Women: How Hard Is It To Find A "Correct" Bra?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Being a male, I don’t need one <insert jokes here> and being a gay male, I have never seen one on a lady.

The other day I was watching a TV show, I think it was Rachel Ray, and the announcer says “85% of all women are wearing the wrong bra.”

Of course he meant bra size :slight_smile:

I also recall a very funny Married With Children wear Peg bemoans the loss of her bra and how she can’t find a good one.

So my question to women is just how hard is it to find a good bra that “works” for you.

And if so why is it so hard?

I am sure this topic makes for a lot of jokes but I am seriously wondering about this

2

I suspect for some women it’s more that they don’t want to admit to the size they are, and continue to squeeze themselves into what they consider an appropriately sized bra, either in cup size or band size.

There is also a misconception that cup sizes are A - D and that’s it. In fact, there are specialist stores that do up to J and you can find even larger cup sizes than that, although it becomes increasingly difficult past J.

In most ‘makeover’ programmes I’ve seen, the woman has been wearing a too big band and a too small cup. So instead of being a 36C they are in fact a 34DD.

I can’t walk into a store and buy the bra I need, but thanks to the internet, there are several online stores I can shop from. I have found one brand and make of bra that fits me perfectly, and I buy several at a time in fear that one day they will stop making my particular bra.

3

Women’s breasts come in different sizes and shapes, which means that even if two women measure themselves, and find they should wear the same bra size, the same style of bra might not work for both of them. Bras are very much an item that needs to be tried on for fit.

In addition, even though bra manufacturers CLAIM to use the same sizing system, they don’t. They are liars. Big, big liars. Hell, if a woman wears a 34C in Acme Company’s “Lovely Lift” line, that doesn’t mean that she’ll wear a 34C in any of Acme Company’s other bras. When she tries on bras, yeah, she can start by trying 34Cs in various styles…but they might not fit right.

Bras tend to stretch horribly. Part of this is just the nature of the material they’re made from, and part of this is because most women tend to throw them in the washer and dryer. It’s OK to wash bras in the washer, on a gentle cycle, with cold or lukewarm water, but heat will destroy the elasticity of the bra. So women, air-dry your bras! It’s best to handwash bras in cool or lukewarm water and then air-dry, but who handwashes stuff any more?

I used to fit bras, and the majority of women that I fitted were indeed wearing the wrong size bra, and quite often, the wrong style, too.

Oh, and JUST when a woman has found a bra that fits properly, and does great things for her bust, then the manufacturer will discontinue that style. It’s like a law or something.

I, personally, hate underwires and think that they are instruments of torture. I would claim that Satan devised these things to remind women that they are the ones who accepted the apple, but I’m an atheist. However, other women love underwires. At any rate, it seems that bras are either aggravating to wear, or ineffectual, or both. It seems that we can’t design a bra that is both comfortable AND effective.

4

Women’s breasts also change significantly with age and/or even a small weight gain, leading to the need to change sizes or styles of bras.

5

Skin sensitivity can matter as well, such that some women are driven around the bend by tags, lace, etc. Others prefer enough padding to cut down on any “headlights” events (nipples poking through) while others don’t have that problem or don’t pay attention to it.

6

I voted “no problem,” because it’s not hard to FIND the right bra or bra size for me, but it takes several hours of trying them on. They’re out there, but I have to spend a while in the store.

Of course, that several hours is torture, but the actual bra or bras that work for me are available. I just have to dedicate one day every year to finding them.

7

I’m an awkward size which makes finding the bras damn near impossible and then when I do find them they’re $125 each.

After baby #2 I’m getting a breast reduction at least in part so I can actually buy bras that fit.

8

Thankfully I found a store with a style of bra that is part of their steady stock that fits properly. I’ve had to change sizes a time or two since I found them but they work. I still have to try on about half a dozen though due to variations in workmanship or sometimes they adjust the cup style a little.

If they suddenly stopped making them, I’d go nuts. Lots of stores seem to assume no one is above a D cup (sometimes a C!) unless you are plus sized and of course none of them want anything beyond a lacy over the shoulder boulder holder in white, beige, or black. Nothing cute, just functional and lacy.

I need to go shopping again, the ones I have are starting to stretch out too much and no longer support properly or the underwire bugs me now (I used to hate underwire but I don’t even notice it now unless it doesn’t fit right).

9

There’s one shop in my city that sells bras that fit me, they generally have around 4 in the size which is supposedly mine, but only one of them (if I’m lucky) will fit well.

To get a shop with more than one decent option I have to travel a few hundred miles, or buy online. Which is annoying.
I also, as well as having a stupid size, have magic yoyo boobs which constantly change size- I can be wearing the same bra for ages and suddenly (last time literally over the course of a week!) it becomes too tight, and I start spilling out over the top, though I don’t appear to have put on weight anywhere else… I suddenly drop several sizes sometimes too. This means I can’t even buy loads when I do find a good one.
The other problem in the larger sizes is that they tend look like scaffolding, rather than a bra, which somewhat detracts from the sexay.

