By Vicki Santillano, More.com
I used to assume that the oft-cited
statistic about 80 percent of women wearing the wrong size bra was a
scare tactic by the lingerie industry to sell more goods. Then I got
measured on a whim recently and realized I’ve been wearing the wrong cup
and band sizes for years. Others I know also found out after
being fitted that they’ve been wearing too-small cups and too-large
bands—no surprise, since experts say this combination is the most common
mistake women make when bra shopping.
[post_ads_2]The center panel in the front doesn’t rest against your skin.
Again, this means that your breasts are too big for the cups you’re
trying to fit them into, which results in the whole bra resting against
your breasts instead of against your upper rib cage and sternum. “The
front middle of the bra should sit firmly against your skin,” advises Madeline, a bra stylist based in Australia. “This means that your bust will be lifted and separated.”
And
if you can feel your underwire—as in, it sits on the bottom part of
your breasts rather than fitting comfortably underneath them—you have
the same problem. “Underwire should not sit on the breast tissue at any
time. If you see skin pinching from under the wire, you may need to go
up a cup size,” she says.
You’ve got four smaller breasts or a uniboob.
If your breasts spill over the cups, you definitely need to go up a cup
size. After trying on a bra, put a T-shirt on to see if there are any
obvious bulges (the kind that look like you’ve got smaller breasts
growing out of your other ones, or “double boob,” as my friend calls it)
over the top of the cup.
The same goes if your breasts are so
squished together that it looks like you’ve got one wide boob. A heaving
chest looks fabulous on Victoria’s Secret models in catalogs, but the
sexy effect is lost the minute they put on shirts. Since we all have to
cover up in public, get the right cup size for your breasts and banish
the uniboob.
[post_ads_2]The cups are wrinkled and/or there’s space between the cups’ edges and your breasts.
This indicates that your cups are too big and you should go down a
size. While your breasts shouldn’t spill over the cups, they shouldn’t
leave much room within the cups, either. The edges should lie flat
against your skin; if they don’t, it means you need a smaller size.
Your bra causes back fat.
Many women mistakenly think that back fat is caused by bands that are too small. (I know I did.) But bands that are too big
are actually to blame. According to Madeline, when they’re too big,
they don’t stay in the right place on your back, which is parallel to or
a little lower than where it is in front; the bands ride up and create
dreaded back lumps.
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Not sure if the
band size is right? Hook the bra on the loosest hook (“We fit on the
loosest hook because when the bra gives and stretches with wear and
tear, you still have two rows of hooks in the back to move in,” Madeline
explains) and put two fingers underneath your band in the back. If you
feel like you can fit more, or if you can stretch the band more than a
few inches from your back, try a smaller size. If you can’t fit any
fingers back there, you might be wearing a size too small. You can also
lift your arms or lower the straps to see if that affects band
placement. “If you raise your arms in the air, the bra shouldn’t move on
or away from your body,” Madeline says.
The straps dig into your skin or fall down your shoulders.
According to experts, straps should do only 10 percent of work; the
band is responsible for 90 percent of a bra’s support. So if you have to
keep straps super tight to lift up your breasts, that means your band’s
too big to give you proper support. Straps become loose and fall for
the same reason (the ride-up factor), though it might also mean that the
strap hasn’t been adjusted for your height.
You’ve got armpit boob.
Some call it armpit fat, but I think armpit boob sounds kinder. But
either way you say it, if you’ve got it, that means your cups are
probably too small. Cups digging into your skin, whether it creates
bulges over them or to the side, indicate a need for a bigger cup size.
[post_ads]Here’s
something important to remember when bra shopping: going up or down a
band size makes a much bigger difference than doing the same with cup
size. According to HerRoom.com,
a lingerie Web site started by industry expert Tomima Edmark, going up a
cup size with the same band size (for example, going from 34B to 34C)
increases the bust line by an inch only. But if you raise the band size
within the same cup size (switching from 34B to 36B), it raises the band
circumference and the bust line by two inches.
Women
should get properly fitted in a lingerie shop every one to two years,
especially if they’re on birth control, are pregnant or breastfeeding,
or have lost or gained a significant amount of weight. That much bra
shopping sounds like torture, but it’s worth it to find the right one.
During particularly low moments in the dressing room, it’s easy to
assume that there’s something wrong with our bodies when the bras don’t
fit well. But bras should work for us, not the other way around. The
right bra should make you feel as beautiful as you are, and lift your
breasts—and your spirits—up high. Well, your breasts should go about as
high as the midpoint between your shoulder and elbows. Your spirits can
soar as high as they want.
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