Bra Whisperer Is Your Breast Friend
Most women wear their bra bands too high on their torsos and throw their measurements off.
The nationally recognized “Bra Whisperer” says most women are probably wearing the wrong bra and/or wearing it wrong. From the little As to the big Ks, she says your bra can “uplift” your life and she wants to help you.
Susan “Bra Whisperer” Nethero serves as the exclusive bra-fit expert on Lifetime's “How to Look Good Naked” with Carson Kressley and has also made guest appearances on “The Today Show”, “Oprah”, “The Tyra Banks Show” and “What Not to Wear.” Not to mention she was trained under the Queen of England's Royal Bra Fitter.
Nethero is founder and owner of "Intimacy," a lingerie boutique that specializes in properly fitting women's bras and right now, she’s in San Diego helping women at her newly opened store in Fashion Valley.
Impressed? So were we. So were asked her to share some pearls of wisdom to help cheer up our sad San Diego breasts.
"65 percent of women come to us for comfort, never realizing that we can also help with style and fashion to help them look and feel beautiful, sometimes for the first time in their lives. That self-confidence is just as important as fit," Nethero said.
Where to Wear Your Bra
According to Susan, the perfect position for your breasts is midway between your shoulders and your elbows and your bra should be level front to back.
Susan says most women wear their bra bands too high on their torsos and throw their measurements off.
"Most women keep going up in the back, increasing their band size, instead of getting a deeper cup,” Susan said. “We want to keep the back lean and small so we can lift the bust. The bra band is like a bridge, if it's properly planted at the base, it can lift."
Clues Your Bra is the Wrong Size.
- If your cups runneth over, it's time to go up a cup size.
- If your cups dimple, it's time to go down a cup size.
- If you have the dreaded back fat, you probably think your bra is too tight, but you're wrong -- your bra is too big. Wearing the bra lower on your back with a smaller band size will completely eliminate the back fat.
How to Properly Put on a Bra:
- It’s all about shaking it out! Bend deeply at the waist before fastening your bra—this automatically centers it and distributes the volume evenly.
- Straps should neither fall down nor dig into your shoulders (they ought to provide only 10 percent of your support—the rest comes from the band).
- Buy a size that fits you very closely—it may even feel a bit tight at first—when fastened on the first (loosest) hook. This will enable you to tighten the bra over time as the material stretches out.
- Make sure that the band is perfectly horizontal on your body.
- Fix minor puckering in the cups by smoothing down and "tucking in" your breasts.
- Fit check: If there's a major gap between bra and body, the cup's too big; if you're overflowing the top or sides, it's too shallow.
How to Prevent Back Fat: (And who doesn’t want to do that?)
- Most women buy bras with too-loose back bands. They mistakenly believe that a loose band equals a comfortable bra.
- The back band provides 90% of a bra’s support...so if your bra band is too loose, your band will ride up and your girls will head south.
- A loose band can cause unsightly back fat! Yikes!
- If your strap falls down, that means your bra band is riding up and you probably need to go down a band size.
The new store is located in the Neiman Marcus and Nordstrom wing next to Pottery Barn. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday-Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.
You can visit their Web site, myintimacy.com or call 619-894-8835 for more information or to schedule a consultation.
