to completely give up on wearing bras?

[Bigredsevs]

It started innocently enough; I would skip wearing bras if I was going on a flight, or long car ride, but now I can't seem to persuade myself to wear them at all!

I am not flat chested (36D, kind of 'wide based' if that makes any sense..). I am pretty sure that ianbu but every so often I feel unsure, mostly because of peoples reaction... my sister is appalled and her boobs are much smaller! I increasingly feel like I shouldn't have to wear a surgical support to change/camouflage the shape of my breasts every day of life.. and that men's people's reaction to the outline of my breasts through clothing is their problem... I do get anxious about whether it is unprofessional for work though, but then I get angry about how the fact that they are so over-sexualised that I feel responsible.

I would wear one if I was in a 'who has the nicest shaped boobs?' competition but am i being unreasonable to give up on wearing one for daily life?

p.s. walking, jumping, doing up and down stairs felt weird and wibbly at first, but normal now :)

Um, my sis has never worn a bra and she is 34B. They now look like spaniels ears & have done since she was early 20's. By comparison my 34D's have only dropped a little with age (I can tell from pics when i was younger pics taken now). Larger boobed ladies do not look good with jiggling effect and the droop that results when i have asked male friends opinion. Also, where I work ('corporate' to the nth degree) we have a very strict dress code: You would be sent home. We have also had a client complain re a woman who used to wear sheer tops - she was also large boobed. He accused us of 'using sex to get an account'.

I haven't found any discomfort from chafing. Maybe I have less sensitive nipples? I think with a stretchy vest the fabric moves with them rather than against them? (mind boggling at unbound breast physics)

I only wear them if I am wearing a low cut vest top in the summer that is either a bit thin or falls down me without a padded bra.

I have been wearing vests under my tops this winter and spring. I have small A cup boobs and a vest is enough to cover up any nippleage.

Not wearing a bra does make my boobs look almost non-existent though.

I wouldn't judge you, but I would long to tell you how much better you would look in a well fitting bra. IMO no bra, beyond a certain size, results in a shapeless lump sort of look. If you don't mind that, and as long as your nipples aren't on display for all to see, then fair enough.

Ever since I had an accident and injured my ribs my bras having been really hurting me. I don't know if it's related or if it's the reason but it's soo painful for me to wear a wired bra. I'm okay with non wired but even they are uncomfortable so if I can I will go with out.

I will always wear a bra to work though.

I've always noticed when other people aren't wearing a bra so I assume other people notice too. It doesn't bother me so much. I just wish there was a way to stop nipples showing through clothes arggh. >.<

So I don't think you are being unreasonable.

Sazzie, your dress code specifies the type of underwear employees must wear?? That seems very intrusive to me. I've only worked in environments that request business wear or smart business wear, and while I've had conversations with my peers and superiors about what that constitutes no one has ever mentioned my bra-less state, which is I am sure obvious (not because I wear anything revealing, but the shape is obviously different). Do fat men with man boobs have to wear bras too?

Sazzle
my sis has never worn a bra and she is 34B. They now look like spaniels ears & have done since she was early 20's

That was unlikely to be due to not wearing a bra.

www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/259073.php

Sallyingforth - my sisters boobs which were very pert 15-22 ish they started to look really droopy and she never wore bras so very interested to read article you put link to! Ive always worn one & mine have always only dropped inch or two touch wood, with age. What do you reckon sparked the droop, how intriguing.... I think Marilyn Monroe swore by wearing a good bra too and hers were damn good right up to mid 30's !

Yep Nooka they have twice sent girls home for wearing bright coloured bras and TOTALLY see thru sheer tops. Deemed 'unprofessional' by the HR police ..

Sorry Nooka forgot to say of course underwear isnt mentioned in the dress code at work: but we have had people sent home for reasons mentioned in last post: then got a rather frosty memo from the HR police to all employees re 'appropriate office wear'. We are also not allowed bare shoulders/strappy t shirts in summer. Shoulders, how shocking !!

Of course, the problem with that study is that women whose boobs behave nicely without a bra are, on the whole, more likely not to bother with one, so what's to say that the women in the study who did wear bras weren't more likely to be predisposed towards drooping, anyhow? It's a bit of a chicken and egg scenario.

I didn't wear a bra very often in my early 20s because I didn't need to. By my mid 20s, I did because they were droopy and uncomfortable if I was doing anything more energetic than making a cup of tea. They weren't even large at the time - the big boob fairy didn't visit until I had children.

My breasts sagged after they blew up like balloons when I stopped breastfeeding dd, I don't recall any changes in my twenties and they haven't significantly changed in the last ten years. My mother's breasts don't look radically different now in her 70s than they did in her fifties (she is also a non bra wearer) so I'm not too worried really. Of course I have no controls so I'm not suggesting anything even vaguely representative, but then I've never seen any actual evidence that bras make any difference whatsoever to breasts, and note from that article that even one of the bra manufacturers was careful not to make that claim.