Bra fitting help » Is this loose skin or boob?
Freya » Deco Moulded Plunge Bra (4234) » 28FF 28:8
Issue resolved
Both main suggestions were somewhat correct. The size is correct: I am 28FF. I tried the next size up and there was massive gaping at the top of the cups. This bra is, however, clearly a shape mismatch, as seen by the underarm bulging in the photos. Thanks for helping
Original problem
I have lost a significant amount of weight and I am wondering if I can have some help with figuring out if this bra fits properly or not. I am unsure if the tissue in the underarm area is spare boob or if it's loose skin/something else. I am wearing this bra 'scooped and swooped' as you're supposed to. I was previously wearing a 30DD and those were definitely not working for me! Any help would be... helpful. Thanks!
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Suggestions (2)
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3
helpful
It looks too small to me.
I'm in the same size range and with a similar boob shape (tall roots!). The bra looks like it's laying on top of your boobs instead of enclosing them, and there's even slight quadboob visible in the side view picture. Combined with loose tissue in the armpit, it clearly looks too small.
Tall roots can be hiding that size issue in our size range.My suggestion would be to look for bras with longer wires at the sides (such as balconettes and halfcups), so you can slowly work on getting that loose tissue into the cups. When the cups are large enough, and you keep on scoop&swooping, that side tissue might diminish over time, as it moves into the cups. This is known as tissue migration, and it happens to some people.
Also, balconettes and halfcups are usually more projected in the cups, which also helps with keeping the boobs contained and aiding tissue migration. Make sure the underwires don't hurt your sides, though. I found that I needed wider wires at first, and moved to narrower wires over time.Cleo Marcie Balconnet Bra (6831) and its sister cuts are my favourite balconettes, but basically any bra with high side wings and long wires at the sides will do. Cleo is usually great for that, while Freya tends to have shorter wires in their balconettes and plunges. My suggestion: Stick with Cleo, and start at the 28FF/30F size range, as their bands run tighter than Freya's.
Updated on December 14, 2016 Flag this
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I just wanted to throw in my agreement with bracrastination on the fact that I think this bra isn't quite the right fit for you. It looks to me like you've got some mild quadding as well as some mild wrinkling in the bottom of the cups (it looked that way to me especially on the right, at least in the first 2 photos). When you take the bra off, if there are wire marks, are they below your IMF? I think this bra might not be projected enough for you, which pushes the wires down throughout the day but can happen even in a few minutes. I think you probably do have a tall root too, but it also could be that the bra is getting pushed down out of your IMF and that causes the quadding at the top and possibly even pushes some tissue out around the sides. Once you get a bra with enough projection you might be able to scoop some of that tissue towards and into the cups. It may not stay for very long, but over time it will. On the whole I think you don't have much extra tissue at all, but I know it must feel awkward. In my first fit requests and bra experiments:
http://www.bratabase.com/troubleshoot/digw7/
http://www.bratabase.com/troubleshoot/digux/
I had similar issues, a lot of extra tissue around armpits and some quadding on top and I believe I was told I had a tall root. Ultimately it turned out to be a projection issue as well as the fact that I had no idea what size I wear!I lost a bit of weight between the two, but not from my breasts and:
http://bra.pe/IaJ0/
with a more projected bra that is actually in my IMF (and a band size that actually fits - at least you already figured that part out!) most of the underarm tissue has migrated or can be scooped into the bra.So even though I know we dont have identical boobs or issues or anything, I would consider more projected bras. I didn't have luck with the cleo marcie I tried personally, but I know many have, though I'm also not certain the Kali is as projected as the Marcie. I'd check out reviews from other projected ladies with similar measurements. My original bratabase-provided size based on my measurements was 32FF, which is a far cry from what I've found to fit (like the 28HH from my picture), so I wouldn't trust it as an absolute.
Good luck!
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Hi chirality and thanks!
What is IMF? I'm still learning some of the bra language. I think I get what you're getting at, and yes, when I take all of my bras off; this Freya, all of my 30DD Parfaits (a horrible example), there are red marks an inch below my breasts.
But I'll admit that I am also concerned about wearing a bra with a higher center gore; I've had trouble with filling out the tops, and more importantly, they always seem to dig into my sternum which really aggravates my fibromyalgia. Materials are also very important to keep my skin comfortable. Is a plunge possible with higher outsides? Is a higher outside wire and a deeper, thinner cup what I'm trying to look for? (Is that what forward projection is, essentially? 'Up and at 'em'?)
