Thesaurus Thursday: "Contusion"/Bras!

(I know it's Friday, but the post was done yesterday :-) )

Another week is almost over, so welcome to the second Thesaurus Thursday: Bra Edition.  After remembering how much fun it was to write the first one, I have decided to do another.  Be prepared to see the occasional Bra Edition in the future!  Because the first had a lot of basic fitting information, I would like to share more personal experiences with bras and more specific fit issues.

Today's word is "contusion," a noun that means blemish or bruise.

If you notice angry red contusions that do not fade quickly around your ribcage, on your breasts, or on your shoulders when taking off a bra, you might be wearing the wrong size.

www.quickmeme.com

"They didn't tell you at the animal shelter?

It's a complimentary service.  I save boobs, one bad bra at a time."

It is normal to get marks on skin from fitted clothing.  Jeans, socks, underwear, tights; all of them can leave marks.  It's no different with bras.  But when you have bright red, painful, itchy, or deeply indented marks and chafing, you could easily be wearing the wrong size.  I say "could be" because sometimes it is possible to simply not know what the heck is going on; you'll be perfectly comfortable and supported in your bra then suddenly freak out when you take it off.

I have a faint shadow-scar around my ribcage.  At first, I thought it was from wearing my bras too tight.  Then Mr. Nerd said he has noticed it since high school, when I wore 34 bands that barely touched my skin.  Seriously, what gives?  After experimenting with various band and cup size combinations, I found that no matter what size I wore, I got marks that didn't fade for hours. I noticed that I would get marks from socks that didn't fade for hours as well, and I knew my socks fit OK!  I could sit down on an soft uneven surface and get up five minutes later with my legs looking like road maps and a weird bruise on the back of my thighs.  I knew that some doctors thought I was anemic in the past and had been surprised when tests came back negative/normal. So I've just resigned myself to getting marks that many would point to and go, "You need a different size!" despite being very comfortable in the sizes I choose and uncomfortable in other sizes.  And how a bra feels does matter.

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All of that said, there are fit issues that can cause a bra to leave bruises or more pronounced marks than one would normally get.  These include:

Too much weight supported by the shoulder straps.  If the band isn't doing roughly 80% of the work, the straps likely dig in to your shoulders.  For some people, there's no way to stop the straps from digging in a bit, because 20% can still be a lot to handle.  A too-loose band can cause the straps to dig in more than is necessary, though.  Consider going down a band size.  Don't forget to go up a cup if you wish to keep the same cup volume!

Incorrect band size.  If there is a red line going all the way around your body parallel to the floor that doesn't disappear after a short time, especially if you feel deeper ribcage pain and notice discomfort bending or twisting, consider going up a band size/down a cup accordingly.  Check to make sure your cup is large enough first.  A too-large band and too-small cup can mimic wearing a band that is too small.  A band that is too large can also cause chafing as it moves around on your body.  You can usually spot this if there is chafing while the band is riding up in the back.

Too wide/too narrow underwires/incorrect shape for your breasts.  If you end up with marks in places like beyond the edge of your breast tissue toward your back or marks on some of the tissue while other parts of your breasts are fully encased by the cups, this could be the culprit.  Try on various sizes first to make sure that you are in the right size.  If no size in a certain bra seems to fit, check out this article by Venusian*Glow on whether you need narrow or wide underwires and see if it applies to you.

      

A lot of people who need narrow underwires will purchase 

Freya and avoid Panache, for example.

(Top: Panache Tango Balconette.  Bottom: Freya Rio Balconette)

Wide/high center gore and/or wires that come up high under the arms.  A high center gore can dig into your sternum.  If you're like me and have breasts that don't quite fully separate at the top, a high or wide gore can cause pain by poking the tissue.  High underwires at the sides that poke the armpits are a problem for many petite women, but they can also create issues for any woman with high-set breasts.  Sometimes you can find alterations to fix these; By Baby's Rules gives a great tutorial on how to narrow a center gore and lower stabbing wires.  At other times it is best just to find a different style of bra that suits your shape, like choosing a plunge over a balconette if you need a very low gore.

