Get a Bra that FITS!

Get a Bra that FITS!
Please tell me you don't just bop into a store and buy a bra "in your size" because "It doesn't matter.  They all hurt and sag."

While elastic Does eventually stretch out and die, and that process might hurt the elastic, it shouldn't hurt YOU.

Your bra straps should NEVER dig.  You DON'T have to put up with  pain when you take your bra off and it pulls out of the red underwire indentations beneath your breasts.
Your breasts should point FORWARD, not down.  IF they point down, either your cups and/or band/and/or straps are LOOSE, or they're tight.  Either situations can cause that problem.  Chances are you know if it's loose.  Often women are so used to bras that are too small, they think that's how they're supposed to be!

If you get a new bra, the size you order it by is the "chest band" size with a "cup" size next to it.
For instance, if you look at a "Size 46-B':  46 inches is length of the band that goes completely around your chest to support the weight of your breasts and spread it around your body. 

I've had professionals, at different stores, but selling the same bra brand, measure my chest band above my breasts, then under my arms and around my back, AND directly beneath my breasts, then under my arms and around my back.  On me, those are very different measurements, but at least, when I (or any other customer) try a bra on, I can feel if its very loose or very tight.  The important thing to remember is that the chest band size  is easy to adjust.  Besides the multiple hooks, you could take 4 minutes and stitch a tuck into the back of the strap to shorten it, or buy and extender at a fabric or crafts store.  Chest bands can be adjusted easily.  Cups can't.
Cups are made of the underwire and the fabric.
I f you looked at yourself in the mirror and followed the exact line along which your breast angles out from your lower ribs.  That line is where the underwire of a bra should run.  Not an inch away, not overlapping or squashing breast tissue, not 3 inches down your midriff, but within a half inch of the base of your breast.   
The exception is if you have a prosthetic or substantial "pad" for cosmetic reasons, in which case the underwire should follow a natural-looking pathway and you need to make sure it's in the same position each day.
If the underwire's arch is too narrow, sitting on some portion of your breast instead of next to it;  or too wide, leaving a gap between your breast and the base of the bra, try ordering a different chest band size.  Larger chest bands usually have larger circumferences on the cups.  Likewise, smaller chest band sizes usually have smaller circumference cups. 
"Cup size" really means how far the cup sticks out from your body, or, if you were holding the cup in front of you, how deep is it?  
The depth, shape and circumference of the cup is vaguely hinted at by the letters (AA, A, B, C, D etc to R.)  Most stores try to fit women who can wear a DD cup.  If you're an F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, etc...  They'll often still try to get you to buy a size they have in stock.
Worse yet, these sizes aren't standardized.  
If your breasts are shaped like half-melons and mine are cone-shaped, our measurements will very likely get us the same bras, but they won't fit the same.
So we're stuck with experimenting, and each new brand is likely to fit differently.  
 You WILL be returning bras because of non-standard sizing.  Not your fault.  There is nothing wrong with your breasts. 
Once you find a brand with a style that works for you, watch the reviews on websites.  Women frequently compare the fit of a new style of bra to other styles that you may have tried.  This is good information!


The fabric portion of the cup has to be made of a fabric that won't stretch out and lose its shape  AND is porous enough to allow your skin to breath.  If sweat (which is made of water,ammonia and salt, among other things) can't dry because of layers of foam or plastic that trap it next to your skin, that's BAD.  You can get burns and rashes (diaper rash, only grown up style.)

If the cup is too big it will be loose around the base of your breast or may "bag", feeling too long for your shape. It may not offer the support you need.
If the cup is too small, a bra that seemed perfect in the store goes bad and attacks you.
When you first tried it on, its elastic was brand new and strong enough to compress your breasts so much that they appeared to fit into it.  
The bra actually compressed the fluid right out of your breasts.  But fairly soon the elastic starts to give.  As it stretches out, your breasts may begin to bulge over the top or past the sides of the underwires.  As the band stretches more and more, the weight of your breast  pushes the top edges of the cup away from your chest bone, exposing cleavage that didn't show before the bra's elastic started sagging.  As the top of your breast is more exposed you'll notice that your breast profile starts heading South.  
This is NOT because you have saggy breasts.The problem is that the upper edge of your bra is the most likely to give to the pressure of your decompressing breasts.  The bra can't grow, so the only direction it can move you is further and further downward.  A too-small bra could make Helen of Troy look saggy within two months.  But looks aren't your biggest problem by now:
While the weight of your breasts isn't supported, it's pushes the upper half of the underwires (that support your over-stuffed cups) forward, forcing the lower edge of the underwires to dig into your rib cage, usually painfully. 

Even worse, pushing the bra cup forward, puts your breast weight onto the bra straps!  

In a well fitted bra, the straps are like an insurance policy.  They're supposed to hold the top edge of your bra up as you move around, but shouldn't support weight.  If you put weight on them, they dig into your shoulders.

So, let's recap.  (Or re-cup?)
If you have the
1: right size cup and
2: the chest band is adjusted to the right length, (snug but not tight) , then
3: the weight of your breasts is supported by the underwires positioned vertically, right against your ribs and breast bone, and the chest band going around your back.  
The construction is stabilized, but not supported by
4: your bra straps, (which should be snug, but never tight).  

So, the cup is the key.  If your underwires fit the outline of your breast, the cup size accommodates your breast without compressing it or making it bulge out, and the cup is made of a fabric that breathes, and will keep its shape, wash after wash, you've got the biggest problem under control.  
All you have to do now is adjust the chest band and the shoulder straps.  

You'd think doctors and bra salespeople would know this, but most don't.
  
I was even asked if I'd like to have breast reduction surgery (covered by my medical plan) to get rid of the horrible indentations in my shoulders from my bra straps.  I said "No." and began to research this stuff.  
Now you know it too.
 
Be Beautiful! 
K