I have a bra on order from Wellfitting, which I believe is part of Comexim. It was mentioned that they have much more forward projection than Freya. The bra that I have on order is this one (and I hope I'm doing this right) http://bra.pe/MFEO/
So the basic idea I'm getting is that this Freya bra is making my boobs go "splat and spread" rather than lifting them up and together?
Edited to update: I have a Cleo Marcie 30FF coming in sometime in January: got a steal on it for $22 on Amazon with free shipping. I have a Freya Plunge coming in 30G just to see if I am indeed having a cup size problem as well, just to tell Wellfitting what my proper size is in the Freya bra, since they know how the size of the Freya runs. That way, I can change my order with them to the proper size.
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littlebigcups It's amazing how quickly all this bra jargon seeps in! A few months ago I was in the same place you are with it and now it slips out without my notice. Anyway, you were right on with IMF - it stands for inframammary fold (http://www.bratabase.com/knowledge/inframammary-fold/) and ideally your bra wires should sit and stay comfortably there. brasandbodyimage has an iconic (in my opinion!) blog post that has really good illustrations of how an unscooped/unswooped bra can look like it fits (http://brasandbodyimage.com/2012/09/05/putting-your-bra-on-properly/) when it's actually resting below your IMF. A bra that isn't projected enough will even reverse the scoop and swoop process which sounds like what's happening here. You're also right about a lack of projection causing or at least exacerbating the whole "splat and spread" thing.
I looked at the wellfitting liftsational extra deep plunge, it looks like it should be an improvement in the projection department, and I'm hopeful that the gore won't be too high for you. There aren't a lot of measurements available, but if the 30HH gore is 2.4" tall, I'm crossing my fingers that the 28H (the 28:8 size, if that's what you ordered) will be at least a tiny bit shorter and will be close to the 2.0" height of this freya. Comexim plunges are not the most projected style but should be an improvement over this one and hopefully will be a better shape match and still be comfortable. I hear you on the fibromyalgia pain from digging gores - I found bras unwearable for years because the straps would exacerbate nerve pain from peripheral neuropathy. Luckily my issue was greatly reduced by finally having bras that fit properly. I'm hopeful that your skin sensitivity and pain will also be better, rather than worse, while wearing a bra once you find the right one - but it will probably be a limiting factor for now while you're figuring out what elements are most necessary in a good fit and what things are intolerable. I do find personally that having a very firm band takes a lot of pressure off of the wires at the gore as well as the straps, but for me that tightness doesn't bother me, while I know for some, especially those with very little padding around the rib cage like you, a very tight band is intolerable. Sticking with low gores is probably a good bet if you're comfortable with them.
I'm not personally very familiar with Cleo, but as an example in case you're not too familiar with the measurement filtering features of the site yet, in this link http://www.bratabase.com/browse/cleo/size-range/28FF/measurements/?direction=&order_by=gore_height
I've sorted all the Cleo cuts in 28FF by their gore height. You can do this for any brand in a specific size and that may help you narrow down which suggestions would be feasible for you to try.Oh, a note about higher outside wires and lower inside ones! Some bras will have empty space in the channels on either end, in those cases you can cut the stitches holding the wire in place (if there are any) and slide it down in the center gore so it fills the side channel fully and put a few stitches in to keep it in the new position. This may not make much difference, but then again it could help! If you have old bras with shorter wires you could also switch them out.
To caution you though - I think the projection is the biggest fit issue right now, and a bra that is projected enough so that the wires stay in your IMF will wind up being a lot higher on the sides anyway, since they won't have slid down that inch like your current bras. -
I wanted to add this link the PetiteCollegiate 's blog - this entry was incredibly helpful when I was learning about all the variations of breast shape and how they affect bra fit. http://thepetitecollegiate.com/2016/04/21/photo-glossary-bra-fitting-and-breast-shape/
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littlebigcups: May I ask you why yout think you are full on bottom? Telling from the pictures, I would have guessed that your shape is somewhat similar to my own, balanced fulness with tall roots. Marcie works very well for me. Pics can be misleading, of course! That's why I'm asking :)
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Edited to add: @bracrastination- answered your question here :)
chirality , wow! The links you posted are a HUGE help. (and I'm sending them to all of my friends). Turns out that I had no clue what my breast shape was because of the loose skin that is obscuring some of my shape.
