How to Put on a Bra

Whether you’ve been wearing a bra for decades or just upgraded from training status, every woman has their own approach to putting on a bra.  While it may seem like a simple, every day task (rightfully so, because you likely do it each and every day, or at least, almost), opinions vary on the topic, with one camp choosing the backwards rotation technique.  Since we’re all about ease, comfort, and simplification, the True&Co approach is a bit more, well, straightforward.  Read on and give it a try.

The Basics: How to Put on a Bra

Putting on a bra each day quickly becomes second nature (and it should, especially when you’re wearing a True Body second skin style), a task you likely don’t even think much about while you’re doing it.  But unless you’re opting for a pullover style, it’s worth taking a pause to ensure your breasts are properly placed for a perfect fit and all day comfort.

Put Arms Through Straps

First, start with the bra front facing away from you, with the straps on each side.  Place each arm through its respective strap, left arm through left side and right arm through right side.

Clasp Bra in Back on the Loosest Hook

Next, connect the bra clasp around your back, taking the wings to meet at the closure.  A new bra should always start on the loosest group of hooks and eyes, allowing you to move inward to subsequent sets (typically three available adjustments) over time.  If a new bra fits comfortably on the tightest set of hooks and eyes, your band is likely too large and you should consider going down a size (see below on proper sizing).

Do Swoop & Scoop Breasts Up into Cups

Now comes the crucial part.  To ensure breast tissue is placed appropriately, both for appearance and effective support, we recommend a “swoop and scoop” method.  For smaller cup sizes, you may be able to achieve this simply by leaning over and shifting breasts gently from left to right to allow them to fall into proper placement within the cup (with nipples centered).  For those endowed with a larger cup size, you’ll want to use your hand (opposite hand to opposite breast) to scoop breast tissue from the area towards your underarm into your cup.  In either case, you should end up with the top of your breast centered in the bra cup, where you can smooth tissue along the inside edge if necessary.

Tighten Straps to Comfortable Position

Lastly, ensure your bra straps are well positioned for all day comfort.  While the weight of a bra’s support lies in the band, its straps help keep things aligned and shouldn’t work against you by cutting in or slipping off.  Adjustable straps will feature a sliding buckle that moves up and down allowing for tightening or loosening of the straps.  If you’re making adjustments in either direction, make sure to adjust both straps evenly so the band still sits evenly across your back.

Make Sure you Have the Correct Bra Size

The above technique has the added bonus of helping you identify any potential issues with your bra sizing, whether cup gaping or spillage, band tightness or strap issues.  If you encounter any of these, your best bet is to go back to basics, quite literally, bra measurements, and make sure yours haven’t changed (trust us, it happens more frequently than we all think).

For a quick refresher on taking your own measurements, here’s our overview:

How to Measure Bra Size

Just like putting on a bra, measuring bra size should be straightforward, so we’ve broken it down into three easy steps:

1. Band Size – a measuring tape works best, and double check that you’re parallel to the ground, as well as directly under your bust. As band sizes go up by 2 starting at 30, odd measurements round down to the nearest even number.

2. Bust Size – measuring across the fullest part of your chest, we like to take a few deep breaths to achieve the most natural position.  This time half inch measurements will want to round up.

3. Cup Size – taking those two measurements, cup size is a simple subtraction of band size from bust size.  The difference in inches gives you a letter cup size starting with 1” being an A cup and going up accordingly until double letters come into play at 5” or DD, and so on.

Keep these measurements handy while you shop for bras to help refine your fit especially as brands can vary slightly in cup and band sizes.  Consult our detailed Bra Size Chart, take the True&Co Bra Fit Quiz, and review what right and wrong fit feels like as well as the five essential types of bras every woman needs in our comprehensive How to Measure Bra Size guide.