Mind you, the situation, at least here, has so much improved in the last 15 or so years- when I first got properly sized up it took a full 2 months to get the right size; no internet buying, so find a specialist shop which ‘could order them in’ as the single UK maufacturer they had found wouldn’t deal direct with retail customers, then add the sole bra they did in that size to the monthly order, wait a month, try it on, realise it didn’t fit, order another in a larger size, wait another month… knowing this was the largest size they made, and if it didn’t fit I was screwed…

10

It’s torture. I know exactly what I want in style, color, cut, padding and price, but my size is not in the standard range…small cup, large band. So if I see a bra I like, they will stop one band size before what I need, or not offer it in my cup size. After my weight loss, I found the perfect bra from Joe Boxer, and bought a bunch. But that was a few years ago, and I’ve put on a few pounds again, and the elastic is going…so I started my search in January last year. After searching through all the affordable styles at WalMart, Kmart, Target, I moved on to Kohl’s, Macy’s, Dillards, Victoria’s Secret, Nordtrom, Penney’s, Fredericks, Sears, Lane Bryant, Dress Barn, Avenue…then I started on catalogs and online stores. Finally, about June, I wandered into Catherines and found it…a bra in the right size, right style…and on SALE! Still more expensive than any bra I’ve bought before, but not outrageous. So I bought three. And you know what? After a few weeks of wearing them, I realized I’d still need to get extenders to add just a tad more comfort. So now, in addition to those three, I have three Almost Acceptables that I can also wear. I figure I’m good for a year, then it’s back to the hunt. Because guess what happened when I went back to Catherine’s? That’s right,discontinued.

11

I have no problem, but I also have small boobs. Victoria’s Secret 32B always fits.

12

Me, too, except I’m a 36B. I have such an easy time finding bras that I can mail-order them with no problem. Guess I’m just lucky like that.

13

Buying a bra for me generally involves an hour with the nice ladies at Nordstrom’s. I selected “very hard,” because it takes a lot of emotional energy to go talk to a stranger about my boobs.

14

I don’t know that it’s hard, so much as that most women don’t realize there is something better out there. So they wear what they’ve always worn because they don’t know there’s any option, and figure that their troubles (uniboob, slipping straps, digging straps, pokey underwires, whatever) is just part and parcel of being a woman. It’s not, it’s part and parcel of wearing the wrong bra.

It’s sort of like asking men if it’s hard to find the right underwear. If your mom put you in tighty whities and you’re used to them, you might put up with the inconveniences, not knowing that boxers or boxer briefs are options that might work better for you. It’s a mental rut more than an actual shopping problem.

Now, I can’t find bras in my size at most stores. But when I discovered Catherine’s (which has hideous old lady clothes, so I didn’t go into one until I had a gift certificate given to me), it suddenly became “easy”. Do I wish there were more options for styles that work with my boobs that are pretty? Sure. But that doesn’t mean it’s hard to find a bra that fits, it’s just hard to find a *pretty *bra that fits.

15

Not hard, when I go to a specialist store and get fitted. Good bras are just so godawfully expensive. Seventy euro’s is nothing.

16

Every bra is a compromise. My breasts differ by a cup size at least, so one or the other is always going to be less than optimally accommodated.

Price is a huge consideration for me. It may in fact be very easy to find comfortable bras if money is no object, but $35 is about as high as I can go.

Shopping fatigue is also a huge factor. I am DONE after about 90 minutes.

17

I have no problems finding a bra to fit me at 32DD (even maternity and nursing ones when I was 34E-F) because I went to the trouble of getting properly fitted for them, at a store which stocks a good range of bigger sizes.

As a contrast, I wandered around a department store like Target Australia and the largest maternity cup size they had was a C. If that was where I chose to shop, I’d either be completely out of luck, or trying to stuff myself into something which clearly would not do the job. Even the fitter at Myer was no good - she measured me as a 14 D, which left me really unsupported (most of the support is in the band, not the straps).

So the results of that survey don’t surprise me, and finding a good fitter and bra stockist is really worth it.

18

I have never found one that fit in a store. I’ve had luck online a couple of times, but I’ve spent loads of money on “close-enough” bras and many an evening took one off right inside the front door when I got home.

I’ve since started buying them custom made on line (www.decentexposures.com) and will forever bless the Dope for leading me to that site. It’s just so amazing to actually want to wear one, and feel comfortable all day in it.

19

Everything about your post is true … except the “no problem” part. :dubious:

20

It’s hard for me because it turns out I need a band size that is smaller than 32, and most stores only go down to size 32. I was really happy to find a shop that goes down to 30 for band size and offers free tailoring last month.