Encouragement For The Discouraged (And Those Who Are Just Beginning Their Journey)

Trying to find a bra that fits can be quite the daunting task; especially if it’s something that you never really thought about before.  It can seem that the more you know about how a bra should fit, the more difficult the struggle and that is not an incorrect assessment because the more you know about the nuances of fit, the more bras you find that *don’t* fit.  At the beginning, you may have just been happy to have something to keep your breasts from wobbling around.  Now, you may have very specific wants and, eerily like dating, what you’re looking for means you have to weed through a ton of what doesn’t work for you or your shape.

If you’ve never worn a bra before, it’s learning a whole new language, jargon and all.  Before you started getting educated, a gore might have just been that guy who made a documentary about Global Warming; cups might have just been something that you drank out of; wires might have been what you send via Western Union.

Have patience with yourself.  No language is learned overnight.  No partner is found immediately.  It will take some time to find a garment that fits perfect; especially when you consider everything that you’ve learned so far and how many aspects of fit you’re trying to meet.  If you don’t shop online, it will take much longer, more than likely because that’s where you’ll find those non-matrix sized bras.--unless you’re fortunate to have a boutique within driving distance. You’re very lucky if you find the Perfect Fit within your first ten bras.  I really think that is rare, considering how many styles there are.  In my size, there are nearly 200 styles to choose from.  Some are nursing/maternity so that makes it that much easier to rule those out—I don’t even have to try them on to know they’re not for me. 

You might even encounter a situation like I have: you find a bra that fits and then you gain (or lose) weight and thereby changing the size (and possibly the shape) of your breasts and now you can choose to start fresh or wear what fit last month for a few more months, until you can afford to buy your new size. 

Again, please be patient with yourself.  Going back to the language analogy—you know how I love them—if you’re learning a new language so that you can visit a foreign land, the words are going to sound different when they’re actually used in context.  Give yourself time to learn the language and time, again, to get comfortable communicating in it.  THEN, it’s time to navigate the new land.

Six Months Into My Journey For The Perfect Fit

     Six months ago, when I realized that I had been measuring customer incompletely for nearly nine years, I was completely taken aback.  I took great pride in getting women into great fitting bras, and to find that maybe they hadn’t fit all that “great”, was quite a revelation.  As it was, I suffered from what I called an “occupational hazard” of assessing whether someone’s bra fit everywhere that I was.  I didn’t need to be at work.  I mentally assessed everywhere—grocery store, book store, walking down the street.  Well, now that I know more than I did six months ago, it’s even worse.  Lol.

     I see women with very small ribcages and think: “I bet she’s wearing a 32 band because that’s all that she can find.”  Or, I’ll see a very large busted woman, coming all out of her bra and think: “Goodness!  I wonder if she knows there are letters beyond DDD?”  That last thought was common before but the first one, even more so.  In some cases, I’ve taken to working the subject of well fitting bras into every conversation that I have.  It’s not difficult.  Just about everyone hates buying bras because they really don’t know what size they are.  I like to think that by referring them to the bra size calculator on my blog—so conveniently linked to r/ABraThatFits on reddit—that I'm helping the nation’s population, one size at a time.

     As for my own journey, it’s been quite the challenge.  I got rid of all my regular 36DDD garments within the first month of finding that I was a 36FF/36H.  That was after I set out on my quest to find the Perfect Fit.  I still haven’t found it, even after trying on more than 70 bras so far--here's a snippet, but I did find one style that fit Pretty Well—the Chantelle Rive Gauche (thank goodness for sales)--and another that Fit Even Better—Elila Unlined Banded Lace—so I feel like I’m doing pretty well.  The only downside is that I gained ten pounds in the past month and I think five of it went to my boobs which means that the size I bought back then doesn’t fit as well as it could/should.  I’ll be damned if I go buy new bras, though, after spending $200 on new ones.  I’ll just get these ten pounds off and call it a day.

     I can’t wait to see how the journey has progressed in another six months.