To ask if you believe 'boob or bust' bra measurements?

[rogertherabbit]

So I have read good things about this website and its tool for measuring your correct bra size. I am breastfeeding and currently wear a 36G. I'm aware it's too loose around the back, so went online and did the 'boob or bust' calculation

It thinks I need a 28H! I understand that this is only a guide, but my 'snug' measurement around my chest was 28 inches, and I thought you added 4 inches to this to get your back size - is this not correct...? Admittedly I haven't been 'formally' measured for over a decade so this might be not right

I'm aware 28H probably isn't easy to get hold of, and wondered if any of you have used this calculation and found it to be accurate. I don't want to bust a gut trying to find 28 inch nursing bras to try on when I can go for a 32 back which I can get more easily in regular shops

Thanks

HeCantBeSerious
Really? Seems like something a big high street bra chain could have mentioned. But then if there is nothing bigger to offer...

The idea that I would be lamenting a J being too small

Kermit he he my husband says they are too big now - I'm hoping they will deflate a bit once I'm done with breastfeeding, but who knows....

I have an M&S in the nearby city too so can go and look at what they've got. My previous experience at being measured was at M&S but as I said, was probably 15 or so years ago. Will give their fitters a miss. Bravissimo is still there so I might have a sneaky look tomorrow and ask them to measure me. Hoping for slightly more pert boobs than I have now!

From figleaves:

Oh my days, never heard of this before and just had to do a quick strip in the kitchen to check - came out as 36f when I wear 38d so not a million miles away but still a surprise! I need new undies (everything I have is seriously saggy/shabby/greying so armed with my new data I'm off to attempt to shoehorn myself into the 36 underband which I haven't been since I was about 16

They've put me at 28KK which doesn't actually exist so no, I have to just ignore it.

The only time you should really add inches to the band size is if you measure an odd number, then sometimes you might want to size up

I measure 29 underbust and wear a 30.

Actually my sports bra is a 32 because I couldnt breathe in a 30, but thats because they have no stretch at all. You always should try on in the shop, because different brands can have inconsistent sizing.
I would try your local bravissimo if possible

roger I'd really recommend that you go to Bravissimo first - M&S have a horrible tendency to try and add 4 inches and then convince you that whatever they put you in is fine. Plus their bras aren't that well designed for larger cup sizes, IME. Bravissimo won't sell you a bra they think doesn't fit well, and have a decent selection in 28 back sizes (I know, as I am a 28, albeit a cup size smaller).

Yep. I went from 36c to 30ff. Don't knock it until you try it.

So... went to bravissimo and I now have a bra that fits!

Turned up wearing a 36G which is far too loose. She had a look, pulled it around a bit and then came back with a selection for me to try

Turns out I am 30H which is very close to the boob or bust estimate - very happy! No more saggy milk boobs

Bravissimo is amazing - I've used them for 20 years (back when there was just a single shop in Ealing) and they can absolutely transform people's shape: though it's a little bit creepy how their fitters can look at you and know your exact size immediately Enjoy your new figure - and your comfy boobs!

I've just tried this and have come up as a 34FF! Currently wearing a 38D. I wore a 34 prior to dd3 but my rib cage expanded and hasn't gone back. I'm now interested to try this new size!

Silly question. But... for the leaving measurement do I measure all around my back and measuring around my saggy boobs as far as they fall? Or do I hold them up against my chest and measure around that?

I am amazed people my size have found bras that fit! Tried bravissimo but they had literally nothing that was non wired on the shop floor. I've tried on M&S in the correct size but the sides of the cups cut into my upper arms/armpits. Currently boobs are on the rampage due to pregnancy and I ended up buying a soft M&S nursing bra in a much larger band and sewing on extra hooks and eyes to knock about 3 inches off the back! I think I have narrow shoulders and my boobs are actually situated quite far apart on my ribs and that's why the cups were cutting in to my arms. Any suggestions? Probably a 30F by now..

Can someone kindly provide link to tool? I wear 36AA at the moment and them hard to get but wondering if I should be wearing something else ...
Thanks

hefzi - thanks, I am enjoying them already! It was a little creepy having her stare at my chest for a minute or two, but it worked

mustdash - do try it, I feel so much better in the correct size

pardon - for the leaning measurement I think put the tape around your back and then around your nipples as you hang your boobs forward (nipples pointing down)

mysterycat - the bravissimo I went in did have a good variety of sizes in your sort of range although not in all styles. They only had this one bra in my size, but at least I can now order a couple more online. Can you find another bravissimo nearby? Or at least ring them and ask what they have in stock around a 30F before you go...? Other option is to order a variety of sizes online and then return what doesn't fit, but then you don't get the shop lady helping to fit it for you

www.booborbust.com/#info_tab

I really want to go with the new style measuring because adding 4 doesn't seem to make sense. Also I have been wearing the same size bra for years 36C and I do find with some of them I am spilling out when I move around.

However, when I try bras in my 'new' size 32F it just doesn't work. I wore one for few hours because it seemed to fit okay, but after a couple of hours I took it off because it was hurting me and there were red marks all round. I also tried on a load of 34s, in D, DD, E and F, and all of them gaped round the cup as there was not enough boob to fill it. I just tried a 32FF and it also felt like there was excess material round the cups, and it was too tight, leaving red marks.

So at the moment I am struggling to get on board with it.

It's not that new!

I was fitted by the bra intervention method when I first moved to London in the 1980s (at Rigby and Peller, by someone who was so experienced she didn't actually need to use a tape measure)

I've said it before but, as PP said, it's not new!

I was fitted this way in the late 1980s - at a tiny bra shop by two older ladies a couple of hundred miles away from London!

Anyone looking for non-wired bras, John Lewis do them in small back/big cup sizes, they also have a nursing bra in that combo - lowest is 28 back.

Figleaves, if you don't mind buying online are also quite good.

I believe in the way of measuring - if believe is the right word for something logical.

But some "interventionists" make up crap to go along with it, like pretending back fat is "displaced breast tissue" and insisting a bra should be as tight as a woman can bear (not as tight as comfortable, as tight as she can stand).

Yes I think the 'displaced breast tissue' thing is nonsense; also trying to 'scoop' it from around your back is futile - it's not a boob!
But I like a tight band. While we're on the subject, I've been struggling for the last few years, ever since about late-forties when gravity really set in. I have to try about twenty bras before finding one that doesn't gape at the top of the cups, and even then, and with the straps hitched right up, I still look matronly.
I should probably try harder to lose weight; maybe double gs are always going to look that way after a certain age.

Oops zombie thread!