Every woman in my family has huge boobs β I'm talking triple Ds or triple Es. But in some sick twist of fate, I wound up with… pretty much nothing. It's such a genetic anomaly that my family has taken to affectionately calling me "The Boobless Wonder."
With age, I came to enjoy my barely-there boobs (and the ability it affords me to go bra-less pretty much whenever). But I still had about zero sympathy for my younger sister and her bra-shopping woes.
"Wow," I'd respond to her complaints, "It must be so hard to find something to make your gigantic rack look great."
Turns out, it is. I recently found a viral video of a New Zealand woman ranting about the dearth of cute, lacy bras available in size double-F, Intrigued, I polled my office to see if this is really a problem for well-endowed women. The answer was a resounding yes.
So I broadened the scope of my investigation, and asked other chesty women in my life about their experiences with bra shopping. Their answers astounded me. They went far beyond superficial complaints and into hard-hitting issues about body image and acceptance β issues that I, as a flat-chested pre-teen, ignorantly thought I struggled with alone.
Below are some of the insightful, eye-opening, and often hilarious answers I received from my friends and family. Busty ladies, read them and commiserate. Fellow flat-chesters, get ready for a surprise.
And everyone, keep in mind that for each woman out there pining for more cleavage, there's another one wishing they could rock an Urban Outfitters bralette.
"I have to dread the whole bra buying experience. The only place β other than the medical supply store β that carries a 32G is Nordstrom, and the bras are for a much older age group and they feel like straight-up armor … Also, I'm a teenage girl. Unfortunately like most girls my age I have plenty of issues with my body already, and being shoved and strapped into these big granny bras makes me feel gross." – Maggie Shugerman, 19
"A lot of companies are selling bras in bigger sizes, but they still haven't mastered how to make them cute and comfy. I'm so tired of being poked by underwire. I'm tired of spending $40 on a bra that shreds in three weeks." – Evette Dionne, 26
"It just makes me feel like I am on the fringe. Shopping with friends was such a nightmare when I was a teenager. I felt dumb that I had to go to a special section for a dress, or drag friends into a store they completely couldn't shop in. Even now, if I go to a mall with a friend, I feel this terribly weird guilt asking them if they mind if I stop in a "plus" store while they go into stores that all sell straight sizes and don't think twice if I mind." – Lauren Gordon, 27
"Basically what it boils down to is that big boobs = basic bras. The cute, lacy ones are essentially off limits, because even if they do come in the correct size, it seems that a general consensus to remove excessive padding was never reached among bra makers. On a related note, bralettes are actually out of the question. I'm not even sure why they make them in a size large, because in my experience the amount of fabric used is not proportional to the support offered. While stylish, they prove highly inadequate under almost all circumstances. 'The bigger they are, the harder they fall,' seems to accurately summarize the situation." – Lea Worob, 22
"Why cant they make a strapless bra that works??? The only ones they make for a D and up feel like a weird corset." – Christina Drill, 27
"I fucking hate how ugly all the bras are pretty much from a C cup and up. It is possible to find something with a bit of lace, but then you're paying an arm and a leg. The first time I went to buy a good quality bra, I cried in the dressing room. Why are they all the same color?? Nude and tan and taupe almost exclusively. That first day, my mom brought me a floral number. It looked like the couch from a retirement home. And sports bras only really go up to "medium impact", except the ones at Lulu Lemon, but I won't be able to afford those for 15 years." – Rachel Farkas, 24
"I used to have 38 DDDs before I had breast reduction surgery in 2013, and they were that big since like 8th grade. People would make fun of me behind my back saying my bra was too small … It sucked I couldn't wear anything from Victoria secret like all my friends. Even Nordstrom was hell and usually didn't have my size, so they had to order them online and each bra was like $80+, as well as so ugly.
I think what sucked even more is I was this 13, 14 year-old girl trying to fit into my body, which could only be supported by the ugliest, plainest, frumpiest undergarments. It made me feel ugly, fat and lumpy β not to mention super constricted for fear of having a wardrobe malfunction, or running too fast, or standing up straight for long periods of time because of my back pain." – ChloΓ© Ghattas, 22
"You have to buy the really expensive ones, because the cute Target ones don't fit. In fact, the cute ones anywhere don't really fit … And lord forbid you're a busty lady with a smaller waist β then you are in the narrowest of pools." – Louisa Del Valle, 21
"I can find cute ones that are like a bajillion dollars from bra specialists. But sometimes a girl just wants a slutty cheap bra from Victoria Secret, but none of those really fit. Depending on the bra I can wear a 36C, 34D, 32D and a 36D … So if I ever want to buy a bra I have to bring in at least 5 sizes to try on because they're seriously not meant for people with actual boobs." – Holly Hutcheson, 22
"The larger the cup the uglier the bra. Maybe its because it takes more fabric to make a larger bra, or maybe its because of our society's apathy towards people who aren't stick thin. Either way I hate bra shopping. If there's a bra that's full coverage it's typically unsupportive, and if a bra is cute I can pretty much guarantee that I will be popping out of it all day.
Basically I think that bra designers just replicate the same structure for larger bras that they have for smaller bras and don't take into account the actual body of the woman wearing it … I would gladly join bra burners except that I need a bra unless I want the whole world staring at my bust. So yeah, did I mention that I hate bras?" – Erin McConnell, 21
