As I'm almost four months pregnant I'm even more than usual in desperate need of a bra that fits. I'm not quite sure what's up with my breasts size-wise: even though they're not doing any of the crazy action I experienced during my first pregnancy (a cup size up every eight weeks and then some) they certainly look and feel ... fuller and heavier, BUT, their measurements have not changed by as little as a millimeter. However, bras that 'fitted' me relatively comfortable before I got pregnant sure as he!! don't fit me now, nor do I fit the slightly larger bras I wore before I stopped breastfeeding. My 30DD Rhea is beginning to come close again, but it is just not it, especially comfort-wise.
The only bra I have that still sort or 'fits' is my Freya Deco Soft Cup in 30DD, but even though I love the shape it gives me, that one is just too much: too much cleavage for 'everyday' (I don't usually do that kind of cleavage at all, actually), too much padding, and too much 'moulding' -- my breasts actually hurt when I take it off after only a couple of hours of wear. It also is too tall for me, but as that doesn't really show under clothing it is something I could potentially live with, provided there were no other issues ... as there are, though, for the past two-and-a-half, three months or so I have resorted to wearing my old nursing vests again, Anita 5290, which are insanely comfortable but fit-wise wrong so many levels that it makes the mind boggle. The size M I have fits reasonably nicely underbust when it is fresh out of the laundry but gets too loose after only one or two wears (as I have three of these vests there's usually two days between wears), yet the 'cups' are so small and the edges so tight that they manage to cut into my softish tissue and make my nowhere near impressive 30DDs quadboob, go figure. Also, the shape these vests give is anything but great. So, time for some Change.
As I really do not approve of Change's 'no-return policy' (in the store that is closest to me, that is -- I cannot vouch for other stores) [*] I have so far not bothered with their bras. I own one (ill-fitting) nursing bra, but that is all. However, I have tried pretty much everything else around here and I really do not know anymore what to do, I decided to give them another chance. After all, by all accounts, Change bras could potentially be exactly what my 'shallow' (conical, really) and 'wide rooted (not relative to my frame, but still) breasts have been yearning for. And really, all I want right now is a bra that is COMFORTABLE and reasonably okay looking. I am not aiming for perfection by any stretch of the imagination.
The bra I have been wanting to try for some time now is the Tactel Balconette, an unassuming, lightly padded, vertically seamed bra with integrated, partially padded straps. Boring as it may seem, this bra actually ticks all the right boxes for me: reasonably high gore, horizontal cup edges, vertical seams, padded comfort straps, and no frills. It's padded, I know, but at the moment some light padding is actually quite fine with me. It's cold up here and even though they're behaving reasonably well, my breasts -- and especially my nipples -- have been extra sensitive. Anyway, the online Change calculator puts me in a 65F, which I thought would be too large, given that I usually and still seem to be around a 30DD (Change does use DD cups so a 65F would be the equivalent of a UK 30F).
I wanted to try the 65DD, 65E, and 65F for comparison, but, my luck, the store I visited didn't have a 65E. The sales 'girl' (she seemed really young) almost joined me in the dressing room, so eager she was to help, which I found rather awkward. I'd rather not be helped at all, but so be it. I tried the 65DD, which clearly was too small and had no choice but showing her, as she practically ripped the curtains open when she thought I was 'ready'. She did indeed acknowledge the in my opinion rather impressive quadboob (is it weird that after almost three years of figuring out this bra-fitting thing I, as a pre-preggo small '32A' am still shocked to see my chest quadboob at all?) as a clear sign of the bra being too small. I didn't point it out to her, but the gore wasn't entirely tacking either and there was some orange-in-a-glass as well. I then tried the 65F, which, as I had already suspected, was indeed too big. With my shoulders pulled back to the extreme it actually looked almost good on my larger right side, but assuming a more viable posture made the gapping evident. Also, the wires dug into my sternum rather painfully due to the fact that my breasts could not fill out and balance the cups properly and the wires were clearly too wide for my roots. The girl agreed the 65F was too large, but, eager to make a sale I suppose, asked me to hand her the 65DD, because she had 'just thought of something'. When she gave it back to me I noticed she had loosened the straps to the max. To humour her I tried it on again, but, obviously, the CUPS were still too small (still some quadboob, slightly floating gore, and orange-in-a-glass, which I did point out to her this time) plus now the straps were falling of my shoulders.
Just for the record, all these 65 bands felt absolutely perfect to me (I like my bands slightly on the looser side).
As the SHAPE of this bra does indeed seem to be quite ideal for my breasts -- I actually really like how it makes my breasts look too: no extreme projection or anything, but nicely rounded, and the position of my breasts feels 'natural', if that makes any sense, instead of overly 'centred' -- and the materials seemed really comfortable I was slightly bummed they didn't have the 65E for me to try out. I would have visited another store had I had the time, but instead I just bit the bullet and ordered two 65Es off their webstore. With 25% off and no shipping costs for the time being I figured it was worth a shot.
Fingers crossed I may have finally found a fitting bra ... if only for a couple of weeks
[*] This 'no-return policy' for intimates has come up before on Bratabase. It seems to be a bit of a Finnish thing, although I do not know how uniformly it is applied. I had a discussion on the topic at this very same Change store about a year ago and I know that Stockmann -- the fancy department store that otherwise prides itself for its service -- makes an issue out of it (or at least they did when I bought some -- not inexpensive! -- swimwear there a little over two years ago), but to Sokos I have returned a bra I tried at home once without any problems.
Edited To Add: The Change webstore does allow returns. Reason why I haven't been keen on ordering from them, though, is their, in my opinion, rather exorbitant shipping and handling fee of EUR10.
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Shared on Dec 16, 2013 Flag this
Funny. My order arrived today -- which actually was REALLY fast! -- and although I will call it at least a partial succes I am also a little baffled: the 65DD I tried on in store was way too small, the 65F somewhat too big, so, a 65E should fit just right, right? Well, I just tried it on and it actually is very slightly too big too! Even though I cannot compare them side by side it is somewhat difficult to see the difference between the 65E and 65F! Even the strap placement seems similarly wide! Oh, well. As I'm sure I will grow into them and I don't think the current slight gapping is very noticeable under clothes I'm keeping them. At least they're comfortable and they really suit me shape-wise :)