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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To wonder how a fairly intelligent woman

27 replies

akaemmafrost · 09/12/2011 14:14

Can spend 20 years wearing the wrong bra size? I have been convinced I am a 36C, however it appears after being properly measured today I am in fact, actually a 34B . The woman who measured me told me that the majority of women she measures are wearing the wrong size. So there you go.

OP posts:

Hullygully · 09/12/2011 14:15

They all tell you that. No matter what shop you go to, they tell you all the others are rubbish and then make you buy theirs.

aldiwhore · 09/12/2011 14:17

No one is one true size in my opinion, I've many well fitting bras that are slightly different sizes, and styles. No measurement is always correct for all bras. Only way to get a decent fit is to try lots on!

HazleNutt · 09/12/2011 14:18

that sounds a bit odd. if you were really 34B in 36C, your cops would be 2 sizes too big and totally wrinkled. no? Where did you get measured?

HazleNutt · 09/12/2011 14:18

cups, cups not cops.

Bluebell99 · 09/12/2011 14:18

I was once told by a measuring lady that the difference in sizes that you describe is actually the same? Sorry that doesnt really make sense but she said a 40C was the same as a 38D so down a size in measuring and up one in cup size.

Fecklessdizzy · 09/12/2011 14:19

I swear my buzooms change size regularly just to spite me

tigermoll · 09/12/2011 14:25

Like anything, bra sizes vary between manufacturers (ie an M&S 34B may differ from a La Senza 34B etc) and also between styles (balconette vs plunge, etc) and women's breasts change depending on time of the month, weight gain/loss etc. And like other articles of clothing, a bra changes throughout its life (becoming less elastic or alternatively, the material may stretch).

Give all this, don't be too hung up on the 'right size', - in some stores/days/styles you may very well be a 34C. Choose a bra that fits you, NOT one that the label says ought to.

Also, don't believe the 'measure your ribcage, then measure the fullest art of the breast, the difference allows you to work out the cup size'. That can give you a general idea, but is only a guide, - still try on different sizes to find the best fit.

HazleNutt · 09/12/2011 14:26

Bluebell that is correct. So if OP went from 36C to 34D, I would not be surprised.

tigermoll · 09/12/2011 14:28

she said a 40C was the same as a 38D so down a size in measuring and up one in cup size.

Salespeople will tell you this from time to time, but they are wrong, - they are just trying to make up for not having the right size in stock.

The 34 refers to the circumference of your ribcage, the letter to the volume of your breasts. These two measurements are not interchangable, - for example a woman with a tiny ribcage but large breasts would need (say) a 30G. Scaling up the measurements to a 40C would mean she was in a very ill-fitting bra indeed.

ConstanceNoring · 09/12/2011 14:29

Same here Feckless, absolute bastards

ConstanceNoring · 09/12/2011 14:29

what happened to my ?

ConstanceNoring · 09/12/2011 14:30

SuePurblybiltbyElves · 09/12/2011 14:30

Hully is right. It's like hairdressers tutting at whoever cut it last time (er, that'd be you love).

ConstanceNoring · 09/12/2011 14:30

oh the festive ones aren't working either...

Hullygully · 09/12/2011 14:33

I had em measured the other day as I hadn't had it done for about 30 years and was duly told it was all hopeless and alarming and frankly amazing I wasn't dead, then she went off and got a brassiere and made me put it on and I couldn't even breathe. I can't wear this, I tried to say without any breath, and she wouldn't have it. Her eyes went all robotic and she kept saying, It's the right size, it's the right size. Loony.

HazleNutt · 09/12/2011 14:36

the bra measurer meant that the cup sice is the same of course, not that a 30G could wear 40C. Just that if you go down a band size, you should go up a cup size.

tigermoll · 09/12/2011 14:41

Just that if you go down a band size, you should go up a cup size.

Yep, that's what I was saying DOESN'T work, - but I chose an extreme example to show that a 34C is NOT the same as a 36B.

You should not just assume you can go down a bandsize/up a cupsize, - the measurements refer to different things. If its only a difference of one size then it may be ok, (depending on style of bra etc) but it is not the same.

The band size is the circumference of your ribcage, - how is a bra that is, say a a 36 when your ribcage is 34 inches made any better of a fit by having a smaller cup attatched?

HazleNutt · 09/12/2011 14:54

no let me try again. No, 34C is not the same as 36B. Just the size of the CUP that it attached to those different bands is the same.

Let's say your ribcage is 34. you happen to try a 36C. the cup fits, but the band is a tad large. so of course you try a 34, but you should not then try a 34C, but a 34D. the cup in 34 is a size smaller and 34C, while band is fitting, the cup would not.

Kikithecat · 09/12/2011 15:01

If I buy the cup size I was told I was recently, 34D, I can bearly breath and bits of jelly-like flesh poke out all around the garment. So I stick to my self-diagnosed 36C which appears to fit perfectly. Whadda they know?

DoesNotGiveAFig · 09/12/2011 15:18

Haha I got measured after wearing a 36B in La Senza and discovered I'm a 36DD in their bras. I've never been so chuffed.

Sadly, it IS just their bras, in more normal size ones like m&s and debenhams etc I'm more of a 36C/D dpeending on bra.

GrimmaTheNome · 09/12/2011 15:24

Whenever I get measured, they always tell me I'm something different from the size I'm wearing. I dutifully try on their recommended size, it doesn't look right, they get the size of my old bra - bingo, it fits nicely.

precariouslybalanced · 09/12/2011 16:13

I was once told that there are three measurements to a well-fitting bra.

The number corresponds to the circumference of the ribcage without digging into back fat. This can also depend on the type of elastic used, and will likely change over the lifetime of the bra given people generally machine wash bras.

The letter corresponds to a measurement of the underside of the breast ie the length and shallowness of angle of the half-moon shaped wire in an underwired bra.

The third measurement is the volume of the breast, and is normally referenced by 'plunge' or 'balcony' or whatever.

So, a 32C balcony wearer may be a 32A in a full-coverage t-shirt bra. The balcony bit in the first bra will simply have the right base measurement to not dig into the flesh of the breast eith between the breasts or at the underarms, and just have the right amount of material to cover the nipple etc.

And of course, just to make life easier, it all changes from manufacturer to manufacturer, design to design.

Basically, I now try them on as I would a pair of shoes before buying, especially given how many variables there are in a bra (eye-n-hook attachment at back, variable strap lengths, above measurements). Real pain in the backside, but rather that than a pair of painful boobs!

CailinDana · 09/12/2011 16:25

IMO all different brands of bras fit differently so there's no point in just picking up a size and assuming it'll fit, you have to try it on and test it.

Whatmeworry · 09/12/2011 16:36

IMO all different brands of bras fit differently so there's no point in just picking up a size and assuming it'll fit, you have to try it on and test it

What she said.

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