To bra or not to bra?

I was advised to change my bras by the consultant at the breast clinic. There are so many lovely soft ones around now, more like the old crop tops I wore as a teen but with a bit more shaping.
M&S are OK but Next had a couple of more reasonably priced ones.
Still trying to find one that does not cut into my underarm though.

When I was changing to a softer bra (M&S flexifit) I wondered what to do with the bras I was replacing. Timely a recycle bag popped through the door for breast cancer donations.

Bra Recycling - Against Breast Cancer

Checking it out online there is a demand to recycled bras and I felt encouraged to collected my bras that were being replaced, then remembered all the other bras I was keeping until /my shape improved/found a reason to wear such a colour/shape etc and collected all of them too.

Posted them off and was delighted to receive acknowledgement and thanks from Breast Cancer Research for my effort - you only include email address, no further information is required.

I am 74 and haven’t worn a bra since my mid twenties.

am much more comfortable bra less, only wear if going somewhere special

If you look in the mirror and you look fine then go with comfortable, please yourself

You can buy nipple shields to stop them showing. They are ok. I like to wear a close-fitting vest. I wish there was an adult version of the liberty bodice I wore as a child.

What about shape wear.
I know a woman who wears a man's shape wear vest as she finds it more comfortable. Reports it's a bit tricky getting into and can be a struggle getting out of.
But while on it is tight enough for necessary support but the area of tightness is not located in one point or band.
I don't know what a liberty bodice is and had never heard of one till reading GN.
There is probably shape wear made specifically for the female figure too.

I wear an underwired bra every day... and all day. I'm on my way to bed shortly and will take it off then.

I feel frumpy and lumpy without one and don't find it uncomfortable.

I don't care if others don't wear one. That's their choice.

Wow such a variety of responses. I gave up on wired bras for every day ages ago and now wear crop tops which I find really comfy. If we're getting dressed up - which isn't very often - I rummage in the back of my undies drawer to find one of my two wired bras. I love my crop tops but they do flatten my girls. I'd love to be less endowed.

If you have huge breasts the pull-on bras make clothes look "matronly" in my opinion. I don't want to feel matronly when I get dressed in the morning.

It's all about the way we feel I think.

I purchased a M&S flexi fit and seems comfortable but at £22 quite expensive. Any recommendations for a crop top a bit cheaper but supportive?

Toetoe

Oh I would have loved to have had small boob's. Mine always were huge and start from under my arms ! I love being bra less at home but never go out without a bra , I have to rush upstairs and re dress if anyone calls . Bra wearing is uncomfortable, even when I'm measured properly and spent a fortune on them . Oh for small boob's

I'm huge on top and tiny below, as Dolly Parton.

Covered to my neck, wear minimiser bras, work a treat.

Small would be wonderful!

NotSpaghetti

I wear an underwired bra every day... and all day. I'm on my way to bed shortly and will take it off then.

I feel frumpy and lumpy without one and don't find it uncomfortable.

I don't care if others don't wear one. That's their choice.

I never notice whether I am wearing one and do not notice what kind it is, I think one or two may be wired.

What I hate is all the horrible underwear sold in most British shops, those huge padded things that look like Boudicca's breast plates. in dull colours.

I get my bras etc in French supermarkets, when we go there, lots of unpadded bras in attractive patterned fabrics.

I am modestly endowed and never wanted to be anything else and in my teenage years dreaded having breasts the size of my mothers, which were only a C or D cup. I was really relieved when I realised I had inherited the genes for boob size from my father's family.

M0nica, I agree absolutely. The saying that you always want what you don't have did not apply to my chest!
My mother was well endowed, and I remember being a child thinking - no thanks . Fortunately, I inherited my father's family's modest bust ( and childbearing hips.. .) I hated the increase in size when pregnant and breastfeeding.
I wear a soft bra, but don't like wriggling into crop tops with no fastening.

Monica's comment has had me on Amazon checking to see if there is such a thing as a soft top bra/bit variable on sizing (to allow for whether I'm current size or heading back down to my own proper size) and....wonder of wonders......plunge neckline to allow for short-necked me wearing v-neck tops with that extra button undone as per southern English dressing.

Fingers crossed....as I've bought three different makes of them and will see how it goes when they turn up. Bras that will cope with low necklines again = wonder of wonders if they "work".

If men had to have boobs they wouldn’t like them so very much.🤭

Oreo

If men had to have boobs they wouldn’t like them so very much.🤭

Yep....they can certainly be an issue for sure. Though I still recall a comment from a (female) work colleague of mine to the effect of "If you didn't have those boobs your figure would be straight up and down - but with those boobs....." and I'd think "Oh well - just as well - especially with hair that's nothing special and a face whose only good feature is the eyes".

So boobs have had some advantages - though I do sympathise with women who'd love a bit off theirs (as one can have "too much of a good thing").

Oreo

If men had to have boobs they wouldn’t like them so very much.🤭

these days, quite a lot of men do have boobs.

I suppose having a bust does at least mean I still have a semblance of a waist!