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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To despair at EVER finding a bra that fits?!

999 replies

Silverstar2 · 06/02/2013 17:41

So, I have read every website on the subject, been measured at Bravissimo, and STILL find every single bra uncomfortable - even the ones that Bravissimo said were the right size. I just want to rip the thing off as soon as I get in from work. They seem fine for about an hour, then start to dig in.

I find that they just 'curl up' at the back, and I get horrible back fat, or dig in at the side/arm pit, but mainly on just one side! The band never seems to sit flush to my side iyswim. I have tried going up a band and down a cup, down a band and up a cup etc, have tried every style going..........

I found when I wore my saggy old too big bras they gave me no shape or support, but my god they were comfy!

I think I am about a 36/38 E/F. I have ordered and sent back about ten bras this last month as they just all HURT.

So, AIBU to just let 'em all hang out and be pain-free??!!!!

OP posts:
CelticPromise · 17/02/2013 19:41

Cj I'm a mere amateur compared to the MN bra fitters but I'd start with a 30DD and sizes close, so maybe 32D and DD and 30E. Read SC's post just below about bra fitting and give it a go. You won't look back!

M&S, just WHY? We need to get their bra people onto one of these threads!

StatisticallyChallenged · 17/02/2013 19:43

Sorry, I may be wrong there. I just checked their "chart" and they would fit someone in a 38a who measures 33.5/35. So you probably are correct as I would bet they didn't pull the tape tight.

CelticPromise · 17/02/2013 19:43

x posts with experts! My phone is slow to pick up new replies tonight...

MrsKoala · 17/02/2013 19:43

Hello, bra gurus, me again. Just at my mums and noticed her bras do not fit at all well. She reckons she's a 38c. I think not! I showed her how to scoop and now she's falling out the top :)

I'm going to hold her down and measure her and report back. I told her she needs to go down a back and up several cups. She has loads of under arm and back fat like I do. She agrees with the principal but will need to try some on to be convinced. She doesn't think she has 'big' boobs, which to her is anything over a c. Also she hates looking busty, or 'separated'.

I feel so much better knowing what I have learnt from this thread so want to pass it on. I'd love to get her something lovely or Mother's Day and a better fitting bra would be perfect.

StatisticallyChallenged · 17/02/2013 19:51

MrsKoala, now that you "know", you will start spotting bad bras everywhere you look. Honestly. You will find yourself walking behind a stranger and thinking "look at how much the back of that rides up"

SorrelForbes · 17/02/2013 19:55

I'm known amongst my friends as a complete bra bore. They roll their eyes and everything when I start talking about bra fitting (and then text or email me to ask if I'll help them find a bra!). I've stopped being really polite to friends and family and people I may have only met once and just tell them! They're always grateful in the end. Grin

Chickengirl · 17/02/2013 20:06

I have a challenge for anyone who can find a bra to fit my tiny measurements. I fear it is impossible without paying to have one made to measure, but that's too much money especially with the risk it may not fit anyway. My measurements are 26" under bust if pulled tight and about 28.5" overbust. So I'm thinking what I need is a 26b or possibly c. However, as far as I can tell 26" backs just don't exist and 28" backs are particularly uncommon in small cups apart from the odd "trainer/teen" bra. I am in my thirties, I want a grown up attractive bra! So I throw out the challenge, am I right in my size assumption and if so is there anywhere I can get one?

StatisticallyChallenged · 17/02/2013 20:21

Chickengirl, unfortunately I am not aware of anyone UK based who has embraced the 26 back yet :(

However, there is a polish brand called Ewa Michelak which does custom sizes but at quite reasonable prices.

There are also a couple of bra bloggers (will try to find links) who should be wearing a 26 (one should even be a 24 I think) who have instead worked out ways to tweak/adjust bras. Essentially you want to try and find a bra where the cups fit well - so try on lots of 28a and b which should have the same cup volume as the 26b and c. Find one where the cup is good, then you take a small "tuck" from each side of the back strap to effectively make your own 26b/c.

Cj1981 · 17/02/2013 20:21

Thanks so much for all your responses. Wowsers - a C, D or even DD cup - find it hard to believe that my deflated airbags could rival those of a page 3 model but thrilled at the idea that I might actually discover a cleavage Grin Am going to go underwear shopping (and return all the wrong fitting bras bought this weekend) tomorrow night so will report back. Thanks again ladies.

