The Ultimate Guide to Bra Shopping in Cairo (Bonus: How to measure your bra size)
Let’s talk about Boobs a little
shall we? One of my biggest challenges that a lot of the ladies in our
community has is bra size. Believe it or not, I meet a lot of girls who have
weight distribution issues, body image issues, posture issues and even back
pain all due to the fact that they have been wearing incorrect bra size for
years, it can also have an impact on developing breast diseases if you’re not
wearing a proper bra. Having the correct bra in the correct size will solve many
issues; it will also make you instantly look a lot more physically appealing to
the opposite sex; if that’s your cup of tea.
That being said, it sometimes can
be challenging to figure out what kind of bra and what size you should buy, and
it will take a little bit of research for you to find out something that fit
you, it will also require some trial and error before you figure out which
shape and fit that are more suitable to your body type and your style of
clothing that goes over it.
I’ve done that research myself
and I must say it made a difference in my daily life, a significant one. I must
admit I was a little lost at the beginning; there were too many options on the
market and I didn’t know where to start. If you’re in a similar situation allow
me to present you this guide that I collected after a few months of extensive
research on bras and bra fitting.
Let’s start with the fit and
structure:
Not all bras are created equal,
and a general rule when it comes to bras is the cheaper the worse, the reason
being is that bras -unlike other garments- have a structure that impacts not
only the way you look, but also your posture and the way you walk. So a well
structured bra that has correct dimensions and material is not a luxury it’s a
necessity. Of course depending on the use and personal preference you can
choose any fit you like, there are a few that are standard and you’ll find
everywhere which are soft, padded, wired, push up and from these there are a
lot of types, like evening, lounge, sports, t-shirt. From this point you can
mix and match depending on what you’ll use it for, for example you can get a
sports bra that is wired, or t-shirt bra that is push up. There is no right or
wrong here, it’s purely use and personal preference.
How to measure your Bra size:
Ok, so you’ve got this far, you
chose the fit and the type of bra you want, at this point a lot of girls and ladies
will just stand there and try to eye their size or guess what size they are,
others will know that they tried a B and it was fine so they get another B.
Well, no.
First of all let me say that you
must have a guide size, the guide size will get you started, when you visit a
store you pick up a bra in your guide size and one that is a size larger and
one smaller and let the fitting room judge. So how do you get a guide size?
Easy. All you need is a measuring tape (preferably one that has inches), a mirror
and two extra pair of hands (if you can ask someone to help) and follow the
steps:
- Stand in front of the mirror in a soft bra or no bra at all.
- Start measuring underneath your breasts at the point where they meet your ribs wrapping the tape around your body. If your tape has inch measurements write down the number you have, if its odd round it up to the next even number, if your tape is in cm, convert it to inches by multiplying in 0.3 then round up to the next even number. (This is called band size)
Start measuring around your breast at its biggest, so the
farthest point of your breasts from the chest. Write down that number and again
convert it to inches if it’s not already in inches. (This is the cup
measurement)
4. Now what you need to do is subtract the cup measurement from the
band size and what you get is your cup.
For example, lets say that I
measured my band and it turned out to be 37, I will round it up to the next
even number and it will be 38, that’s my band size. Then I measure my cup and
it turns out to be 42, so my cup is 42-38=4. Now you normally see cup sizes
written in letters not numbers, that’s ok all you need to do it match your
number to a letter, I get 4 so it’s a D, if you get 1 its an A, 2 is a B, 5 is
a DD, and so on…
This is a picture of a bra packaging from M&S, most girls will look past it, but this is handy when you're looking for your guide size, use the right hand side column to find your band size, and the letters a cross the top to find your Cup.
M&S also have expert bra size guidance in their stores, the ladies there can measure you to find your accurate size.
Bras are designed so that the cup
increases with the size increase, so if you do try on a bra and its too tight,
opt for one with a bigger cup size not a bigger band, keep adjusting the size
until you find the right one, the right bra should not cause any creases around
the breast, if your bra is too tight it will ride up and it will dagger your
back.
Now you know your size, its time
to go shopping ! There are only a few places around Cairo that deserve the hero
award when it comes to bras, Marks
and Spencer have a very big variety, not only for types and fits but also
when it comes to sizes, they have something for everyone, whether it’s a bra
that you will just hang around at home with, or it’s a high duty high support
stay put don’t move glue on type of bra.
Victoria’s Secret of course has to
be mentioned, they are bra experts -panties, swim suites, body mist experts
come to think about it- and my favorites are the Incredible
sports bra, which is hands-down my favorite high support sports bra of all
time! And the DREAM
ANGELS Multi-Way Bra, they also have some nifty evening and occasion
specific bras that can be life savers at times.
If you are less busty, or don’t really have a need for a J size bra, Oysho tend to have some good variety, they are unfortunately only available in sub D cup sizes.
If you’re looking for a big variety and decent sizes (and prices) check out H&M, their lingerie section offers all kinds of bras in up to an E cup, although most of what’s on display is normally A, B and C, if you look closely you’ll find some.
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