Determine Your Bra Size

Recent surveys have indicated that a large number of women may be wearing the wrong bra size, however, until they start to experience problems with the fitting of their bra (i.e.. discomfort in the bust or back area), they don’t measure themselves to determine the right bra size to fit their body size and shape. Perhaps the best way to determine whether or not you are wearing the right bra size is to consider the following aspects.

Cups

Firstly, think about the cups of your bra; your bust should be comfortably encased inside the cups without any bulging or gaping at either the side or top of the bra and any wires should lie flat against your rib cage and not dig in, causing discomfort. The band on your bra should also be level all the way around your side and back i.e.. it should not ride up and the straps on your bra should not dig into your shoulders. A correct bra size will mean that you are able to move around easily, without feeling any wires or other parts of the bra digging in.

Size Correctly

If this is not the case, you will need to measure yourself to get a better indication of your bra size. However, it should be noted that sometimes the best way to find the perfect bra size is to locate one that you find is very comfortable to wear and also that bra sizes will vary a lot depending on the manufacturer and the style of the bra that you purchase. Also bear in mind that the older that you are, the more generous you may need to be when measuring yourself for a bra size – always go slightly over rather than under on your measurements.

The Process

Determining your bra size is a very quick and easy process, you only need to take two measurements. The first one that you need to take is your under bust measurement. You should measure under your bust and add 4 inches if the measurement you get is an even number of inches or add 5 inches if the measurement you get is an odd number of inches. Here’s an example; if your under bust measurement is 29 inches, add 5 inches to get a bra size of 34. If your under bust measurement is 30 inches add 4 inches to get bra size 34.

The next measurement that you need to take is the over bust measurement. You will need to measure round the fullest (largest) part of your bust to find out the cup size that you need. If the bust measurement that you get is the same as your bra size you will need an A cup size. If it is 1 inch bigger, you will need a B cup size. If it is 2 inches bigger, you will need a C cup size. You should follow this rule for any other cup sizes (i.e.. 3 inches bigger = D, 4 inches bigger = DD, 5 inches bigger = E, 3 inches bigger = D and so on, through to the larger sizes of F, FF and G.

Example

Here’s an example; your under bust measurement is 29 inches. Add on 5 inches to this figure to get a bra size of 34. Your over bust measurement is 35 inches. As your over bust measurement = 1 inch larger than your under bust measurement, your correct bra size should be a 34B. By following this simple rule, you should get the perfect bra size for you. However, always bear in mind that different bras will be more suitable for certain body shapes.