Other.  I include an "other" category because some people have physical conditions (like anemia) that make them bruise easily.  Dehydration can even cause clothing to leave imprints that fade less quickly.  If you suspect dehydration is an issue and just drinking more water doesn't help much, you can put moisturizing products directly on the marks to help.  I like cocoa butter, but I've heard great things about other moisturizers.  Remember that all people's skin is different, and there is always the possibility of allergic reactions to cosmetic products, so read labels and find one that works for you.

©Antonio Petronzio/Cosmo

And because this is a text-heavy post, 

here is another gratuitous picture of puppies with a bra.

While I am probably in the minority getting very noticeable, longer-lasting marks on my skin from a well-fitted bra, I can tell when one is a poor fit by the marks it starts to leave that are different than usual.  When I'm wearing a cup size that is too large, I get itchier red marks nearer my back.  If I wear a band that is too small, I start to get purple-y marks on my sides and feel pinching when I bend over or extend my arms.  If wires are too wide, my breasts are pulled to the sides, and I get the marks of a too-large cup but still get quad-boob in front.

To conclude, if you are wearing a bra that feels good and fits well, and still get marks like me, don't sweat it too much.  That is, if you find the benefits of wearing a bra and getting the marks outweigh the benefits of not wearing a bra.  If you don't feel comfortable with it, there's no shame in wearing soft cups or going braless.  And if you truly hate it, but you really feel most comfortable in underwired bras, I would suggest considering a dermatologist (or other health professional if you prefer alternative/homeopathic medicine).

Stay comfortable and supported, my friends!

Thesaurus Thursday: "Center Gore."/ Bras!

Yes, I know that "center gore" is two words!  This week I am combining a Thesaurus Thursday post with an educational... braducational?... post.

The center gore is the triangular (trapezoidal, if you're picky) piece of fabric between bra cups.

The center gore did not lie flush against her breastbone, and she correctly took this as a sign that her bra did not fit.

You can be nerdy about many things, and as crazy as it might sound, I am a bra nerd.  My obsession revolves around the amazing self-esteem boost and reduction of physical ailments that women can get from wearing a properly fitted bra.  For years I wore 34DD's and dealt with shoulder pain, didn't want to exercise because I had to wear three (yes, three) sports bras, and wore over-sized sweatshirts to try to hide (or alternatively, wore "normal" clothes for my age that looked anything but age-appropriate on me).  Then I started researching bras.  I was re-fitted into a 32FF/30G at the time, and it's been an eye-opening journey ever since. In the right size, a bra can actually make your chest appear smaller and fit into clothes easier; also it can keep you from damaging your back and shoulders!  Yet somehow women, especially in the U.S., rarely get properly fitted. This is because a) we've been trained to think that talking about breasts is taboo and must revolve around s-e-x, and b) fitting myths abound, sometimes held over from an era in which bras were engineered quite differently.  I hope to dispel some of these myths here.

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Myth: B cups and below are small, C's are average, and D+ cups are large.

Truth: Cup size is dependent on band size.  Two bras of different cup sizes can have the same cup volume. Going by cup volume is also called "sister sizing"; to find sister sizes, for every band size added go down a cup and vice versa. A woman who wears a 28D will have the same cup volume as a 34A, but will measure closer to 28" around the rib cage than 34".  

This woman is modeling a Curvy Kate bra.

Curvy Kate starts at a D cup.

She is likely a 28D/DD.

Victoria's Secret would probably first try to sell this woman a 34A because that's what they have in stock in a sister size. Sometimes women do need a sister size of a bra because it runs small or large, but just because a bra is a sister size doesn't mean it will fit.  A 34 on the woman above would be ridiculously large.

Myth: If you feel like you're being suffocated or pinched anywhere, it means that your band is too tight.

Truth: This is a quasi-myth, I suppose, in that if you have a cup that fits AND you feel like you're being suffocated, your band is too tight, but this is rarely the issue.  Usually, the band size is too large and the cup size way too small, making it feel like the bra is too tight overall.  Make sure that ALL breast tissue is fully encased in the cup with no spillage, including at the armpits.  A Sophisticated Pair has an excellent video of how to put on a bra that can help you before determining if your cup fits well.

