Tuesday 4 June 2013

Asymmetry

What do you do when your boobs don't match?


Well, first off, stop giving yourself a hard time because most of us have "odd" boobs. They're sisters rather than twins and they're rarely identical!

If you have uneven or asymmetric breasts you may have considered or even tried padding the smaller side. But, a couple of clever tricks could save the day and make life easier....

You do not always necessarily have to pad the smaller cup to balance the bra out. Differences of a couple of cup sizes can be balanced out, but the trick is to choose styles that can disguise it well.

The hardest styles to get working tend to be soft, balconettes that slope rather than sit almost horizontally across the top of the cup. The shape of these mean that if you have uneven boobs the bra will tend to wrinkle and bag at the top where the strap joins.

To balance the smaller side, hoick the smaller breast diagonally towards the top and centre of the cup, as if trying to pull it towards a pendant on your necklace, whilst simultaneously pulling the bottom of the cup in the opposite direction. Try to push any excess fabric towards your body with your fingertips while you are holding your breast on your chin out of the way. In many cases, the material at the bottom of the cup will gather/pucker allowing the breast to sit on it when you let go, thus filling the top of the cup like the fuller side. The empty part of the cup is now at the bottom and so will not show once you are dressed.

Adjusting the straps can also give you a little more room to manoeuvre - keeping the strap on the smaller side shorter can make that cup a little smaller, and vica versa for the larger breast.
Cleo Juna and many slightly padded half cup styles are often good for such disguise. They're also great for loss of volume post weight loss/breastfeeding. Pull the smaller breast forward as before, but in a more horizontal direction away from the armpit.

T-shirt styles that work include Freya Deco, Bravissimo Purity and the Panache Porcelain. These styles are not all so good at gathering under the cup because of the foam, but look fine once dressed.

Fuller cup styles are good, particularly Panache Andorra and Melody full cup. Fantasie side support styles such as Elodie, and non padded Cleo styles such as Meg and Marcie sit particularly well if you need a deeper cup.
Newer Panache styles that are performing spectacularly are the Jasmine and Idina, as they have some stretch lace on the upper part of the cup.

Overall, aim to start off fitting the larger side as closely as possible without any overflow, then fine tune. Firmness in the band is essential to avoid slipping about within the cups - so no sizing up to try and dodge backfat!

Nearly every woman has an obvious size difference but with these tricks it is rare to actually need a filler. If you have a very noticeable difference and feel you need it then still use the tricks above so you are padding as lightly as possible which will be much more comfortable. Some companies like Ewa Michalak produce bras with removable pads designed to help even things up.





2 comments:

  1. I'm commenting on this because I don't know how else to contact you.
    I've tried your fitting method.
    After trying many sizes, the best fit I found in a shop based on those guidelines was a 34D (initial calculations, 32in underbust and 38in bust, suggested 32E, but I couldn't close it for love nor money and I could have fit my head into one of the cups).
    So here I am, in my brand new 34D, with a couple more in a bag. I've been wearing it for about 15 minutes and I already have sore red marks where the straps are rubbing.
    The cups gape at the top and I have to tighten the straps all the way to even slightly improve this.
    The tightness of the band is making my back ache, I am getting pins and needles in my hands from the circulation being cut off by the straps, and the whole thing doesn't lift my boobs up at all.
    I'll admit, my bras sized the old-fashioned way (38A) had their problems too, but this is just as bad if not a little worse.
    I'm left wondering if your method is actually any better, or just an equally mediocre alternative.
    It was presented to me as this 'miracle cure' for bad bras and, as far as I can tell, it's not. It's just a different way of doing things, with its own different set of problems.
    I thought this would make me feel better about myself, but instead I feel twice as inadequate and want breast implants more than ever.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Eve

      Unfortunately I don't have an email address for you (nothing comes up here) but if you email thebetterbracampaign@gmail.com I'll try to help out

      However, I would like to say that bra fitting is not a one size fits all approach and we certainly don't say it is a miracle cure. There is a lot of emphasis on how the tape measure is only a start point. Bras are kind of like jeans - there is a huge difference in how the same size can fit you across different brands and different shapes and it's not just a case of finding the right size, but the right shape, cut and brands for you. If you drop me an email and tell me which bras you bought and exactly where the problems are I can probably suggest some better alternatives. My own bra-wardrobe contains bras spanning a 28 up to a 32, and cups from about a GG to a J. It sounds like you probably just need some fine tuning.

      Delete