Archive for the 'Intimate Wisdom' Category
Study Claims Bras Make Breasts Saggy: I Don’t Agree
April 12, 2013
I like to think I’m open-minded to new ideas. So, when I read yesterday about a French study claiming breasts would sag less if women went braless, I was intrigued. But, now I’ve had a chance to really study it. This has to be a hoax.
Let’s first start with a little reality check. We’ve all seen photos/video of existing cultures where women walk around topless. Were their breasts perky, firm and full? Of course not. So, right there, this study is contrary to what we know to be true.
If you’re a woman and you’ve ever experienced breast bounce then you know – it hurts! Yet this study is claiming that women who went braless experienced a lift in their breast apex, and reduced back pain. In my blog from a few years ago regarding breast bounce, Dr. Joanna Scurr found that our breasts move in a figure 8 while running, and that constant downward breast motion was found to be very painful for women.
Another important fact (that older women probably remember), is that sports bras are a rather new invention. Before they were created, women with large breasts could not comfortably compete in sports. Now, with the many sports bras available to women, more and more large-breasted women have become active and participate in sports. No longer is there concern about controlling breast tissue during active exercising. So right there is one great argument for wearing a bra.
Wearing the right bra style and size can actually make you look thinner and more youthful. So, like the right style of clothing, bras makes us look better.
Now, let’s get into the physiology of breasts. There are no muscles in your breasts. Thus, there is no exercise a woman can do to bring her breasts up once they start to sag. Our breasts are held in place by our Coopers Ligaments. Ligaments can stretch, but they can not constrict. So, it is just counter to reality for this study to conclude that women who went without their bras saw their breast apex lifted by 7 mm each year. (See diagram above.)
Bottom line: leave it to a man to tell us we don’t need to wear a bra.
For more reliable information regarding breast bounce, see Dr. Joanna Scurr’s research in the UK regarding this topic.
Posted by TE at 2:24pm
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Apparel Sizing Has Changed
September 26, 2011
Have you noticed that you find yourself sizing down a lot when you try on clothing? I have. And I tell you, when I fit into a size 2, or once into a size 0, I’m so elated, I almost always buy it. For me, it’s like wearing a badge of honor!
Well, now my bubble has been burst. I learned recently that a size 0 today was a size 8 back in the 1970′s. As a child, I remember one of my babysitters telling me that she once waited on Jackie O for a bathing suit and sold her a size 10. So, for years, I thought as long as I stayed under a size 10, I was just fine. Well, now I’m finding that her size 10 of the 70′s is today’s size 2!
So, what’s going on? According to Ed Gribbin, President of Alvanon Inc – a clothing size and fit consultant to the fashion industry, the industry is playing with the sizing numbers so that more plus-size women can fit in sizes that sound more standard. Today’s size 14 has a bust measurement of 44 inches, a waist of 38 inches and hips of 46 inches. So, though 1/3 of the American population of women are plus-sized, only 15% of clothing sales go to clothing classified as plus-sized. In other words, they have shifted the sizing scale downward, created sizes like 0 and 00 at the bottom of the size scale so that traditionally average sizes like 10, 12 and 14 are actually fitting plus-sized women.
However, getting the right fit in these new sizes is a challenge. As I blogged about before, once a woman gets to a certain size, she starts to hold her weight in a variety of areas. In contrast, the smaller sizes tend to put on weight proportionally in the same areas and this allows the manufacturer to know how to grade a pattern for the different sizes. We’ve all heard about the fruit shape comparisons. The apple shape means you have a large tummy. The pear shape means you have large hips. These two silhouettes do not fit in clothing the same way – the weight distribution is diverse in these larger sizes.
Lane Bryant, a retailer of plus-sized clothing, has been making 3-D scans of many of their customers’ bodies since 2004. They now have more than 65,000 unique body measurements for comparison analysis. What they found is that 15% of women in the plus sized category had more than a 10 inch difference between their waist and hips. 70% of these women had a difference between waist and hips within an 8-10 inch variance, and another 15% only has a 4-6 inch variance between these two measurements. That’s a lot of variation! So, there is no one dress shape or pant style that will fit all plus-sized women.
The lesson in all of this is that plus-sized women need to know not only their size, but their body shape. The latest thinking is that there are 4 shapes – round, curvy, bottom-heavy and straight.
Since I sell underwear, once I learned this, I immediately thought of the challenges plus-sized women have with shapewear. Shapewear is really made with the assumption that you are for the most part pretty straight up and down. So by figuring out her body shape, a full-figure woman can make the right shapewear decisions If she has a fuller bottom, two pieces of shapewear – one for the top and one for the bottom – will give her the best results. If she’s more straight, a one-piece shapewear will probably work.
So, say goodbye to the fruit analogies, and figure out what body shape you have if you are plus-sized. This will go a long way in helping you find the best-fitting and figure-flattering clothing.
Find Shapewear that fits at HerRoom in these departments:
Shapewear
Plus-Size Lingerie
Follow HerRoom on Twitter for daily tips.
Posted by Tomima at 9:12am
1 Comment »
Maternity Lingerie – So Much Better Than it Was
September 16, 2011
Before I was in the lingerie business, I had given birth to two girls. I distinctly remember the maternity lingerie I bought. Few if any stores had maternity lingerie. So, I went to Target, found 3 awful looking white bras and these big white granny-panties that came up and over my belly. As I purchased them, I felt resigned to giving up on anything pretty or sexy for the next 6 months.
Boy, is today’s maternity lingerie different. I look at it and it almost, ALMOST makes me want to think about having a baby again. Gone are the institutional-style underwear pieces. Replacing them are beautiful looking bras and panties in a variety of styles, colors and trims. In fact, they have become so pretty that I suggest them to all my friends with pregnant daughters. I can’t imagine a better gift for a mother to give her daughter once she hears of the pregnancy. What an emotional lift to a mother-to-be to see that she can still look pretty during this special time.
Taking this one giant step further, I ran across these great videos by HotMilk Maternity. What I love about them is that rather than a woman dealing with her condition and feeling like she’s sort of all alone, these videos bring the man in their life into the whole experience. I know you’ll love watching both.
Find HOTmilk lingerie at HerRoom in these departments:
Bras
Panties
Follow HerRoom on Twitter for daily tips.
Posted by Tomima at 8:41am
1 Comment »
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