Myth: You can calculate your band size by looping a measuring tape around from your back at band-level to the front of your breasts, the method shown on Victoria's Secret's website and used by their fitters.

Truth: Do you wear your bra band over your breasts?  No?  Then see the next "truth" to see the proper way to measure.  Looping the tape over your chest will almost certainly give a band size that is too large.  A too-large band will ride up at the back, can cause shoulder and back pain from tightening the straps to hold the bra in place, and can cause underwires to cut into breast tissue (often painfully) as your breasts start to fall out the bottom of the cups.The band should be firm and parallel to the floor on the loosest hook to extend the bra's life, and you should be able to slide just two fingers underneath it around the back.

A poorly fitting bra band.

Myth: You calculate your size by measuring beneath your breasts around your rib cage, adding 4, and then counting inch by inch to get cup size.

Truth: If you use a tape measure to determine your size (a good place to start but shouldn't be relied upon as much as look and feel afterwards):

1.  Measure snugly beneath your breasts around your rib cage with the tape parallel to the floor and add 0- nil, nada, nothing- to that to determine band size.
2.  To determine cup size, measure around the fullest part of your breasts; each inch above the band measurement is a cup size.  (*Edit*- this varies by brand, but most often will go <1"=AA, 1"=A, then for every inch after that: B, C, D, DD, DDD/E, F, FF, G, GG, H, HH, J, JJ, K, etc.)

It's probably best to do this without a bra if you only have ill-fitting ones, leaning over to get the full-bust measurement.  Remember that if this size does not feel comfortable, you can always try on other sizes around it to see what fits best.  I don't know a single woman who has been properly fitted who owns only one size.

Myth: Only preteens and super-slim women need sub-32 bands.  

Truth: If you followed the measuring directions above, you've probably realized that your actual band size is smaller than you thought, often closer to your waist size.  Seeing that it's not hard to believe that people like Brittany whom I mentioned in the last post, author of the blog Thin and Curvy, needs a 24 or 26 band with a 24" waist.  Also, if a woman has "squish" around her rib cage or upper back, she could need a smaller band size to provide enough support.  Conversely, some women do have very tapered waists and will truly have a band measurement 3-4"+ larger than waist size, but having done a lot of research into bra sizing, it's rarer than you might think.  In fact, some bra bloggers have started the Bra Band Project in an effort to show that the sub-32 market is a lot larger than most people think!  (*Edit*- see the underbust survey done by June of Braless in Brazil for even more information.)

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As you start to become more acquainted with bra fitting, remember, don't listen to people who say, "There's no way you're a/an __ cup."  As mentioned above, it's totally dependent on band size, and you know what feels best on your body.  Don't listen to the people who say that you're not normal if you wind up wearing something like a 32J; it's a perfectly normal size, and they're probably in the wrong size themselves.

These women all wear G+ bras.

You also might hear that adding nothing to your rib cage measurement to get band size is "vanity sizing."  Actually, as well as accounting for bra bands not having any stretch at the time, adding 2-4 inches was also part of vintage vanity sizing.  Women wanted to get as close to the "ideal" measurements of 36-24-36 as possible and so liked the way "36something" sounded.  You'll even see this happening when modern actresses give their sizes or others try to guess them. I'm not even sure how having your actual rib cage measurement on a label can be vanity sizing?   My shoes state the number of inches my feet measure; is that vanity sizing?  Either way, adding 0 is what usually works for modern bras.  Sometimes subtracting a bit can even help!  After some crazy weight fluctuations in college, I now wear anywhere from a 28GG to a 28HH.  I rarely need a 30 and sometimes could really use a 26.  I don't feel "flattered" by these sizes or think they "mean" anything about me.  My chest is just another part of me like my eyes or feet or fingers.

Think of getting fitted as a mani/pedi, or exercise, or any relaxing or healthful activity.  Once you walk out with a properly fitting bra, you'll stand up taller (often quite literally!) and feel a little more put-together, and you're doing your body a favor by taking care of it.