How To Size Yourself For A Bra

How to measure out your bra size is something that seems straightforward, but if you lot Google it, you can easily autumn downwards a rabbit pigsty of disruptive information. It's something we frequently exercise just one time (probably a store bra-fitting back when puberty arrived) and then blissfully ignore for the foreseeable hereafter. Merely, it's coming at a toll, considering research suggests that 90% of British women are actually wearing the wrong bra size, despite the obvious telltale signs.

Signs you're wearing the wrong bra size

If your bra doesn't fit properly, chances are you're non getting the best form of support. Some people fifty-fifty report experiencing discomfort such equally:

straps slipping off
gaping cups
spillage
underwire digging in
tightness around your rib cage
back and shoulder pain

Tin can your bra size alter?

Aye, absolutely! Your bra size is always going to vary. Factors including diet, weight loss, and hormone fluctuations all contribute, and y'all may even be totally different cup sizes depending on the brand you purchase.

Merely guessing games aside, it is expert to take a definitive number and letter to exist looking out for to make shopping for a new bra (peculiarly online) enjoyable again.

All y'all demand to measure out your bra size at abode is a tape measure out, and a piece of newspaper to take notes of each measurement you brand.

How to measure your bra size at abode

First upwards, allow'southward measure your band size. While braless, bring the tape mensurate around the pinnacle of your rib muzzle, just beneath where your bra would normally sit down. Pull it snug, but not also tight, and take the measurement in inches. Write it downwardly considering we'll come back to it in a 2nd.
Any number you lot got as your measurement (e.g. 30), nosotros're going to add some other number to that. So, if you lot got an even number equally your measurement, you're going to +4, or if you got an odd number, +5. E.g. if your original measurement was 30, it would be xxx + iv = 34 (band size). Easy, right?
To mensurate your cup size, wrap the measuring tape around the fullest part of your chest, and write down the measurement to the nearest whole number.
Nosotros promise y'all like maths! Now subtract your calculated band size from step one (e.g. 34) from the bust measurement you've just washed. The difference in inches determines your cup size. E.g. 37 inches (bust) - 34 inches (band) = iii inches. That'south a 34C. Refer to the chart below for a helping hand...

Yeji Kim

It's worth noting that there may exist occasions where you need to move upwardly or downwards a bra size, depending on the make and/or style.

Here's a guide for how to move up and down a ring or cup size:

Yeji Kim

It may take a few attempts at the cycle of buying, returning, and re-buying in a unlike size to get this totally right, simply one time you lot know, yous know.

For instance, if you're currently wearing a 36C and it'southward gaping open up at the cups, you may want to try a 36B. Even so, if you're wearing a 36C and notice the underwire is digging into your sides, it may be because you need a 38C.

Signs your bra fits properly

One time you lot think yous're happy with how your bra fits, at that place are a couple of signs to be sure:

The bra feels secure on the loosest hook. Your bra will lose its elasticity over time, then starting on the hook that gives the biggest ring means that yous tin tighten it when you need to, rather than realising it's too big when information technology's too belatedly.

Your straps feel fixed in identify but don't dig in. There'due south cypher worse than pulling your bra straps up 100 times a day. Tighten your band get-go, and and so tighten your straps so they're secure, but not hurting.

There is a finger-width of space underneath the band. A proficient indicator of whether your bra fits you lot properly is how many fingers you lot can slide underneath the band. A well-fitted bra should only allow you lot slide one finger under it.

Follow all of these steps and you'll be on your mode to some well-deserved, well-cupped boobs. Oh, and a bra that fits properly. If you needed an excuse to hitting 'buy' on that lingerie prepare that's been sitting in your cart for months...yous're welcome.

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Maddy Alford Shopping Editor Maddy is the Shopping Editor at Cosmopolitan and Women's Health, where she styles photoshoots, creates shopping content, and covers celebrity manner online.