Did you know that your breast shape can affect the type of bras that will fit you? It’s a lot like dressing for your body shape. Some silhouettes don’t fit on certain body shapes and, in this case, some breast shapes don't fit into certain bras. Knowing this little secret will help save you a lot of time when you go bra shopping and you’ll be able to find that perfect-fitting bra without wanting to pull your hair out.
Your breast shape is determined by a lot of factors: genetics, race, nursing, gaining and losing weight, hormones, age, and gravity. Because of all of these factors, there are a lot of breast shapes because every woman is shaped so differently.
Now, the exciting part…you’re going to figure out what breast shape you have! Don’t worry, it’s it’s really easy.
First, you’re going to take off your shirt and your bra and stand in front of the mirror. Take a good look at your beautiful self. You’ll want to take note of the shape of your breasts from the side. After you take a mental note, draw it on a piece of paper, or you could take a picture of yourself (make sure you delete this picture if you don’t want your kids, friends, or neighbors seeing this). Finally, go to the illustration above and identify your breast shape.
You might find you have a combination of two different breast shapes and that’s ok!
I’m going to identify each breast shape, issues associated when it comes to fitting bras, and my favorite bras I recommend for each shape.
1. The Round Breast Shape
This shape is the easiest to fit because the fatty tissue is equally distributed in the breast. There’s really no known issues with this shape. You could wear a molded, seamed, balconette, minimizer, demi, or full-coverage bra. Most bras will fit this shape without any problem.
My favorite bras:
2. Swooping Breast Shape
This shape of breast is fuller at the bottom and the nipple points upward. This shape is very common in women who have nursed and lost volume up at the top of the breast, lost weight, or you were just born this way.
The most common problems associated with this breast shape is a lot of bras will gap at the top of the cup due to loss in breast tissue mass. For this breast shape, I recommend bras that have a more demi cup.
One thing to be cautious about demi cut bras is that you don’t want the dreaded double boob. It’s where the cup digs into the top portion of the breast causing your breast to bubble out the top of the bra cup. This creates a distinct bra line across your breast underneath your shirt.
My favorite demi bras are the following:
3. Sagging Breast
Sagging breasts can be defined as breasts that point downward. This can be caused by several factors including gravity, genetics, age, not wearing a supportive bra, menopause, and the amount of fat tissue in them.
I find most women who have this particular breast shape are older, those who have had children, nursed, lost weight, and have been through menopause.
By not wearing a correct fitting bra, the tissues that hold the breast up will start to stretch, break, and lose their elasticity. The only way to remedy this is to start wearing a correct bra. It won’t fix the sagging, but will prevent future stretching to occur. That’s why it’s really important to wear bras that fit and support.
For sagging breasts, I recommend soft cup bras that have underwires so you can get the girls fully supported and covered.
There’s some differences in soft cup bras. There are bras that have seams sewn in the cups and there’s seamless cups. Both are fine, but there’s some major differences.
Soft cup bras that have seams in the cups will shape and minimize the breasts a lot better than the seamless soft cup bras. Some women will not like the seamed cups because you tend to see them underneath thin shirts so that’s why some women prefer the seamless cup bras.
When you have sagging breasts it’s a lot easier to fit and to fill out a soft cup bra.
Molded cup bras are shaped a certain way, and if your breast aren’t shaped that way, they’re not going to fit correctly.
Here’s my top picks for soft cup bras:
Curvy Couture Sheer Mesh Unlined
5. Large Breasts
Large breasts have higher volume of fatty tissue in them. Women who have a cup size of G+ will have this shape. Make sure you pay close attention to the gore or middle part of the bra, make sure the bra is separating your breasts, that the underwire is completely covering your side boobs, and that the band is snug and lying low in the back.
To see how bras should fit, go to this post.
My favorites bras for larger breasts:
6. Small Breasts
Some call it a curse and some call it a blessing. Having small breasts means you don’t have much volume of fat tissue there. Most women who have small breast sizes can range in size from AAA-C. I find most women who have small breasts are more petite, but you’d be surprised by how many larger women have smaller breasts too.
The problem when it comes to fitting a small breasted gal is you find bras will gap at the top and feel big all around. I try to go for bras that are made for petite women.
There’s two types of bras I recommend for small breasts; push up and padded bras. There’s a difference between the two.
A push up style bra is only padded at the bottom of the bra and will create more cleavage by pushing the breasts up and together. A padded bra is just that, it’s more evenly padded throughout the cup to give you a more fuller cup.
My favorite push up and padded bras:
Panache Porcelain Elan Molded T-Shirt
7. Constricted or Tubular and Snoopy Breasts
This breast shape look kind of like torpedoes or pointy pyramids and are fuller on bottom than they are at the top.
The most common problems associated with this breast shape is a lot of bras will gap at the top of the cup due loss in breast tissue mass. When it comes to fitting is a lot like the swooping breast shape. The main problem you’ll have with finding a bra that fits is having the top of the cup gap. I recommend a demi or not as full coverage bra to remedy this problem.
My favorite demi and push up bras:
8. Pigeon Breasts
When most of the breast tissue is stretched, and elasticity is gone, therefore leaving you with breasts that feel flattened. It feels like a bag of skin. Most women with this breast shape are older and have gone through menopause.
Some common fitting problems you’ll run into is being mislead that because you don’t have that much breast volume, that you’re a small cup size. You’d be surprised by how much volume the breast has. Just make sure you’re not coming out at the top of your bra and the underwire is completely covering you on the side of your breasts.
For this breast shape, I recommend a underwire soft cup bra due to the lack in shape with these breasts. You could go with a seam or seamless cup.
I hope going over the different breast shapes will make it easier for you to find the perfect fitting bra.
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