Bra Review: Natori Women's Power Yogi Convertible Sports Bra (in Passion Pink/Orchid)

Sometime in April, I decided to check out the local Dillards--while passing through Montgomery, AL--and ended up buying a few sports bras to wear during my time of increased size--surgeries and vacation can help facilitate weight gain like you wouldn't believe.

With no exception, I tried on every sports bra that they had in my size.  And did jumping jacks while wearing them.  The Natori Women's Power Yogi Convertible Sports Bra performed the best in the small fitting room so I bought one in every color that they had--grey, tan, bright pink, lavender, and light teal.

This bra is definitely testament to the fact that bra sizes are completely inconsistent.  I measure at a 38FF/G.  This bra is a 38DDD, U.S. sizing (which is obvious if you know that the UK doesn't use triple letters *anywhere* in their sizing) and, in this case, the DDD equals an F.  The sizing lines up D, DD, DDD, G for this bra.  You can see numerous colors and the 32A to 40G selection on Amazon.

Now that I've had them a few months and worn them a number of times, I feel like I can give a good assessment of what I think about them.  First off, the coverage is very high--I don't say "cups" here because there are two layers to this bra (pic at bottom of this post).  So, the coverage is high--from the stitches that connect the strap to front and down to the bottom of the band it's nine inches, as best I can measure--but the underwires kind of slide down on to the band.  See both these attributes here: 

It's also a shallow bra.  After wearing it an hour, the band feels like it's halfway down my belly.  I also feel like I'm constantly swooping and scooping.  Evidence to the shallow...the non-tacking gore (also known as: A great shot of my cleavage lol): 

One thing in this bra's favor is the width of its cups.  They're narrow, like me.  :)  The width (6.75") is perfect for my breasts, even if the depth (~4") and projection (~.25" at the underwire) aren't.  I wish all my bras had cups at this width:

With all these things, though, they're not all that annoying.  There is one attribute of this bra that irks me to no end: the straps.  I can't get them to lay flat to save my life.  I love that they're so adjustable but that *extra* just doesn't cooperate.  See them waving?

I mentioned the bra being two layers.  This facet is great if you're looking to avoid headlights showing.  However, I think it's the two-layer feature that makes the shallowness so, well, shallow.  You can see the inner layer here: 

All these negative features, do I even like this bra?  I do.  And the main reason for that is that I can wear this bra as a visible foundation under a top and not care that it's showing.  I can wear it with a low cut blouse and it will cover up an excess cleavage.  

I can wear it and my workout shirt out and about without looking like I'm wearing Activewear as my Everydaywear.  A personal pet peeve of mine: Folks who wear gym attire yet have no intention of working out.  I just don't get it.

Anyhow, those are my thoughts on the Natori Women's Power Yogi Convertible Sports Bra.  Bottom line: I wouldn't run in this bra...and I've tried...but it's fine for medium to low impact sports like walking and bicycle riding.

Again, there are 24 different colors available on Amazon, six on barenecessities (sizes 32B to 40H there), and 15 on HerRoom (most are on clearance, 32B to 40G).  Department stores like Dillard's or Nordstrom might have them but they are definitely in short supply.

Breasts Have Roots? What Are They, Trees? (A Different Aspect)

Last year, I wrote a post about the height of breast roots.  This post is about a different expanse of the same roots: width.  Breasts can be anywhere along the width spectrum from very wide--with tissue attaching well under the armpit--to very narrow--with tissue starting very much in front of the chest wall.

Many of us may have been wearing bras with cups that are too wide for our breasts and that's one reason why the wire poke us in the armpit.  Those wires could also just be too tall but for the sake of this post, we'll assume that all cups are just too wide.  A downside to wearing cups that are too wide AND not swooping and scooping, is that you could end up with migrated breast tissue that never returns home.  What do I mean by this?  Tissue that should be closer to the front of your chest ends up hanging out under your armpit.  A too-narrow cup is the biggest offender for making tissue migrate--think of when you put on some jeans that are too small...where does what doesn't fit go?  Outside the jeans in the form of muffin top.  You can get muffin top in two main areas in a too small/too narrow bra: your cleavage and your armpits.

Here is one example of a bra that has too wide of a cup for me (the mis-fit is pretty obvious):

You can see where the bra is sitting almost flush to my skin between my armpit and my breast.  I think this one makes me look a little shrinkwrapped, don't you?  Most of that "shrinkwrap effect" is due to the fact that it doesn't have enough projection at the bottom of the cup but it's the only photo I have of an obviously too wide cup.

So?  How can you tell the width of your breasts?

From a standing position, you might be able to tell by where your ribcage starts to present behind your breast tissue.  I'm not able to tell from this position but I know others have been able to do so.  Here's a sketch to illustrate what I mean:

The top sketch would be considered narrow.  The bottom one could fall into the wide root spectrum.  I determined my own width be leaning over, with nothing on, and checking myself out.  My breast tissue starts in front of my chest wall.  None of it attaches under my armpit.  Therefore, I search for medium to narrow cups.

I have to make a slight reference to other aspects of fit so that the experts don't start nay-saying me.  In the sketch, above. I say "could" fall into the wide root spectrum because they could also just be *wide-set* not wide rooted.  I'll save that for another post though.

So, back to my lean over assessment.  Here's a pic of me doing this assessment.  Please note that, yes, the boobs are covered.  However, this tube top that I've slid over my breasts like a sock does NOT pull them in.  They are still dangling free.

Thanks to some uncalculated yet strategic lighting, you can see the the shadow of my armpit and how it is further away from the center of my body; whereas, the root of my breast--so brightly lit lol--is closer to the center of my body.  That is why I have determined that I am narrow to medium rooted.

I hope this helps you with shape determination.

As a sidenote: If you have narrow to medium roots, Elomi is not a brand for you.  :)