Boobs, I mean, Bras, and the eternal frustration

this is the basic Wacoal bra:

http://www.wacoal-america.com/catalogimages/85121.jpg

not the prettiest bra, but not ugly. it definitely doesn't create an unnatural shape. and it's supportive.

10 bras!
i only own like 3 bras. i think the last one i bought over was over 2 years ago. i am a dirtbag heeh

"water" "bra"? huh?

I have some m&s underwear but no bras. I need new bras too but don't even know where to start looking. I hate victoria's secret bras. They've never fit me right.

Tza don't worry - I have 4 bras and they're all the same make in either black or nude and def at least two years old. I have a couple lace ones that I haven't worn in years so they don't count.

10 may have been an exaggeration, bell. actually i have very, very few right now... i feel like i need to make up for a deficit.

Also can I just say how much I hate bras? The first thing I do when I get home is take mine off. If it weren't for erm possible nipple prominence and shape enhancement I'd never wear them. OK, I'm gonna go home now and take off my bra.

yeah i've heard good things about walcoal but yknow fuckit i'm just gonna have to come down to the states and do some shopping re: bras & shoes b/c canada is just not cutting it right now it wld seem. then again, i haven't been trying too hard. but like, why should bra shopping be some elite shopping activity where you have to know the secret spots to shop or soemthing? but i guess also that going to a specialty bra boutique run by an older french lady might be teh way to go (tho the $$ way...)

oops - I guess my other post was to Bell not Tza. That's what I get for speed reading.

I. Hate. Padding.

Hate it. Will not buy it. AND DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO FIND UNPADDED BRAS RIGHT NOW??? DO YOU?? Bras I don't hate start around $80 and go up.

All the companies that serve the department store market (in the $25-40 range) have to minimize their production expenses by following whatever is most popular, so right now they're all making padded and/or push-up bras. (Calvin Klein, DKNY, and others used to be great for basic underwire w/o padding but now they're harder to find and less likely to survive to get to the sale rack, which is where I look).

I'm sort of at a standstill -- I check to see what's on sale at figleaves.com very couple of months. Difficult, though.

that is exactly why i'm so frustrated!

it is so hard to find non padded bras for my size (little). everyone thinks i want to be bigger.

and often ones without padding look good on the rack (lol) but not on the/my body

i am kind of partial to those tank tops/undershirts with the built in the shelf support but srsly now they don't offer a lot of support even tho they are fairly comfortable

I like Chantelle, I like the Elle McPherson line (the unpadded ones, anyway). I just looked up Calvin Klein on figleaves and out of 25 results only one had no padding. Fuckers.

Chantelle makes beautiful stuff.

There is this Eberjey "bralet" I guess but I don't know how much support it has, and it's $50 which is affordable, I guess, but kind of steep for one item of underwear.

I REALLY like Chantelle but no way can I afford it. Well I mean I could stop drinking or smoking and save money that way, but it's a sad world in which I have to choose between bras and beer.

yeah, no, Chantelle is the aspirational bra brand i look at but don't buy.

Elmo, I think a water bra is a bra with little pouches of water inside to make the breasts appear larger w/o a stiff padded look. Correct me if I'm wrong, ladies.

oh i like that bralet, but yeah, $50.

at this point i will pay $50

i love this thread title, btw, it sounds like part of a mystery series.

I am all about the online shopping and found these excellent underwires at Title Nine when I was looking for a workout bra that had a back closure. They fit great, lots of stretchy, firm support, comfiest underwire I've worn in awhile, no padding, and the straps are inset at the back so they don't slip down. Not too dear either. Much more serviceable than cute though.

The only unpadded CK bra on figleaves.

I support Title 9 but I don't need anywhere near that level of support, is the thing. I could wear a scrap of lace as long as it had an underwire and straps that would stay the fuck up. AND NO PADDING. They're just much less common these days.

that is pretty
don't really like the title nine bra tho as i am v v picky when it comes to lace and usually don't want it anywhere on the bra. for everyday wear, i just want smooth, seamless bras. hell, they can be hot pink, i don't care, as long as they fit, have support (i like underwire when it's done well), don't have seams, and don't cover half my freakin chest and torso (unless they are tank top style, obv)

Rrrob, Victoria's Secret does make a cotton jersey bra w/ wires and no padding, and it's v affordable at for $40.

Trying to link to it just now didn't work, though.

Yeah, it's weird, even in my no-way-do-you-need-padding-out size, most of them have some. And so much, uh - forward thrust? Fie on fashion.

Sorry, TWO for $40. It's the unlined demi-bra in cotton. They also make an unlined racer-back, apparently.

this one's ugly, but it has no lace and is supposed to be as supportive as one with underwire:

http://images.figleaves.com/product/220x308/r282300-p282301-front.jpg

Here's a DKNY mesh lace for only $30 -- I know you don't like lace but this would give you the shape you want, I think...?

