Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Putting on your bra behind your back!

260 replies

skislope · 13/04/2016 19:13

I remember reading a thead (or three) a while back that divided opinion about how people put their bras on. It was pretty much 50/50 that some fastened them behind their backs and some fastened them under boob then twisted round. I am in the latter camp and it did puzzle me how it's possible to do up your bra behind your back... Blush
However, I was at an aerobics class a few days ago, and the instructor asked us all to link our own hands behind our backs and connect them (if that makes sense!) which I couldn't do - neither could a lot of people (I noted as I was stood at the back observing!). We were all people of differing statures and weights (so not a 'long arm' issue) - so I wondered if the world's back bra fasteners are the same people that can connect their hands behind their backs?!

OP posts:
KatharinaRosalie · 13/04/2016 19:48

If you wear a regular bra (and not a crop top or similar) and you can either pull it over your head, or up over hips, the bra band is way too big. Same for most of the front fasteners, especially if you find it easy to swivel. Bras should be tight.

AgathaF · 13/04/2016 19:49

AFuckOfFlora - are you wearing the right size bra? You really shouldn't be able to do that if the band size is correct.

I wonder if those of us who are back fasteners have remained a bit more flexible of arm because of the daily stretch/exercise of reaching round to our backs to do this? Perhaps if I'd been a front fastener then I now (at age 48) wouldn't be able to reach around my back too.

FishOn · 13/04/2016 19:52

No - you swivel it round your waist, which is a lot smaller than your back. Then pull it up.

wheresthebeach · 13/04/2016 19:52

Front and twist. Can reach behind but have...ahem...four hooks and eyes to connect up and I cannot, just cannot, get that right without looking at them. Life it too short....I've tried...oh so many times.

MakingJudySmile · 13/04/2016 19:52

I'm a behind the back bra putter-oner

but I don't get what the hand behind the back thing is!!??!

Chinks123 · 13/04/2016 19:54

Can do both but always do at the front and twist round. Saw my mum do it and just learnt that way. Never rubbed my skin off or scratched my shoulder blades...Confused why would it scratch your shoulders I'm confused by that

Dollymixtureyumyum · 13/04/2016 19:55

Back fastener here. Did not realise so many people did them up at the front. You learn something new everyday on mumsnet Grin

BestIsWest · 13/04/2016 19:56

Back fastener here. I can link hands behind my back and do the reverse praying thing. I didn't think this was unusual. Recently discovered I'm hypermobile though.

FattyNinjaOwl · 13/04/2016 19:57

fish trust me, my waist is not smaller than my back fat cow who is losing weight. Boobs are the first to disappear

tinyterrors · 13/04/2016 19:58

I've always fastened my bra at the back. I tried to swivel it round once and it was a total faff and took way longer. I'm not overly flexible, or thin for that matter.

I can do French braids in my own hair without looking and put in earrings without a mirror, I can also clasp my hands behind my back. I even did up the 20 or so hook-and-eye fastenings on the back of the corset thing that I wore under my wedding dress without looking in a mirror.

FishOn · 13/04/2016 19:58

Fatty Grin

KatharinaRosalie · 13/04/2016 19:59

OP did you mean this?

Putting on your bra behind your back!
Pastamancer · 13/04/2016 19:59

I used to do it up at the front and then swivel but then found out that the high street bra fittings are terrible. Once I found the right size I started doing up at the back as it is too tight to do up and swivel

BestIsWest · 13/04/2016 19:59

Link hands behind back I assume is like this. I used to be able to grasp hands firmly.

Putting on your bra behind your back!
SugarMiceInTheRain · 13/04/2016 20:01

This thread makes me think of this Sarah Millican sketch

chocdonutyy · 13/04/2016 20:02

Always been a front fastener, just can't get the knack of hooking it up at the back.
I do it up around my waist, which being an hourglass figure gives me plenty of wiggle room, twist and pull up, if I've ever manager to get it done up at the back it never feels fitted right.
Bless my nan though, she's always been a back fastener and it's come as a revelation that she can do it up at the front which has helped with her arthritis, she's 93 :D

insancerre · 13/04/2016 20:03

Can't you put your arms behind your back and touch each elbow with the opposite hand?
Because if you can do that then thou should be able to do up a bra behind your back

BackforGood · 13/04/2016 20:05

I was going to ask the same as Katharina and BestisWest - do you mean one arm over the shoulder like the pictures, or literally just shaking hands with yourself behind your back ? Confused

I'm amazed so many grown women can't do up their own clothes, tbh. How do you fasten a necklace if you can't do a pretty ordinary thing like a hook and eye without being able to see it ???

cressetmama · 13/04/2016 20:06

Back fastener, except when I had an injury.

Rainatnight · 13/04/2016 20:06

Life long back fastener who secretly judges front fasteners

The trick with the not being able to see the hooks thing is to fold down the very end of the strap on which the eyes sit, so that they protrude, which makes it lots easier to find it with the hooks. (That sounds complicated but it takes half a second).

MsVestibule · 13/04/2016 20:09

I honestly didn't know that so many people fastened at the front then twisted it round! I've always fastened at the back, three hooks and eyes, never been a problem.

AFuckOfFlora · 13/04/2016 20:12

I feel more of a freak nowGrin

To answer some questions, I honestly have never struggled pulling a fastened bra over my head!

I have never got stuck while doing this, or even struggled tbh (I have even just done it again now, consciously thinking about how I am putting it on rather than just autopilot IYSWIM, and it's just easyConfused

I certainly don't think I have the wrong size bra, as I get measured frequently, including before, during and after pregnancy so I think I can conclude that I am just a freakGrin

Sn0tnose · 13/04/2016 20:13

I am not slim, not flexible and when I tried to do the thing in those two pictures, I swear I heard something go pop. But I'm a firm back fastener.

VoldysGoneMouldy · 13/04/2016 20:14

Surely if you're able to twist it around, or pull it down / up, then it's not the right size? Confused

Sn0tnose · 13/04/2016 20:15

Flora, do you take it off the same way?