Bra interventionists needed! Please help.

[UntamedShrew]

I remember seeing a few threads last year about bras and sizes and thinking I really should get myself sorted out, and then forgetting all that completely but is my new years resolution to finally get sorted a problem that has been ongoing for a couple of years.

I have small boobs but one of them is giving me grief! Since I stopped feeding my youngest 3 years ago, every now and then I have intense pain in my right breast. I've ruled out anything sinister with a scan at the Royal Marsden and I do think it is my bras that are causing the problem. When I get the pain if I stop wearing a bra for a day it gets better, or if I switch to a yoga bra it helps too. It is worse with my newer / fancier bras and easier with my old crap one.

I've been back to the lingerie shop and they checked all my bras and said there were no dodgy wires so they felt it unlikely that they were the problem - but I know that over the last couple of years it is definitely the bras. This week i have been wearing a hideous non-underwired thing in despair after it got really sore (so bad I couldn't sleep) and I've been pain free all week.

So - firstly can anyone help with my sizing?
And secondly does anyone know any good non-underwired bras but that still have a bit of padding or shaping just so I don't look like an ironing board in a Tshirt?

My sizes are underneath: 30.75 inches
On boobs: 35.5 inches (giving more precisely as wasn't sure whether to round up or down!).

My hideous no wires one is a 32C (God knows where it came from, possibly an old feeding bra) and it feels good.
My other bras are mainly 32B or 34a and they don't leave red marks but my boobs do feel a bit squooshed/ I'm glad to take it off, IYSWIM.

So sorry for epic long post

Really hope someone can help! Thanks in advance.

[CMOTDibbler]

Try measuring according to this method and report back.

Your boobs hurt because you are in waay the wrong size bra!

[emwithme]

Have you measured them using this method?

If you have, and that's where you get your measurements from, you are wearing FAR TOO SMALL a cup size, so the underwire will be in the wrong place and putting pressure on your breast tissue (causing the pain). I'd try a 30DD, or a 32D, for starters. Use the pointers on the blog post to see how the fit is and adjust cup/band as necessary from there.

[UntamedShrew]

Thank you so much for replying! I'm so grateful for some help with this, truly.

Right so with the bending forward thing I get overbust of 36.75. I am very slender (bony!) so reckon from that link I'd size up in the back instead of down, is that right? So 32 C?? I can't be a D, I have such teeny boobs!!

[emwithme]

So 30.5 underbust and 37 (pretty much) over means you need to start looking at 30F/32E.

You may think you have teeny boobs but you're also teeny round. A 30F is a smaller boob volume than a 38F. Don't think of a DD as HUGE, it's not.

Barbara Windsor wore a D cup when this photo was taken but you wouldn't think it to look at them.

[UntamedShrew]

Oh! I'm shocked. Still think I'll end up with an empty bra if I go above a C but I promise to try some on. Would you bother sticking with non wired or do you think wired ones will be better..? Thanks again

[magpieC]

www.brabandproject.com/gallery/search has pictures of normal people in different bra sizes if you want some reassurance that you don't have to be huge to be wearing bigger than a DD!

[KatharinaRosalie]

Wired ones are a lot better for lift and support

[UntamedShrew]

Ok saw some 30Ds that looked like me

Any suggestions of where to buy 30D/e bras?? I see m&s don't! And can't go back to local lingerie shop when they got it so wrong last time.

[Melonaire]

Fig Leaves? Try the 30F. The bra people on here are why I wear a 34H rather than a 38D!

[UntamedShrew]

F??! I'll order a few and report back

[CMOTDibbler]

I wear a 30FF, sometimes a 28G, and you wouldn't say I had big boobs at all.

What sort of shape would you describe yours as? Mine are sort of perky (which makes them look smaller in a way) and heavier at the bottom, so look weird in a plunge, but great in a half cup. Bravissimo are v good for fitting and different styles.

[MirandaWest]

I have small (but perfectly formed) breasts which are a 30c. The cup size is in relation to the band size - a 30c has a lot less breast than a 36c. The amount of breast for say 36c, 34d, 32dd and 30e is all the same

[Melonaire]

The cup size is the difference between your band measurement and your over breast measurement. If you were broader, your breasts would be broader too so a 36 D cup has much more capacity than a 32 D cup.

[UntamedShrew]

Hmm I guess small and perky, there's a big gap between them which makes me look flatter chested I think but they are quite round I guess

DH has helpfully added that they are boob shaped and perky (he has to say that)

[UntamedShrew]

Oh and balcony bras are a disaster for me and I do better in a half cup shoe I think

[UntamedShrew]

Shape, not shoe!!

[CMOTDibbler]

You sound like me then . Half cups are the way to go - the Patsy is a really nice shape, and you can filter on the Bravissimo website by shape to see some

[TheCatsMeow]

I wear a 28GG and I think I look like what most people think a "C" cup is. Try the 30F OP

[UntamedShrew]

Thanks all - I've ordered a few sizes so will let you know how it goes. I'm very intrigued to try them on!

[Melonaire]

You need to do the scoop and lift thing under your armpit so that all the breast is in the cup. It also removes any back fat issues!

[Melonaire]

This

'The Stoop, Swoop & Scoop Test
To know if you have the right size bra, you need to be sure you are “in” your bra. This is especially important for D cup sizes and larger

Here’s what you need to do:
1.) Stoop or lean forward from the waist and let your breasts drop into the cups
2.) Swoop – with the opposite hand, you gently bring your breast tissue forward from under your arms to make sure all your breast tissue is in your bra’s cups.
3.) Scoop your breast tissue up and into the underwire from under your bra band