Every woman, no matter her cup size, needs a good bra. A bra lifts and supports your breasts, giving you one less thing to think about as you go through your day-to-day life. When it comes to plus-size bras, though, many women have a complicated relationship with ‘em. Why is that?
As great as plus-size bras can be, they have a lot of problems, such as unnecessary padding, inaccurate sizing, and bland colors and patterns. Not enough stores stock plus-sized bras either, and they’re often very expensive!
If you’re already nodding your head in agreement with me, then you’re probably going to be doing a lot more nodding ahead. In this guide, I’ll share the best parts of plus-size bras as well as the many downsides.
Let’s get started!
What We Love About Plus-Sized Bras
Plus-size bras do have their advantages, so let’s start with what’s nice about these bras.
They Support the Girls
Breast support is so much more important if your chest is bigger.
Without that support, you’ll feel like you’re carrying around two heavy pendulums all day. Your breasts will begin to hurt from all the swinging, bouncing, and motion.
Even though the idea of foregoing a bra might have initially seemed freeing, you’ll have very quickly changed your mind.
Support also spares your back from the agony of having to heave your breasts alone. So many of us plus-size gals wake up with aching, screaming backs most days anyway, so whatever you can do to minimize that is best.
Plus, let’s talk about gravity. Sure, a day without a bra every now and again is fine.
However, most experts believe that if you skip the bra too often, especially if you’re endowed in the chest department, that you could end up with sagging breasts.
I should note that the consensus is still out there on that one!
Plus-Size Gals Like Lift Too
There’s this misconception that bigger breasts always create larger-than-life cleavage just by wearing a bra. Ah, if only it were that easy.
Cleavage just doesn’t naturally happen, even if your chest is larger. A bra that lifts and pushes the breasts together is not only a treat among the smaller-chested who are trying to boost their bust for the night.
We bigger ladies like the lift as well. It makes our breasts look like a million bucks, and every woman wants that no matter the natural size of her bust.
They Make Us Feel Sexy
There’s just something about a lacy bra and matching underwear set that will always be so simple and sexy.
Even if a plus-size woman is as single as the day is long, who says you have to dress up for another guy or gal? Forget that! Dress up for you!
I’m not even talking about wearing something sexy for a date. You can put on a pair of everyday clothes and feel like your most powerful, womanly self, knowing that under your jeans and t-shirt or business garb, you look like a plus-size lingerie model.
This is where a lot of the love in the love-hate relationship with plus-size bras comes from. They make us feel like queens but can also be so annoying.
They Prevent Any Feelings of Indecency
Nothing is worse than when you go braless, and your nipples are prominent through what you’re wearing. You feel like you’re projecting car headlights from your chest.
Even though no one is really looking, it feels like all eyes are on your chest. You feel like people can definitely tell that you’re not wearing a bra because your nipples are coming through loud and clear.
It doesn’t matter if you’re hanging out with family or friends or at a function with work colleagues. This kind of feeling is mortifying.
That’s why we have strapless bras and pasties and all sorts of bra styles for every kind of fashion situation that crops up.
Wearing a bra prevents the nipples from coming through like two headlights (or it should! And if not, you need a new bra, stat.) and reduces that horrible feeling of being indecent even though you’re fully dressed.
What We Hate About Plus-Sized Bras
Embed from Getty ImagesOkay, so now that I’ve wrapped up my love letter to plus-size bras, it’s time for me to be really honest.
As great as bras are, they kind of suck. No, they definitely suck.
It’s one thing if you’re a straight-size woman with a moderately-sized bust who’s looking for a bra. You shouldn’t have any issues.
Once you get into the bigger sizes, you run into a lot of roadblocks, such as the following.
Many of ‘Em Have Too Much Padding for No Real Reason
Isn’t it weird how A-cup bras are about as thin as paper (metaphorically, of course) but plus-size bras are padded like Fort Knox?
No offense to the smaller-busted ladies (who are lucky in so many ways), but you would think that between them and us, the smaller busts would benefit from additional padding more. It creates the illusion of bigger breasts.
Yet no, it’s often plus-size bras that have padding.
I know, I know, the padding is there to prevent the above-mentioned feeling of indecency that comes when your nipples shine through an outfit like spotlights. Just because a woman has bigger breasts, though, doesn’t mean her nipples are huge.
The padding is redundant. It makes the bras unnecessarily bulky when bulk is the last thing that most plus-size gals are looking for when shopping for a bra.
If you dare to wear tight clothing, you’ll especially see the issue with padded bras. There become some very clear delineating lines that indicate where your bra starts and your breasts end. It’s awkward and can really detract from what you’re wearing.
It’s not like you can take the padding out of a plus-size bra. It’s sewn in there.
Even if you did have some seamstress skills, ripping your bra apart just to get some padding out doesn’t seem like a good idea.
You’re stuck with that awkward padding then. It’s either that or wear a different bra.
