Wednesday, July 01, 2009

A Transsistah's Secret-Bras

The day you get your first bra is a right of passage moment for many cisgender girls. It's also a sign that a transwoman is moving towards the feminine side of the gender fence.

In the days when you are early into your transition and hadn't developed your girls yet or are simply cross dressing, all you did was stuck your breast forms (or whatever you used for the purpose) in your bra and went out and about in the world.

Now that you've been swallowing hormones or taking your shots for a sustained period, you have either developed a pair of your own girls, or got impatient and spent some cash to buy some.

No matter which way you got there, the burning questions become not only what's my bra size, but how do I put it on correctly?

Let's start by answering the size question. My endo was doing breast measurement during my visits my measurements to track my development progress, and I'd gotten up to a 34C.

It's estimated that 8 out of 10 women are wearing the wrong bra size, which can lead to back and other problems.

So unless you have contortionist skills that will lead to a professional career with the circus, getting accurate measurement is something you'll need a helping hand to do.

To ensure their customers are getting the correct size, a comfortable fit and reduce the risk of those potential problems, every so often your local department or lingerie store will have a bra fitting event where you can get properly measured for the correct size. They can also do so without you removing any clothing to be measured, unless you are wearing thick or bulky clothes.

If you're comfortable going out and about in the world, that's probably a good way to do it. But if you're still developing that confidence to boldly go out and about in the world, you'll have to have a trusted friend grab a tape measure and help you do so.

The key to a proper fitting bra is determining our accurate cup size, not what we wish our cup size to be.

You'll have that trusted friend start with a tape measure just underneath your breasts and around your back, making sure the tape is flat against your skin.

Add four inches to this measurement, and you have your band size. If you encounter an odd number, round up to the nearest even number since bra sizes only come in even numbers.

To find out your cup size, you will again pull out your trusty tape measure, and make sure it's once again flat across your back.

But instead of measuring under your breasts, measure across their fullest peaks. Add four inches, and compare with your band size measure. The difference between the two is your cup size, keeping in mind the following:

Negative Number AA A
Less than 1" AA
1" A
2" B
3" C
4" D
5" DD or E
6" DDD or F


Now that you know your size, time to find out how to put it on correctly.

After sticking arms through the straps, lean forward a bit and let gravity help the girls settle into the cups of the bra. You then make sure the nipples are in the crosshair point of the bra before hooking it.



Then again, the ways that women have of putting on their bras are as varied as the woman herself. So what ever way you put it on, make sure that you and the girls are comfortable when you're done.

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