Going Braless

Bras are uncomfortable, sweaty, expensive, and unhealthy for people to wear. So why do so many people go every day with one? They don't actually seem to provide any benefit aside from hiding your perky nipples from the outside world. At least to me, that is.

Now, just to be clear, we aren't talking about sports bras here. We are talking about that cute lacy thing every woman has worn that they think is responsible for providing them with much needed support. Where sports bras are actually designed to wick moisture, prevent chafing, and in general be god's gift to woman, your traditional daily wear bra is not.

Bras move the pressure that your boobs put on you body from one place to another. You may think that it’s helping because now your boobs are resting in a handy hammock hanging from your neck and shoulders. Think of the strain!

Anyway, I personally got sick of the grossness of my bras, how expensive they are, and how uncomfortable they felt in general. For my sensitive skin, they were even causing eczema in really awkward places! One day I decided to just take my bra off and go through my day. What I learned is that it is difficult to start.

Think of it this way. For the last almost 10 years of my life, I’ve been wearing a bra. I got used to it. The way it held me up allowed my boobs to seemingly get weaker and less used to holding their own weight up. My skin was allowed to get more sensitive as it didnt ever need to get that slight toughness because it was always covered.

So! For my first month-ish, I went out and bought some big bandages and put them over my nipples. This not only prevented the sensitivity I felt from my skin, but it actually also provided just enough tension to prevent minor bouncing pain. It was still rough going to get used to it. I had to put on my sports bra for the day probably every 2-3 days but it was slowly getting more doable.

I also tried a cheap costume corset for a little bit. Now, corsets are miracle workers for a multitude of reasons. They can make you feel super hot, the can help your posture, and most importantly for this, they situate the stress your boobs put on your body over to your core. This is a great thing as it can definitely alleviate neck and back pain. I won’t go into it too much but just know that for about 2 weeks in the middle, I looked and felt great. But it was just a costume corset. It wasn’t made for daily wear and it broke. I would definitely love to write more about corsets, but all my experience comes from costume corsets and this definitely isn’t the place to go on and on about the miracle of them! So back to the bras!

At around the 2 month mark, I abandoned my bra completely. I could jump around all I wanted and felt fine. It was honestly a super freeing feeling. I could just get up, put my shirt on without the strain of trying to reach around and fish for the hooks of the bra. It didn’t save an overly long time, but once I abandoned the bra, it felt like SO MUCH time saved. My skin doesn’t have issues around that awkward region anymore either. All in all, I think it’s been incredibly successful.

I’m not saying it's for everyone, but it is definitely not an overnight decision for you to make. If you think to yourself “my boobs are too big you can't say that it's just easy” or “I need my bra though cuz there’s no way I can go a single day without” well, it’s not something you can just jump into. Not even I could.

But I still heavily recommend to try it for awhile.

And for reference, my bras used to be sized at D36.