Hanro makes a couple of plain unpadded bras in microfiber and fabrics that I'm sure feel 100% amazing on your skin but also start around $80.

i used to have the bra that horseshoe pictures...that was back when i was wearing the wrong size though. i wore a too-small cup size for years and years.

i hate hate hate that padding is the trend for bras now. padding looks ridiculous on me and those bras are uncomfortable without fail. i don't think that's exclusive to padding, of course.

the only bra style that i like is no longer made of course, so i bought a bunch of them at a yahoo store a few months ago. one of them is wearing out already. shit. delicate cycle, air-drying, lingerie bags...doesn't seem to matter.

i was all excited to go into VS in san francisco the other weekend, for the first time... and there was maybe one bra i found that wasn't hugely padded!! i like a really lightly lined bra, for shape and support and also nipple-invisibility, but anything with up-lift padding just makes me look ridiculous and causes me to fall out the top because of the way my boobs are shaped. gah.

Julia - I just rinse my bras in woolite in the sink. Washing machines are evil!

I love how everyone hates padded bras. Everytime I try to find a bra I am always wondering who is buying all the padded bras. They look so horrible.

I used to like them when I was 13 and it was a slight improvement over papertowels/socks

i wld never in 5 million years wear that giant bra, horseshoe
unless it is meant for jogging/sports? in which case maybe but just for that purpose

dkny bra is pretty :)

haha rrrobyn. it's apparently a "soft cup" bra. i actually don't think it's meant for sports. but yeah, it looks crazy.

Another vote for Wacoal here, but mine are diff than the pic above--much plainer, like a very smooth "t shirt" bra. No padding, medium support (neither push-uppy nor droop-inducing). The only problem is that because they have a molded cup they are kind of a pain in the ass to wash. I'll try to find a pic. If they ever stop making them I will have a double masectomy, I swear.

wow super xpost but a water bra just has little inserts made of plastic & water instead of fabric & stuffing... it's just squishier and I guess sort of encourages the tops of my breasts to bounce a little more than they may otherwise do? Nothing special.

haha i do not need the tops of my breasts to bounce MORE!
at least not for everyday going-abt-my-business purposes
maybe i am just being too demure. but no not really.

the walcoal bra yr describing sounds good, q!

I used to buy molded-cup bras for office-wear but I always had to dry them over a couple of soup-cans or else the foam would get flat spots and funny shapes in it! I consider "molded up" padding these days, just can't deal anymore.

oh i skimmed over the molded cup part... yeah i don't want that either really.
sigh

i will say though that of the padded variety of bra, which is good for winter and even some spring/fall/summer wear, there is a maidenform style that is very lightly padded and not hueg so as to be more 'thick' than padded really, that i like. but again, i still like the free & real but supported look/feel. leave it to me to turn bras into ideology.

ah i have been looking a bit online and yeah padded bras remain the norm even if they are not fully padded - they're called "lightly lined" or "molded cups" - gaah. i guess that one day soon enough gravity will come for me and i will be all about these bras.

a friend was telling me that urban outfitters had some bras that might be what i'm looking for but i have my doubts. but i will go there and see.

Yessssss not all padded bras are "push-up" bras but I am objecting to any kind of padding at all, even light kinds. I don't mind nipping out a bit, but then I don't tend to be a person who feels cold in office environs (and/or I just put a jacket on).

But without some foam padding what good is a bra? My primary purpose is just to not let my nipples poke out all day. Gravity thwarting is nice too, but for me it's all about pretending I don't have nipples! I had a lot of Barbies as a kid.

Uh. Support of the central mass of breast? Keeping them from bobbing around quite as much when you walk? That's about it, for me.

Maybe mine aren't of the pokey variety.

In my entire life I have never worn bras indoors but now I'm kinda feeling like SOME support is helpful now that this is something I do full-time.

i sleep on my stomach so i even out support/lifetime sag that way.

Even when I exercise now, as long as I am not doing a crazy amount of bouncing I only wear a hanes wirefree pullover bra thing.

i also think they are more evenly distributed when I don't wear a bra and when I do all the weight is pushed together and it gets sweaty that way.

a few days ago I was on a zoom call and I was just wearing a sweatshirt w/no bra, and I realized that the laptop camera angle did not go that far down so ... freeboob?

i am always for no bra if it's not hurting you or there isn't an extreme nipple situation.

i always wear a bra unless i am showering or sleeping but i wear those little thin wireless softies, like a training bra
i think they are called bralette now. for exercise i wear a sports bra but i do a lot of jumping/bouncing

I think bralettes are selling very well rn

that's all i've worn for ?? years. when i think about wearing a padded underwire bra, i feel embarrassed for myself.

