After finding your correct size, many of you will have to buy bras online, because your local store carries only a miserable size selection. This might be daunting at first -- but fear not, I will help.
Many women make the mistake of ordering one or two bras from an online store or Ebay, just to see how it goes. Very often both of the bras ordered don't really fit well. Maybe the sizing is lightly off, maybe the cup style is all wrong. The woman returns the bras and orders another two. These don't fit perfectly either. At this stage she is frustrated at spending so much time and money on shipping, and often keeps the sub-optimal bras just because she doesn't want to pay extra shipping again. As time passes, she gets more and more dissatisfied with the bras and soon needs to buy better-fitting ones. She buyas another two bras... abd the story repeats itself. So much money, time and energy wasted!
This is obviously not the most cost-effective way! So what's the solution? After advising many girls on bra-shopping, this is the method I developed which comes out the cheapest:
Step One: Preliminary trials
First, do check if there are brands like Panache, Fantasie etc available in a brick-and-mortar store anywhere near you. Go to an online store like Figleaves and check which other brands make bras in your size, and google whether they have stores anywhere near you. It would be amazing if you find something. If you find a store with a great selection of bras and affordable prices, consider yourself lucky and enjoy that! It´s possible that the stores will not carry 28 bands but only 30D (65D) and will be expensive, in that case you can try a couple of sizes and models and then escape. And then shop online.
No such store near you? You can also try on a sister size which you can find in an average store. Sister sizing means if you go up a band size, go down a cup size (and the other way around); so if you need a 30DD, try on a 32D or 34C (the cup size will be roughly the sam, the band will be way bigger). Test out which kind of cup styles fit you best, but don't be tempted to buy them since the band might feel supportive but trust me, after a few wears and washes you will be able to wrap it around your waist twice.
Step Two: Order as much bras for as much money as you can temporarily "freeze"
Temporarily invest some money and order ten bras or more from an online store, with the purpose of returning all but the best fitting ones. Try Brastop, EwaMichalak (switch the language to english), Figleaves or Barenecessities. Be sure to pick several different cup styles. Be sure to check the return policy. When all this arrives, try everything on and make notes. You will quickly see that maybe a balconette looks great on you but half-cups don´t; or that you need to go a cup size up or down.
If something fits perfectly, keep it. Return the rest, and order more if necessary. If most of the bras didn't fit well, you will need to again order a bigger amount, maybe from a different brand?
If you are really cheap you can send them all back and buy some from "cheap sources" (more on this later), but only if you have established your size and compatible styles.
If something fits perfectly, keep it. Return the rest, and order more if necessary. If most of the bras didn't fit well, you will need to again order a bigger amount, maybe from a different brand?
If you are really cheap you can send them all back and buy some from "cheap sources" (more on this later), but only if you have established your size and compatible styles.
Why order so many bras? Remember, when buying correctly-fitting bras for the first time, the chances are pretty high that you will have to return at least some of your first bras. Even if the size happens to be exactly right, you might not know which cup style fits you best, and whether you need narrower or broader underwires. So you might as well make the most of the shipping costs and order a lot of bras, so that you can try out as many as possible. This will cut down the time and costs of searching for a bra, and in the future you will know.
Don't worry, bra shopping will get way easier after you have got your first couple of bras!
Don't worry, bra shopping will get way easier after you have got your first couple of bras!
Step Three: you know what you need, now find bras that have it
Now that you have some idea what you need. For example I look for plunges and low-cut balconettes and half-cups because my breasts are flatter on the top, and medium to broad underwires. Now, pictures of bras on a model can be misleading, since a) they might have different proportions from you and b) many models are very badly fitted. So you need to look for reviews online; the best are from blogs of girls that have been correctly fitted. CurvyWordy specialises in bra reviews, and her blogroll has links to many blogs of many girls who never miss the chance to review every bra they can get their impeccably-fitted boobs on. Brastop has its own blog with bra reviews; I have also explained how to navigate Balkonatka's Bra Catalogue.
Step Four: Some cheap-o bra sources
Although I like to support great bra brands and stores, sometimes a girl is broke and just can't afford a regular-priced bra! There are some alternative places to buy bras, the most common being ebay.co.uk Check your own local Ebay as well as any other clothing swap / selling sites. Also, do search for online bra-fitting forums, these usually have a section where members sell and swap bras. Of course, watch out for sales in regular online bra stores -- Brastop has some great deals.
Any tips you would add? Or other cheap places to buy bras?
Any tips you would add? Or other cheap places to buy bras?