The Sizes Always Seem to Be Wrong
Wouldn’t it be nice if every retailer interpreted bra sizes the same way? But they don’t, sadly.
Either that or differences in how the bra is made affect how it fits because a bra that fits you in your size at one store might not elsewhere.
The thing about plus-size bra sizing is that it’s hard to come by. I’ll talk more about that in just a bit, but it’s something to keep in mind.
You might feel like you found the holy grail of plus-size bras only to try on the bra and realize that the band is riding or it’s creating this terrible uniboob effect. So then it’s back to the drawing board, except, oh darn, the store doesn’t carry the next biggest bra size.
So then it’s really back to the drawing board in that you’ll have to start your search all over again.
The Color and Patterns Are So Boring
As I made clear in the last section, women like wearing frilly, pretty bras that make them feel pretty and sexy. Even if you’re not wearing a bra for your partner but just for yourself, it’s like a little secret that only you know what’s going on underneath your clothes.
You want an assortment of bras, including bras in fun colors, bold patterns, and sexy details. In the summer, when your bra straps will inevitably show, you at least want a bra strap that’s worth seeing, you know?
If you look at A-cup and B-cup bras, you’ll see the lion’s share of fun patterns and colors. Once you get into C-cup territory, the colors and patterns are lessening. By D cup, it’s even more pronounced, and it only gets worse from there.
By the time you’re into plus-size bras, you’ll wonder if you stumbled into the senior section because everything you’re seeing looks like a grandma bra.
The colors are either black, white, or nude. That’s it. Maybe if you’re really, really lucky, you’ll come across a burgundy or purple bra, but that’s like finding a diamond in the rough.
Patterns? Forget about it! Yours are single-colored, bland bras.
Sure, a single-colored, un-patterned bra makes for a great t-shirt bra, but it’s boring to fill your wardrobe with nothing but these one-note bras.
You don’t understand why the smaller bust sizes get to have all the fun, and you’re stuck wearing something out of grandma’s lingerie closet.
Not Enough Stores Have ‘Em!
Remember the situation I described above regarding inaccurate plus-size bra sizes? Well, all that is assuming that stores carry plus-size bras at all.
Not enough of them do by far. Even plus-size stores rarely have bras that are inclusive enough for every plus-size lady.
Now, I get it, it’s a clothing retailer, not a lingerie store. They only have so much room to stock bras, so that limits the available bra sizing.
But c’mon! Shopping for a bra online is risky. You can’t know if the bra will feel good on you or how well it will fit until it arrives.
Then, if it doesn’t fit, you have to go through the hassle of filling out the return slip, going to your local mail service and sending the box out, waiting for the return to be processed, and then finally being refunded.
Or you could go to the store and argue with the attendant about why you don’t want the bra. Either way, it’s not fun.
Of course, I shouldn’t be totally surprised. Most stores are only beginning to carry plus-size clothing, and it was enough of an uphill battle for that to happen.
It could be years before we see plus-size bras in stores as well. Until then, keep the address to your favorite plus-size boutique handy. You’re going to need it for a while.
They’re So Expensive
While you look longingly at the smaller bra sizes wishing you had that color and pattern variety, do you ever flip the tag over and glimpse at the price? If you did, I’m sure you’d do a double-take.
Bra and lingerie manufacturers justify higher prices for bigger bras because, as they say, the bras need to do more work. In other words, because the bra has more breasts to support, that’s why it costs more.
I do understand the logic here, at least a little. A more supportive bra has to be made better and features more adjustments for a comfortable fit. A smaller bra doesn’t need the strongest underwire because there’s not as much breast to support.
It’s not fair that a woman has to pay more for being well-endowed in the chest department. I’m not saying that plus-size bras should be lower-quality, but maybe a little more affordable?
The Best Solution for Bra Conundrums? Get Sized!
Retailers still have a long way to go to bridge the gap between smaller-sized and plus-sized bras, and I’m not trying to deny that one iota.
However, there are some things that we ladies can do in the meantime to ensure our bras fit comfortably.
Well, one thing, mostly, and that’s get fitted.
I know what you may say, “but I just got fitted two years ago!”
Two years?! You’re supposed to get a bra fitting every six months, so you’re about four fittings too late.
While I wish that there was a way, unfortunately, you cannot measure your own bra size on your own. You’ll need a friend, family member, or partner to help you. They’ll need some flexible measuring tape to get an accurate measurement.
You can also visit your favorite bra store and get a fitting there. Many bra stores offer free fittings, so there’s really no reason not to go.
I know it’s embarrassing to let a stranger measure your breasts but going to the pros ensures your bra will fit a lot better. The embarrassment will fade, but the pain from an uncomfortable bra takes a lot longer to do the same.
Conclusion
Plus-size women usually have a love-hate relationship with bigger bras, and rightfully so. If your bra is riding up your back or creating an unflattering uniboob as you read this, then it’s long since time for a fitting!
