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I used to hate bras.
Trial (and Error) #1:
The first bra I ever got was a hand-me-down 32A from my cousin which I vaguely recall being so poky and ill-fitting that I hardly ever wore it. I was 12.
Trials (and more Errors) #2 & #3:
Since that one was clearly too small, the next size I tried was 34A, being dead certain that I had to be an A cup. I owned (and occasionally bothered to wear) several bras in this size, before moving on to 36A, at which point the band was so hilariously large on me, I finally started to consider that maybe, just maybe, I might be "a B cup."
Trials (getting warmer!) #4 & #5:
Back down to 34 bands, this time in a B cup. These were the best fitting thus far, so I started actually wearing bras regularly because they weren't overly uncomfortable anymore. Then the need for a strapless bra arose.
I went to La Senza and tried on every strapless bra they had in 34B. It became apparent very quickly that they were all much, much too loose for me because I couldn't get any of them to stay up on the tightest hook, even just moving my arms around in the change room.
So I tried on a 32B. On the tightest hook, it managed to stay up, if just barely, the little silicone strips hanging on for dear life. That was good enough for me, so I declared 32B my One True Size. I bought the strapless and over the next few years, continued to wear 32Bs.
The strapless lost its grip after being worn maybe twice, if that. Regular bra straps tended to dig in or slide off. Cups gaped. Bands rode up.
It never crossed my mind that bands smaller than 32 existed. I didn't even know what the number stood for.
Filed under Bras ups and downs
This sounds like my life, haha! I luckily have found my good sizes (28E and 28F), but I wore 34As probably until college, then 32B, then 30D, then 28DD, then my boobs got bigger due to re-migrated tissue and I'm a 28E in some brands and 28F in others. It took me nearly four years of research to get from 34A to 28E/F, and I didn't know smaller bands existed either until about 3 years ago. Crazy! But exciting and really really great once you get into an amazingly-fitting bra. :)