Maybe I won't HAVE to get surgery? (Narrow roots and the hope of Polish bras) » All bra adventures

Maybe I won't HAVE to get surgery? (Narrow roots and the hope of Polish bras)

Hi,

I've just discovered this website 3 days after scheduling a breast reduction consultation, and for the first time in my adult life feel a little hope that maybe surgery isn't my ONLY option, so thank you all very much for that.

Even at the specialty shop I had to go on a call list for when they happened to have one of "my size" (can anything be said to be "in my size" if none of them fit?) in stock. At that same shop I've had one woman tell me "once you get to those sizes it becomes more difficult to engineer, there isn't a solution [to my fit problems]" and another sadly shrug and give up on me after trying on every possible bra in the shop. BOTH TIMES I was pathetically grateful just to not get a hard sell on a bra that didn't fit. Walking out hopeless and in pain and grateful that no one lied to my face. That is the BEST shop in my city, which is in the largest city in my TIMEZONE. Talk about feeling like a freak.

I have figured out that my #1 problem is that I have narrow roots, and that all of the bra manufacturers I have been trying for years (the ones I could find "easily" in Alaska) are kind of known for normal-to-wide wires. EVERY bra I have ever had has had wires that reached around under my arms nearly to my back, no where near the actual sides of my breasts. I have been compensating by wearing 28 band size bras on my 34 frame, because had to find a place to use up all that extra area in the side of the cup. When I have gone down cup-sizes and up band sizes to what is probably my "correct" size, I have found that the band ends up being too big (ride up and I get ZERO support), and the cups end up still be wide enough to crash into my shoulders/underarms and get bunched up weirdly and or I fall out the front/middle of the bra. I tend to alternate between "no support but not pinching" and "supportive but so tight it practically scars" bras. I don't avoid pain, I just cycle through a variety of it to stay sane/not crippled by one type.

If I understand clearly, Polish brands like Comexim and Ewa Michalak typically have narrower wires than British brands like Freya and Panache. Freya tends to have too wide of a center gore, and Panache seems to be too tall in the sides of the cup (in addition to the wires on both being too damn wide, even when I hold them up individually to ignore the other factors and just test wire-to-breast shape). I don't fall out the front of Panache unless it is a plunge, but I've actually lost feeling in my arms due to how they cut in in the front of my armpit. Freya tends to not cut into my arm as badly, but I fall out the front/middle of all but the most encapsulating cups worn with the too-small band. In both brands I have to keep the straps very tight to keep them from sliding off my shoulders, which are NOT sloped at all, nor even narrow for my frame. Just too narrow for the width of these bras that want to wrap 2/3rds of the way to my back.

I'm currently waiting on a couple bras from Wellfitting to see if the narrowness of Comexim's cups suits me better. My only concern now is that the sides of the cups might be too tall, and dig into my armpit simply closer to my breasts than my back (which would still be such an improvement I might not care). I'm not actually sure where I fall on any other spectrum of breast measurement like shallow/projected or tall/short roots. The issue of overly wide wires has dominated my boob life.

This is a very vague quesiton, but besides narrower wires, what traits tend to define Comexim's bras? If I find they are too tall in the side of the cups will Ewa Michalak suit better, or should I try a customized Comexim instead? Obviously I need to wait until I've actually gotten my hands on one first, but I'm trying to get a feel for them beyond my instant hopeful attraction to the "narrower wires" reputation.

I ordered both sizes recommended by Wellfitting's calculator, 34H and 36G. With my surgery consult looming I am too impatient to try one and then the other due to the 3-4 week wait. If one works I will be happy as can be and either return the other or maybe just keep one as a "snug" bra and the other as a "forgiving" bra.

I've ordered the Demi Longline simply because of my "falling out the middle" issue, which makes me instantly distrust ALL Plunges, and my dream of having a band stable enough to support me and maybe spare my back enough to make surgery unnecessary.

Sorry this post is very long and half about fitting! I almost put it in the fit category, but I don't have any details on the Comexim yet, and I already KNOW why my other bras don't fit. I am really just trying to process the idea that there might be hope for me outside of surgery.

Filed under Bras ups and downs

Shared on Sep 18, 2016 Flag this