SorrelForbes · 17/02/2013 20:23

Good luck. Trust me, Page 3 models have much, much bigger boobs than a DD!

AnyFucker · 17/02/2013 20:37

aww, rocki so sweet of you but you are mistaken

but at a narrow chested size 10 there is no way on earth I am a 38 bra

I have been wearing 34's for years in a cup 2 sizes too small

I am a 32D, and I have only recently realised this

but God my figure is thanking me for it

my sad spaniels ears have undergone a rejuvenation, at least while I have my bra on Smile

AgathaF · 17/02/2013 20:40

I do hope the M&S fitter is reading all of this.

AnyFucker · 17/02/2013 20:43

I also would never have considered a balconette bra, going more for the plunge type

Then wondering why my floppy boobs just fell out of the middle

Hoorayyyyyy for the balconette !

SorrelForbes · 17/02/2013 20:46

Apart from one Freya Deco plunge, all my bras are balconettes. I like my boobs up as high as possible thanks!

poorbuthappy · 17/02/2013 20:47

Nope, M&S have been in complete denial for years about how utterly shit their bra fitting service is. They will never learn. It is only through the power of MN that women are finally learning how to do it and which shops/brands to go to for decent, well made, good fit bras.

AnyFucker · 17/02/2013 20:56

No wonder M+S profits are going down year on year !

They used to be the go-to place for bra fitting

Why don't they cop on ??? Confused

An intervention should be staged. There is nothing wrong their bras, just the fitting.

AnyFucker · 17/02/2013 20:58

No wonder M+S profits are going down year on year !

They used to be the go-to place for bra fitting

Why don't they cop on ??? Confused

An intervention should be staged. There is nothing wrong their bras, just the fitting.

AnyFucker · 17/02/2013 20:58

oops

showtunesgirl · 17/02/2013 21:03

M & S used to say I was a 36A. Hmm I most certainly am NOT!

StatisticallyChallenged · 17/02/2013 21:04

I think a few folk have tried re M&S but they just are not interested. Probably because if they improved their fitting they would have to increase their size range. Their are massive numbers of women who, if measured correctly, would fall outwith their size range

AnyFucker · 17/02/2013 21:08

true, SC

but if they increased their size range and measured people properly, I reckon their profits would soar

StatisticallyChallenged · 17/02/2013 21:09

Quite probably AF. But at the moment they are at "la la la, I'm not listening" stage

AnyFucker · 17/02/2013 21:10

weird !

ImperfectPirouette · 17/02/2013 21:12

Sorrel, does Madame Fidolia know what you're up to these days? Wink

Bra-shopping for me remains an absolutely hideous experience I will go to great lengths to avoid. Blegh. My mother died when I was ten-and-a-half so The First Bra meant all sorts of Embarrassment And Awkward. Shopping with my father when I was a teenager didn't improve matters on the Awkward And Embarrassing front: I have decidedly unfond memories of standing in the changing room in La Senza wishing I could be fitted for a bra without, er, anyone having to see me in my bra, whilst my father immersed himself in a book on the British Civil Wars & pretended to himself he was not at all in any way in a lingerie shop, most especially not with his daughter NO.

Having been much-mocked for being unblessed in the bosom department (my little sister apparently got my share as well as a not ungenerous helping of her own) I almost fell over when I measured myself & came up with 28" underbust & somewhere between 33" & 34" overbust. I don't need to wear a bra under my leotards (for which I am incredibly grateful because it means I can wear any leotard I want to without having to worry about The Strap Situation) & they don't move independently of the rest of me when doing allegro (or indeed anything else) so how how HOW can I possibly be needing the 28DD this thread suggests?! Surely if I did I would be being (as Louise Rennison so charmingly puts it) "knocked out by my nunga nungas" every time I danced?

Am in a slight state of shock, frankly. And may have startled the kittens with my antics with the tape-measure.

I currently wear a 32A. Am not sure if I have the level of Brave required to go & try on bras. Maybe I should just go back to wearing children's crop tops along of my age 11-12 knickers... Blush

greencolorpack · 17/02/2013 21:15

I recommend going to get fitted at M and S. I had a great session yesterday and am wearing a lovely well fitting bra for the first time in years and years. I will wear the poor thing to death and in a few years go and try again!!

I have enormous (.) (.) and I find it amusing the way the woman in the shop skirts around saying so. "the fuller figured women often find..." just call the big tits! I'm not embarrassed, I've come to terms with it. Lol