Tactel vs. Jasmine, or: my ongoing issues with Change ...
After almost a year of living in my comfy Emma-Jane Next Generation nursing bras I felt it was time to try out some "normal" bras again. So, into my considerable bra stash I dug and "hello, bra angst" it was all over again. The only bras (out of the 40 or so that are cluttering my lingerie drawer) that came close to fitting were the two black 65E Change Lingerie Tactel Padded bras I had bought in the first trimester of my second pregnancy. As I'm still breastfeeding, my size and shape fluctuate considerably during the day, but after about two weeks of wear I have fallen all back in love with the Tactel Padded. I really really like the shape they give my stubbornly conical breasts without forcing them to anything they don't really want, not to mention the fact and they are just so comfortable with their padded straps, stretchy band, and soft-ish wires. Because of the breastfeeding they fit either half a size too large or half a size too small, but that doesn't really bother me. So, more of these, pretty please, I decided, preferably in beige to complement my (not yet entirely existing) summer wardrobe.
And so the search begins. After stalking my local Change shop for several weeks ("try next week") and fruitlessly refreshing the webshop pages time and time again, it turns out that the beige version this model is simply unavailable in a 65E. It just isn't in stock anywhere, for whatever reason. After finally voicing my despair, the sales girl at my local Change store got her computer to divulge that there were two and only two of these illusive 65Es available in two different shops in two different shopping centres in two very different parts of the city. So yesterday I went on an excursion, by train, as we do not own a car. Sure enough, upon asking the respective sales girls in each shop I did indeed find both exemplars, but I noted, sadly, that it looked slightly different from the Tactel I'm used to: no more cherished padded straps and a different finish of the cup edges. One sales girl's response was something along the lines of: "yeah, well, we cannot always do the same, now, can we?" Fine, whatever, I NEED these bras, so I didn't really think twice. As I had asked for the Tactel and was given these without mention of any other models, I assumed the differences were just visual design tweaks and the fit would probably still be the same. I purchased them without fitting (my baby girl just doesn't have the patience for that kind of antics, nor do my husband and son who had decided to tally along *sigh*). I also got one black and one beige in 65DD in anticipation of my post-breastfeeding size.
Trying them on at home I notice that the shape and sizing clearly ISN'T the same as the Tactels I already own: the cups are considerably shorter (good), more open along the inner quadrant cup edge (good), but also decidedly shallower in the bottom (NOT good) and they fit AT LEAST half a cup, perhaps even a whole cup size smaller. I would need a 65F in this model to comfortably accommodate my lactating breasts when they are not entirely "empty" and there's also a whole lot more "in-and-up, front-and-centre, cakes-on-a-platter" shaping going on that I'm not necessarily a fan of at the moment. Plus, I miss my padded straps. Huh. Even though not all of it is totally disastrous (they are not entirely unwearable all of the time), I'm not amused. Confused I dig further, eventually figuring out that the bras I got are, in fact, not the Tactel Padded at all, but the Change Lingerie Jasmine Padded instead, a completely different model. Somebody could have told me that, now, couldn't they?! Especially since bras bought at a Change store cannot be returned.
Now I feel stupid, annoyed, and utterly frustrated. I got four bras yesterday, but none of them what I went out for. I STILL do not have a beige bra that actually fits me as it should and, guess what, the Jasmine isn't available in the 65F I would need in the webshop either. As I said: hello, bra angst. WHY is it so freaking hard?! I know my size, I know what fits me, and I STILL can't get it right
Filed under Bras ups and downs
:( What a frustrating bra experience. I hope you manage to find bras that fit you!