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Bra-support, Tech-support for bras

Helpful how-to guide covering construction, sizing, and use of bras.

By Stefan LatimerPublished 3 years ago 4 min read
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Bra-support, Tech-support for bras
Photo by Jan Tinneberg on Unsplash

When it comes to women's clothing, there are two complaints to stand out above all. That there are no pockets and there's never a bra that fits properly. And while I'm all for male/female/non-binary pocket equality, the fact that most women don't know how to get a good bra in their size is a societal failing. Couple things that we're going to go over are what a bra is supposed to do, how the sizing works, and should you wear your bra full time.

What is a bra? It seems easy to point out a bra and say that is a bra. What makes a bra a bra and what is it supposed to do? A bra was originally made out of two jock straps sewed in such a fashion that a woman's breasts could sit in them and help provide support and stability. Almost immediately afterwards, they were taken over by the concept of fashion. But first and foremost, they should do the job they were designed for. For the purposes of this discussion, binders are going to be considered as separate from bras. They are intended to compress and hide breast tissue and were originally used as a primitive sports bra. Side note, if you find that you have to wear more than one sports bra to get the proper support, a binder would be able to help take up the slack.

A lot of women in my life have thought that the bra straps carry the weights of their endowments. That is not how it is supposed to work. The bra should be supported by the band and the straps should only be there to keep the cups from being too loose and accidentally freeing the nipple. This does present a big challenge for more top heavy girls, but the principles are the same. To be honest, a article of clothing not unlike a corset without the extreme constriction may be a better option for women who have a lot of weight to handle because it can be situated in a way that's the weight is transferred through the hips. If nothing else a wider band would provide less digging into the skin.

Moving on to sizing. The original measurement was supposed to be your breast circumference at the nipples which would typically be the widest part minus your rib cage circumference measured directly underneath the crease where your breast transitions into your rib cage and abdomen. All of this is measured in inches in America. If that is a single inch difference, it's an A, 2 in it's a B, etc. The number is your rib circumference. Another way of saying it is each letter is another inch more than your rib cage circumference. The sizes are AA for half inch if you care, most folks don't typically get a full bra for that though. Carrying on, A, B, C, D, DD, DDD (also known as E), F, FF, G, GG, H, HH. And from then on it is a pattern of single and double letters.

So, 36 in ribs, 39 in nips, 36C. Or 28 in ribs, 33 in nips, 28DDD

And because it is based off of your rib cage measurement, if you want to go up or down an inch on your rib cage for more or less digging in / grip, your nipple number will be up one or down one inch in the opposite direction. This means that a 28DD and a 30C are the same. Sometimes they will use odd numbers but most companies prefer even band measurements. And these "sister sizes" are used because you fall on an odd number.

So now you've been empowered with the knowledge of how to find a style of construction that could work for you and a gauge of where the sizes are supposed to be. All manufacturers are going to have slightly different construction and sizing but if you go off of this formula you should be in a ballpark close to where you want to be.

Now it comes to the question of if a bra is strictly necessary. A study in france, because of course it was in France, found that per year, in women who wore bras full time and women who did not there was a seven millimeter lift in favor of women who did not wear bras. That doesn't mean that their breasts didn't lower, but that on average the drop was reduced in women who didn't wear bras. This is because contrary to intuition, stressing the collagen in your breast tissue actually strengthens it rather than stretching it. Kind of like how going to the gym tears down your muscle a little bit but you end up building better and stronger muscles afterwards.

For some women, that is not a possibility. Either they work in a professional setting that requires certain clothing standards be observed, they have too much to let just jiggle freely, or they feel more comfortable wearing bras, both physically and socially. Above all, you should strive to be comfortable with yourself and in your bra.

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About the Creator

Stefan Latimer

I am a Paramedic and Firefighter, Fiction enthusiast and Science Buff, and Jack of all Interests. I mainly write fiction but I have been known to pen an opinion on occaision.

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