Desperate for bra help please!

[ZeddyByeBye]

I'm in dire need of some new bras but I'm having awful trouble finding any that I can wear! I react to a lot of man made fabrics, so can't wear them. Viscose is okay, by polyester/nylon brings me out in an itchy rash.

I'm about a 44h (I need to remeasure), would prefer no under wires and need cotton/cotton rich. Any ideas?

Ewa Michalak are definitely friendly to narrow roots - I find Freya too wide for me actually. They are actually as gravity defying as they look on the site too - try looking at the blog CurvyWordy as she has reviewed quite a few of them and is a 32KK so fairly busty! What size are you wearing in Freya?

OP, straps being too wide is very often a sign that the band is still too big - not always but frequently!

what bras are good for narrow rooted bottom heavy breasts as I have a couple of bras that dig in between them so figured it's because they start so close together there?

It sounds like they are close set. How far round under your arm do they go (that determines whether they are wide or narrow rooted rather than the central gap)

I like the look of the Caitlyn,but I'm losing weight quite quickly and don't want to pay £40 for a bra I might not get much wear out of.

I am going to be as inappropriate as I have ever been on mumsnet but if you advertised a bra of that size as used on ebay I am sure you would more than recover your £40!!

I found Bravissimo last year - they were lovely - I went to the Covent garden shop.

Statistically, they seem to extend into the armpit area and I hate bras that try to force them to sit too far forward on my chest. Does that mean I am wide rooted then?

Statistically I am a 34e In freya.
(38b m&s ).
Most other makes of bra than freya give me horrible underarm bulges even with scooping because my breast tissue is definitely going round my sides under the arms!

In loose clothes there's hardly much boobage. But as soon as I wear say a fitted t shirt that shows the full boobage shape at the sides, I look much bigger. Even in 'forward and up' styles there is no cleavage.

I find the freya tend to make my boons go forward without trying to push them together.
In my previous m&s life the bras acted like a sodding bandage squashing them even further out at the sides and together in the middle.
like a pair of donuts squashed in the packet.
when I think how crap my clothes looked on my shapeless chest for 35 years it gives me the rage.
and all those summer dresses that I had to wear a card over because of underarm bulge that should have been scooooooped.

Righty-ho

Dementedpixie, I think you are probably relatively wide rooted but close set. Close set breasts tend to get on best with plunge bras - I'm close set and it can be an absolute nightmare. I generally need central gores which are either super low, or really quite tall so they come up and over the close set bit. Half height ones just poke me in the boobs! As you are wide rooted, I'm thinking the Bravissimo Dixie, Starburst, Satine (satine is great and I think might well work). Curvy Kate plunges might be good too. Ewa Michalak do fabulously narrow gores however most of their bras are more suited to narrow roots. The BM style is wider and doesn't force them as far forward so might be good.

Madame - I'd actually reflect the EM advice for you - the BM might work. The CHP/CH/HP (the half cup ones) are also wider rooted and might work well for you. They would move them forward, but not to the same extent as the S,SM or PL styles which are more plunging and definitely push your breasts very far forward. There's no missing the cleavage in those!

Other bras which might suit (moving away from Freya) would be Bravissimo Alana and other bravissimo balconettes, Panache Envy, possible Cleo Marcie (a great bra if it works)...basically most freya bras seem to suit wider roots and breasts which naturally splay apart. Bras like Freya and the ones I've suggested will probably be most comfortable as the shape of the cups will kind of match your breasts. But you won't get cleavage so there might be times that you need bras which are a bit less comfortable but give you a different shape - the plunges I suggested to Demented like the Satine might be good for those times when you need something lower in the middle. If you are bottom heavy then you might like Bravissimo branded half cups like the Mademoiselle or rococo charm.

You might also like Curvy kate and Fantasie which are wide root friendly (Fantasie is made by the same company as Freya). You might also come across Fauve which is a recently discontinued luxury sister brand and could work for you. They make some gorgeous bras.

Can someone please explain what wide/narrow roots are? And what the gore is?

StatisticallyChallenged, it was a balconette style, and I have pretty narrow shoulders.

The gore is the bit in the middle which should sit flat between your boobs

Wide or narrow root refers to how wide the base of your breasts is. If you have wide roots then your boobs will go round under your armpits more whereas narrow roots are more attached to the front of your torso only

Thanks! How do you tell what you are?

How far round do you have breast tissue (sometimes leaning forward a bit helps as you can feel more easily where the edge is/where it's attached!)

How do you tell what's boob and what isn't?

Thank you- I've learned so much from this thread!