metaphortunate: (Default)
metaphortunate son ([personal profile] metaphortunate) wrote2015-06-14 09:30 pm

all about those boobs

To celebrate the end of nursing (the end of nursing!) I have been trying to buy some new bras.

Did you know it's a quest, trying to get a bra? It's a quest. The Size F Cup Geas has been laid on me. I'm searching.

I got a painfully expensive bra from Figleaves, which does not fit and I will have to painfully expensively return, but the thing is: it does not fit, and it is not comfortable, but when I put it on, holy shit my boobs looked good. !!! I had forgotten they could do that!!! They haven't done it in years! If this bra can do it, maybe one that actually fits could do it even better!!

I asked people on Twitter if they actually hand wash their bras like every single brassiere washing instruction set implores you to do. Because who has the motherfucking time, oh my god.
Of the 16 of us who I know about:

3 said yes they do hand wash their bras, and I'd like to know more about their system and their time management. Frankly that was more than I expected.

2 hand wash their nice bras only, and machine wash the rest.

8 of us machine wash only, with most specifying that we use a lingerie bag and hang the bras up to dry rather than putting them in the dryer. I will go further and say that that happens except when someone doesn't notice the lingerie bag and tosses it in the dryer with the rest. I wish bra manufacturers would face reality.

3 of us just said "lol no."

This is a really good article that captures the ambivalence of the end of breastfeeding, for me. E and I were talking about how hard and awful it was in the very beginning, when the Junebug was learning to breastfeed. The nipple shields. The pain, and the never sleeping, and the terror when he lost weight. Looking back, I can't believe we kept going. How did I do that? Couldn't have done it without Mr. E. I remember there was one bit where I had to hold the Junebug's head with one hand and my boob in position with the other hand but while his head was desperately trying to suck, his little hand, under its own control apparently like Doc Ock's tentacles, was trying to rip the nipple out of his mouth. And succeeding! So Mr. E had to hold his hand still so that he could nurse, till he got better control over his hands. It was ridiculous. And now I'm done breastfeeding. Forever, barring unforeseen circumstances.

Wow, do I have a lot of feelings about that.

Some of them just involve how nice it is to be able to sleep on my stomach again.

Also I want to goddamn know why we as a people have decided that we can only have non-underwire bras in large sizes if they are nursing bras. I used to wear underwire bras, but I switched to wireless because most nursing bras are, and OH MY GOD THE COMFORT. Why do we even have these wires?? I don't want them!
commodorified: a capital m, in fancy type, on a coloured background (Default)

[personal profile] commodorified 2015-06-15 05:07 am (UTC)(link)
I handwash my bras, often by taking them into the shower with me so I can do them while the conditioner soaks in or whatever conditioner does in one's hair.

The other thing though is that machine washing, especially for no-wire bras, is no big. It's the dryer that kills them. So it's just remembering to pull them out of the load. (Ugh sorry you addressed that. I may be a bit asleep.)

I adore Goddess Bras, which are large-cup (I'm a 34-G) with many no-wire options!

Edited 2015-06-15 05:15 (UTC)
phi: (Default)

[personal profile] phi 2015-06-15 11:45 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah I used to wash mine in the shower, until grad school which turned me into a walking zombie incapable of the simplest household tasks. I never picked it up again after I quit, so I still do the lingerie bags and air dry routine.
ironed_orchid: watercolour and pen style sketch of a brown tabby cat curl up with her head looking up at the viewer and her front paw stretched out on the left (Default)

[personal profile] ironed_orchid 2015-06-15 06:10 pm (UTC)(link)
When I had smaller boobs and fancier bras I would do the washing in the shower trick.

Now I do the washing machine and line dry thing, and my bras seem to last okay.