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Didn't measure myself correctly
I had gotten a 28E Princess balcony bra from CK as my first "my correct size" bra. (I'll come back to this)
I didn't measure myself correctly. I used to measure my bust by taking the tape higher at the back, I read somewhere that you should measure across the shoulder blades. This increased my bust measurements, obviously. I did the same for my underbust.
I ended up with 35 standing, 36 leaning, 28 snug UB. I thought my size was 28E/F. I compared myself to the other pictures of the same size here, didn't look like mine, except a few.
I felt good about having that size. All my life, I got comments on my smaller boobs a lot, I thought having a bigger size might just magically make them bigger in a bigger bra. Like they'd magically fill them in. I went with the "smaller* size suggestion, 28E and got the Princess balcony bra from Curvy Kate. I didn't know it runs a size larger, I didn't bother checking the measurements or anything, I was just so excited to get a bra in my "correct size".
It didn't fit, absolute shape mismatch. Gaping all over the top, wires too wide. I scooped and swooped all I could, didn't fill it in. I did eventually make the bra work for me (another story for another time).
I measured myself as correctly as I could again, turns out I'm a 26E/F or 28DD/E, depending on how snug I want it. 33.6 standing 34.6 leaning, 26/27 UB.
I put this under body and body issues because I thought trying to get bigger measurements and a bigger bra would make my boobs bigger somehow. Lesson learnt. I've embraced my breasts more and more since I've found the calculator, subreddit and this. I now wear 28D unlined for CK (I have conical breasts with short roots so, needed to size down a bit) and that's okay. My boobs won't get bigger or smaller depending on what size bra I wear.
Thank you for reading my rant.
Filed under Boob and body issues