Determining Your Bra Size, A Sea of Misinformation
8 out of every 10 women are wearing the wrong bra size, 8! While the number seems staggering it is not surprising considering the amount of bad information floating out in cyber space.
In November I have the honor of standing up for one of my oldest friends as she says ‘I do’. This is a bit complicated by trying to guess how big I’ll be in my 5th month of pregnancy but I never thought it would take me hours to determine my size now! I have expanded a bit in the early weeks and knew I needed a good solid measurement to start with. We have to order the dress by the end of the week or we are scr-double-ewed.
I grabbed my soft measure tape and googled “how to determine bra size” One of the first sites to pop up looked very promising a Bra Size Calculator! I input the required measurements and giggle about how damn easy this is. 42B pops up… WHAT? 42B? BWHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA the last time I was a B cup was 5th grade! Sites like this are exactly why 35 million women a year make the mistake of buying bras where the band size is too big and the cups are too small! They took me from a DDD cup down to a B?? That is more than merely irritating, it is flat out irresponsible! Sadly THIS SITE also had my cup size wrong. My back size was correct but they suggested that I could squeeze into a D cup- not without looking like an elephant in a bikini! Amazingly one of the most concise and correct sites I encountered was for maternity bra shopping. Don’t be shy non-mothers-to-be the info is relevant to you too. Do realize if you are ordering bras online it is best to check a manufactures sizing chart for subtle cup size differences but your back size should not fluctuate wildly. For the record I’m a 40DDD which suggests when this baby is born I’ll find myself shopping for an H, I, or J cup again.
July 16th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
What a nice hat….
Bra shopping, along with bathing suits and jeans make me want to scream…
…and I have a mountain of freakin’ laundry to be folded…but here I am. I too HATE laundry with a passion.
Anne
July 16th, 2006 at 10:13 pm
ugh. I have always struggled with bras. Like you I am well endowed, making it difficult to find a comfy, sexy bra to hold the babies in place. ugh. After breastfeeding. ugh.
July 16th, 2006 at 11:02 pm
I’m down with bras. I used to do bra fittings in the lingerie department. I’m sure you’re jealous about how many big fat boobies I’ve felt up over the years. Oh yeah.
July 17th, 2006 at 3:04 am
Until very recently I was still wearing my nursing/maternity bra’s, which were a size 40 E. Before I started my nearly three year stint of pregnancy, then nursing and then nursing while pregnant- I was a 36B. Because I only nursed the Bean for a month, my boobs deflated down to a size I never thought they’d be again and my bra’s got BAGGY. The little triangles stretched up to my shoulders in order to fit.
Here’s what I did, I went into Good Ole, Victoria’s secret and was measured there. I bought two bras in a size 38C and I suspect that’s where they’ll stay for a long time.
If I were you, I’d estimate your size bigger than you think you’ll be because you’ll always be able to have it altered and let out the week of the wedding. But if it’s way too small, there’s not much they’ll be able to do.
July 17th, 2006 at 10:43 am
best thing i ever did was get properly fitted for a bra. i had (not surprisingly) been wearing the wrong size for years. amazing how it feels to be in the right size!
July 17th, 2006 at 3:03 pm
Before I got my reduction, I hated shopping, because shirts don’t fit right either. I was in the wrong bra size for YEARS. There’s a website for a shop in my hometown that has a pretty accurate measuring calculator www.annsbrashop.com. At least I think that’s the address. I am at work now, and our IT people thought it would be peachy to block websites that are unsavory. Apparently bra shopping is unsavory to them. *rolling my eyes*
Needless to say, I’m in the right size now. Also, if you wash them by hand with shampoo, they last a lot longer.
July 17th, 2006 at 3:59 pm
honestly, i’ve never had a perfectly fitted bra. I’m always half a size too big or too small.
July 17th, 2006 at 5:35 pm
My last few months of pregnancy I was tempted to just wear a tube-top. My boobs never know what size they wanted to be from day to day.
July 17th, 2006 at 6:43 pm
BWAHAHAHAHAHA!!! I just used that little bra calculator and came up with 42B, too!! HA HA!!! I haven’t been a B since 7th grade!! I am officially a 36 DDD. I would love to see what a B would look like. Maybe it would cover my nipples. Maybe.
July 17th, 2006 at 9:06 pm
My oldest daughter took my youngest daughter bra-shopping last week. Came home with a pretty pink bra. (We’re only buying the girl one or two at a time, because she Won’t. Stop. Growing.)
She came home with a pretty pink bra in the WRONG SIZE!! And she took the tags off, so we can’t return it!
Urgh. Next time, I take the girl shopping. And she gets a lessons in how to find her size…
July 17th, 2006 at 9:16 pm
I just about passed out, laughing! The Bra Size Calculator has me at a 40A. Let me say that again: 40A. Can such a thing even happen in nature?
The bra-fitting problem I have is that I have a lot of loose skin on my breasts from the lovely combination of rapid weight-loss and high percentage of bodyfat (gorgeous, I know). Even careful measuring doesn’t seem to get me the correct size, because measuring doesn’t take into account (for lack of a better word) “gooshiness.”
That’s probably a mental image you didn’t need, right?
July 17th, 2006 at 10:14 pm
That’s the best picture EVER! I, too, am doing laundry today. Blegh.
July 18th, 2006 at 2:11 am
That is so funny, so true!! I know I’m not wearing the right bra size… We can put a man on the moon…. Sheesh! LOL.
October 9th, 2006 at 6:25 am
I think we must be the same exact size. I just got measured and I’m 40DDD also. Weird. Are you my boob twin?