit overnight (with weight gain or loss, or if they get stretched or twisted at all).
I haven’t worn an under-wire bra in at least 10 years. I found them uncomfortable at the armpits, the cleavage, the bottom of my breasts as well as the top of my abdomen. Pretty much anywhere they could ever be in contact with my skin.