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The thought of being a DD strikes fear into the hearts of many American women…”Will people take me seriously? Will men look me in the eyes? Will people think I’m a raging nymphomaniac?”

These fears may be expressed with humor but they strike at a core issue of the way our self image is delicately balanced on some very hurtful stereotypes.

The first element is the misunderstanding of cup size.  Most people beleive there are only 4 or 5 possible cup sizes A,B,C,D & DD. We imagine the difference between these cups as much greater than they are.  Each cup size represents one single inch of difference between band size and bust measurement. When you think that this is then divided into two cups the difference between a B cup and a C cup is only half an inch each.  Half an inch. That’s it.  If each of your breasts grow half an inch (which can often happen due to subtle changes in diet, exercise, even monthly hormone changes) you may need to try on the next cup size up, whether is a size we have heard of before or not (like F, G, GG , H, J, JJ or K cup).

When we think about cup size we think of depth and volume but we also need to think about the footprint of the breast tissue. If you were to outline the edge of your breast tissue all the way around each individual breast to define the difference between your torso and your breasts you see that the base layer of breast tissue often covers a much larger area of the torso including into the underarm sometimes a triangular area at the top of the chest leading up to the shoulder sometimes not.  The resulting shape is probably not two perfect circles (naturally anyway).  The breast outline or “footprint” as I like to call it is more likely to result in a wide teardrop shape or some variation of an oval.

The underwire of your bra should follow this line and stay completely under the soft delicate breast tissue.  The underwire goes under the breast. In no place should your tissue fall outside the outline of this underwire. If it does you probably are wearing a cup too small as many women continue to do.

Wearing a “large” or “unusual” cup size does not mean that you are large or unusual.  Most women wear a band size too large to fit into the cups sizes that are easily available, for example wearing a 38DD because the cups fit even though the band is loose and rides up. Women often compensate for this by over-tightening the shoulder straps to get “lift” or “support”; all they really end up with is dented, bruised, hunched shoulders and the bra band riding up into their armpits.