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AIBU?

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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:
hiccupgirl · 14/04/2016 12:19

I used to be a front fastener and then switched to back fastening when pregnant as I couldn't easily swivel the bra round then. I've never gone back to front fastening - back just works better for me.

I can't do the yoga hand link thing - can't even touch my finger tips together but can top my opposites elbows straight across my back. I do have short arms though.

KatharinaRosalie · 14/04/2016 12:26

I often wear longline bras (currently in one with 7 hooks) and still do them up at the back. Just start with the bottom, one at the time, no more difficuly than 2 or 3.

Shock at pulling a fastened sports bra over your head. If they're so loose that you can easily pull them over your boobs, they can't be doing much?

leedy · 14/04/2016 12:29

I can (despite weirdly short arms) do the yoga hand link thing no bother, can zip up dresses behind my back, put on lipstick without looking - but still do my bra up at the front. For some reason I need to see the hooks and eyes.

BieneBiene · 14/04/2016 12:36

I am short -and fat- and a back fastener. I have done it the front way a few times but it feels wrong.

Lillabet · 14/04/2016 12:39

Large of nork and back here (38K) and wear underwires and have never been able to do the front and twist thing so back fasten (and I'm not particularly flexible either). I lean forward with my arms through the straps and "drop" into the cups, do up the back and then put my straps up. I then adjust boobs and straps until comfy. It's how I was taught to put a bra on by the lady who measured me for my first ever (before I needed underwires and 3 to 4 hooks), she advised me any other way was bad for the bra and bad for you Smile

NatashaGurdin · 14/04/2016 12:47

I front fasten and twist because I'm left handed and can't seem to work the clasp when I can't see it, also as a PP said large cup size bras usually have two or three clasps to fasten so it is easier for me to do it from the front.

I am also wearing the right sized bra according to Bravissimo and the bra intervention threads on here.

My left handed DSIL also front fastens and twists.

leedy · 14/04/2016 13:13

Oh yeah, I'm definitely in the right size bra as well. I do the front fastening and swivel thing below my rib cage, then pull it up once it's the right way round and fastened, wouldn't be able to twist it round higher up.

Klaptrap · 14/04/2016 13:16

Since I got pregnant I have been trying to learn to back-fasten my bra. Pregnancy has taken away my waist, which means swiveling it around is much more uncomfortable as there is no 'narrow' part of me to swivel the bra around before moving it up into the correct position. Sad

I've managed to back-fasten successfully a few times, but it is such a faff and takes multiple attempts.

I wonder if I'd have been able to do it if I learnt it that way from the start, but my mum was a front-fastener and I learnt how to put on a bra from her.

Klaptrap · 14/04/2016 13:17

NatashaGurdin I am left-handed too - I wonder if that doesn't help?

Mamadothehump · 14/04/2016 13:17

Back fastener here too. So to those of you front fasteners, how do you take it off? Do you have to re twist then undo at the front?

leedy · 14/04/2016 13:21

"So to those of you front fasteners, how do you take it off? Do you have to re twist then undo at the front?"

No, I just undo it at the back! I find undoing a set of hooks and eyes without looking much easier than doing up one, especially if I'm trying to make sure I get the right fastening (my sports bra has, I think, four rows of three eyes and I use the second set, for instance, and if I can't see what I'm doing I have no idea how I'd get the right set.)

MissTurnstiles · 14/04/2016 13:25

Out of interest - what do front fasteners do with bikinis? Those little slot and twist clasps were my nemesis for years, despite being adept at hook and eye fastenings.

Klaptrap · 14/04/2016 13:25

I undo at the back - the undoing is easy, it's the fastening which is so fiddly!

Topseyt · 14/04/2016 13:25

I have always been a behind-my-back bra fastener. I have done it that way since puberty and my first bras.

Suddenly, at 49, I have recently had surgery on a broken arm which is taking a long time to heal and I can no longer do it. I have been having help from my DDs and my DH but might have to try either fastening at the front and twisting around or buying a couple of front fasteners if it doesn't improve soon. Haven't been able to find any in my size though.

ouryve · 14/04/2016 13:26

Despite being a front fastener, I can usually push the hooks undone with my thumb and a well timed tug. I have one bra that sometimes sticks, as one of the hooks is a bit bent, so I do turn that one around, if DH isn't around to help.

leedy · 14/04/2016 13:28

I actually find the bikini slot and twist clasps easier to do up without seeing than hooks and eyes. Possibly because there's only one of it.

cinnamonorange · 14/04/2016 13:28

Never mind fastening my bra, what I want to know is how my DH manages to undo it in mid-proceedings with one hand without looking!

AKissACuddleAndACheekyFinger · 14/04/2016 13:34

Found out not so long ago that my sister does up her bra and pulls it on over her head like a jumper! Mind blowing stuff!

Pastamancer · 14/04/2016 14:05

She's very likely to be in the wrong size AKiss

candykane25 · 14/04/2016 14:36

Right.

Measuring tape.

Measure under bust with a nice and firm tension

Measure round fullness of bust

Add 1 letter per inch to the difference between the two

  • 1inch is A
  • 2inch is B Etc

So 32 under bust and 36 full bust is 32D

I am a 32G now and measure myself regularly as weight fluctuates.

I'm a front fastener and wearing the right size.

SeriousCreativeBlock · 14/04/2016 14:39

I think I must be a freak then because I do up my bra before I put it on and just pull it over my boobs. might explain the alarming rate in which I get through bras

Pastamancer · 14/04/2016 14:59

You should only be able to pull the band away from your body a maximum of 1". The vast majority of women are a D cup or higher when in the right size. The bra measuring group I'm an admin for have found that the average size of our members is 32GG.

KatharinaRosalie · 14/04/2016 15:08

serious most likely wearing the wrong size. Or a contortionist.

candykane25 · 14/04/2016 15:10

GG is smaller than G is that right? It's a half size?

KatharinaRosalie · 14/04/2016 15:11

No GG is a full cup size bigger than G