For example: I assumed that I am wide-set, because I was looking in the mirror rather than looking directly down at my chest. They look wide in the mirror but from the top down, they're less than two fingers close together from where the tissue starts.
Full on bottom? Maybe not. I did the lean over test and it suggests top heaviness, but when I am standing, my breasts are sloped on top. So I don't know about that one. Maybe I'm evenly distributed. I do have an issue with filling out some softcup bras but maybe that was how I put them on in the past, rather than a fit issue. I'm going to be trying a few recommended brands and cuts and see what feels and looks good.
You and bracrastination are very much correct on the tall roots. I was able to feel that. I can see right away now that Freya is not going to work out. I'll be taking a look at Cleo while I wait for my Wellfitting bra to come in. I still want to see if I'm 28FF or G before I confirm my order with them since they know how that would translate to their size.
As far as projection is concerned, I don't know. I fit the description of having soft tissue but I also have self-supporting breasts. I'm firmer on the outside and softer on the inside... maybe that's a thing. Boobs are weird :P
Once I figure out what works best for me, I'll have to write up an adventure for the front page. I think it'll be useful for members who have lost a lot of weight and are struggling to figure out their shape.
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littlebigcups: Awesome! Sounds like you are making lots of progress regarding figuring out what works for you.
If you are indeed even with tall roots, you can take a look at the bras that fit me on my profile page for inspiration. (Bratabase still has no way of only showing the bras that *currently* fit a user, so just skip the older ones. My shape has changed somewhat throughout the years.)
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It looks good. how does it feel? you may just want something with a little more height at the wing to help you feel more secure. The weightloss will make it very tricky to tell what this is right away, but it looks more like loose skin than escaped breast tissue. Because it is weight loss rather than poorly fitting bras it is more likely to be skin than tissue migration. If you have scooped and swooped, this is probably your size.
What I am actually seeing is that you genuinely have a small ribcage, which may have been obscured for a while. It looks like you have the classic downscaling issue. Many bra makers take the cups and wires from larger band sizes and plop them in the middle of a shorter band and label them as sister sizes. The trouble is, when your ribcage is smaller the same cup volume is usually narrower and more projected then the sister size on a larger band. I think you would be more comfortable in a brand that uses narrower wires and relationally deeper cups. The classic and extreme for this is Comexim 3hcs. But other Polish brands offer varying degrees of the same shape: Gorsenia, Ava, Gaia, Nessa, and Ewa Michalak.
For mainstream Brittish brands:
Cleo Marcie and Lucy, some Bravissimos, and (in a cup size up) Curvy Kate Bardot and Ellace and Flirtelle Ellie and Peacock may work for you. The next wider set is the Panache Envy, Jasmine, and Floris.Good luck!
Updated on December 13, 2016 Flag this
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I think what I may want to try is, since I have free returns, try one cup size up in this Freya, see how things shift around in there, and go with what looks and feels better. I'm still training myself to really dig in and scoop from wearing 30DD for a few years (oops?)
Interestingly enough, before I ordered this Freya bra, I placed an order with Wellfitting. I believe they're part of Comexim? I ordered a 28G (US). Thankfully, after trying this Freya on, I was able to put a pause on that order until I can figure out what's going on with this Freya bra in order to get my proper Wellfitting size. They are so nice there and very accommodating. So I suppose in a month or so we will see whether or not I'm a good candidate for Polish bras. I suspect that I might be, given the shape of my breasts when I bend over. It doesn't look like it in the photo but they're kind of narrow.
Thanks for your suggestion! I am not sure if I ought to mark both as helpful, or wait until I've figured out the solution and then mark the correct one as helpful?
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I really appreciate the thoughtful suggestion! Does this type of bra work for full on the bottom breasts? I have tried bras with higher center gores and always had trouble filling out the tops of them so I switched to plunge, which ended up more comfortable. I'm quite deflated on top. The migrated tissue thing is quite possible though since I've been wearing a 30DD for 2 years and the difference between a 30DD and a 28FF is pretty big.
I see a Cleo Kali on Amazon for $22 so maybe I should try it out, and another one of these Freya Plunge in a cup size up to see if it's a size issue causing that underarm lumpiness. I see another suggestion above, too, that seems to be opposite, so it seems like I have a few things to consider. Thanks again for taking the time to look at my question :)