the padded underwire bra is key to my wardrobe for going out to the club, etc. it's uh, related to being plus-size and single

ha, i really don't like nipples poking out so I am pro a lightly padded bra. Bralettes kind of don't 'pull the room together' for me.

after six months of HRT i'm finally getting to the point where i feel like i can branch out from the padded camis i've been wearing aaaand we're all supposed to be on lockdown, which sort of puts the kibosh on my plans to get professionally fitted... i have no idea what my cup size is. i tried using the calculator for abrathatfits and it said i was a d cup, which i don't think so??? turns out that calculator is apparently just hot garbage for amabs.

i guess at some point i should just start ordering random brassieres off the internet and seeing how they fit.

cup sizes got totally warped by bad writing. If you measured your band size and across the top of your breasts and it said you are a D cup you are probably a D cup.

some of the cup size issue w/r/t bras in terms of fitting also depends on boob layout, as it were. In terms of interior decor, playing off the "pull the room together" thing -- if your boobs are laid out like furniture kept to the sides of the room with more open space in the middle, some bras don't fit all that comfortably. As opposed to boobs that leave more space between the furniture and the walls.

yeah, i got fitted in a professional shop where they just look at you topless and know your size and I was a D cup despite me thinking my boobs were b-c. It is all about the open floor plan.

I’m not embarrassed about the underwire and padding, I’m embarrassed of myself. I saw a photo the other day from my early 20s and my boobs were like up by my chin (exaggeration) it was just unnatural and weird for me.

Kate, I def recommend going somewhere to be fitted, when it’s possible again. I REALLY thought I’d read all the articles, done all the measurements, and knew my bra size - I was quite wrong! Shape is really important too. When I finally got fitted last year, I tried on like 100 bras in the same size and only a handful really worked for me.

I prefer a lightly lined cup too, I have piercings that are just for me, not the whole world to see.

Also, I went to small local boutique that is openly trans-friendly and fat-friendly, which made me feel a lot more comfortable. Hopefully there’s somewhere like that near you.

well, if i can't find a trans-friendly and fat-friendly clothing boutique in portland oregon i will be sad :(

Haven’t worn a bra since the last day I was at work three weeks ago. Unsure how I can ever go back. Been freeboobing through multiple videocalls; the angle doesn’t reach the nipples so I’m not concerned that I’ve been “exposed”

i bought a new brand of bra (new for me) online & it arrived and it FITS

that never happens! it barely happens in person ffs lol

i feel like i should get an award!

I'd classify that as an actual miracle tbh! I have happily gone 100% stretchy Bali no wire elasto-squooshers.

yay both of you! seriously, with covid/work from home, putting on an underwire bra is like "an event" the way putting on a cocktail dress and doing fancy eye makeup used to be. Needless to say ... I don't think I've worn a cocktail dress and done fancy eye makeup in almost 11 months?

i was just feeling like my saggy supportless boobs needed some help

wacoal awareness was the one i got. no frills, v supportive but not like matronly

ooooh good to know!

I think I’ve found the holy grail bra?????

I saw a fat fashion blogger raving about this bra, but it’s pricey as fuck so I put it on the wishlist for my mother in law (she’s the best - she demands a wishlist for Xmas/birthday) and she ended up buying me one.

https://evelynbobbie.com/products/defy-bra

Its:
Wireless
Seamless
Has amazing lift (as much lift as my wired Elomi bra)
Is insanely comfortable

I was dubious at first bc I could barely get it down over my shoulders then chest, but once it was on - it’s so weird bc it feels supportive but somehow there’s no tightness or pressure anywhere??? It’s fucking magic. I was kinda worried about sizing since it’s not adjustable anywhere but I’m a 38G/GG and I got the 2XL and it’s perfect.

Worth every penny but they also have a 20% discount on first orders if you sign up for the newsletter. I’m gonna but at least two more. I don’t know if I can wear any other bra again.

After a traumatic go with a similar Spanx bra, I've actively avoided styles like this, but I'm interested to try this one after reading how it's working for you! I see they offer one with hardware for back and straps too, if needed. Do you find the lower edge rolling up at all?

Yeah the band does roll a little - I emailed them to ask if that meant I needed a different size and she replied that it wasn’t an issue they’d encountered during testing but they’d received similar reports

“We have heard feedback from customers who experience the band rolling, and our designer is aware of the issue. Some women find that after wearing it and "breaking it in" the band is more malleable and flips up less. We believe it has to do with length of torso, and also ribcage projection.”

I have a really short waist so I think that might be the issue

If clothing rolls, it will always roll on me.

I'm also short-waisted, so maybe that's why it seems to happen.

I'm giving a tentative thumbs up to the most recent Torrid wire-free bras -- I'm a D so idk how they work for larger sizes, though they definitely carry them -- also on sale

The only thing is: As a non-binary person, I *like* the bolted-on feeling that underwires give me.