I'm 52. I Quit Underwire Bras in March — and My Red Grooves Are Gone
It's 10PM and it's still on. The wireless pull-on bra with no wires, no hooks, nothing to dig in.
It's 6:40 on a Tuesday and Diane Kessler is standing in her bathroom with the door shut, already reaching behind her back.
The last piano student has been gone four minutes. Her coat is still on the hook by the door. The bra comes off first. It always does.
Under her breasts there are two pink grooves. On top of both shoulders, two soft dents. She's 52 and she has believed for years that this is what a chest costs you. Then a fitter in a small shop asked to see her back, and said the grooves had nothing to do with her size. They had everything to do with two inches of elastic she'd never once looked at.
Here's the fact that reframes the whole thing. Your bra band does most of the lifting, not the cups and not the straps. So the band edge is where all that weight lands. On almost every underwire bra you have ever owned, that edge is a narrow strip of elastic with a row of metal hooks in the middle of your back. Narrow strip, all the load. The skin gives before the elastic does.
In the next few minutes you'll see exactly why those two lines show up, and why one change to the back of a bra stops them. It has nothing to do with your bust, your weight, or your age.
The Bra Comes Off Before the Coat Does
Diane teaches piano out of her front room. By the last lesson she isn't counting the minutes until the student leaves. She's counting the minutes until she can reach back.
Keys down. Back door shut. Reach, unhook, exhale. Some nights she does it with her coat still on.
She has done this every day since her forties and never once thought it was strange. That's the part that stopped me. Nobody ever told her it wasn't normal.
I used to plan my whole evening around the second I could take it off.
Two Pink Grooves Still There at Bedtime
Two lines under her breasts. Two dents on her shoulders. At 10PM, brushing her teeth, they were still there.
Three years of that. Then five. She stopped wearing the thin linen shirt because you could see where the straps had cut in. She stopped standing in the front row of family photos.
One August her daughter asked what happened to her back.
Diane blamed her bust. She blamed her age. She'd been carrying the blame for something a seam was doing.
What another year in a wire costs you
- Grooves that still show at bedtime
- Shirts left hanging, never worn
- Reaching back 20 times a day
- Standing at the back of every photo
- One more $60 bra that digs
My daughter asked what happened to my back. I said nothing. I knew exactly what it was.
Your Back Holds the Whole Bra on 2 Inches
This is the part almost nobody explains at the fitting mirror. On a standard underwire bra, the weight lands on a narrow band edge and a row of metal hooks. Narrow means pressure. Pressure means a groove. Your back is holding up the whole bra on two inches. Then the wire pushes the rest of it into your ribs. The thin straps carve the last two lines into your shoulders. Widen the back and there is no edge left to cut. The same pull spreads across your whole back. By 10PM there is nothing digging and nothing to rub.
It's not a fit problem. It's a pressure problem, and every wire bra has it.
You Pull It On, Then Forget It's There
The bra is the ShapeChic Original. You pull it on over your head. There is nothing to unhook, because there is nothing to hook.
The back is one wide smooth piece, side to side. The straps are wide and cushioned, so they sit on your shoulders instead of cutting into them. No wire anywhere in it.
You put it on at 7AM and stop thinking about it.
Sizes S to 4XL, seven colors. Use the Original Bra size guide; order the size shown without adding another size.
Nothing To Unhook
You pull it on over your head at 7AM and go.
Wide Cushioned Straps
Your shoulders are smooth and clear when you get into bed.
Sizes S To 4XL
Seven colors. Use the Original Bra size guide; order the size shown without adding another size.
Still On At 10PM
You forget to take it off. That is the whole point.
I got into bed with it still on. That had never happened once.
4 Weeks Later: She Stopped Reaching Back
I asked women who switched what changed first. Almost none of them said the word comfort.
They said they stopped reaching back.
Roberta Nye, 61, wore a 38DD wire for 22 years. Four weeks in she says the two lines under her bust are gone and she has stopped looking for them. Her skin is smooth when she gets into bed.
Sharon K. bought one, then ordered the set eleven days later, one for herself and one for her sister.
Nobody mentioned the lace. They all mentioned their shoulders.
What they noticed in week one
- Stopped reaching back to adjust
- No lines under the bust
- Shoulders clear at bedtime
- Wore the thin linen shirt again
- Kept it on past 10PM
I keep lifting my shirt in the mirror to check. There's nothing there.
10PM, Before and After She Quit the Wire
Before
- Pink grooves under both breasts
- Unhooking it in the parking lot
- Dents on top of both shoulders
- Reaching back 20 times daily
- Linen shirt left on the hanger
After
- Still on at 10PM
- Skin smooth at bedtime
- Pulls on over her head
- No reaching back all day
- Linen shirt back in rotation
It's 9:50 and You Haven't Reached Back Once
It's Thursday night. You're at the sink rinsing two mugs, and the thought of taking it off hasn't crossed your mind yet. You get to bed, lift your shirt in front of the mirror out of habit, and the skin under your breasts is flat and clear. Both shoulders too. You're the woman who stopped counting down to 6PM.
What People Are Saying
“Third day in and I stopped checking the clock. 38C, took the L like it said.”
“I put off ordering for two months. Every wireless thing I'd tried before went flat by lunch and the band ended up riding up my ribs. Not this one. I'm 63, 40DD, ordered the 2XL because it says to size up and that was right. What surprised me was my shoulders. I've had two soft dents up there since my forties and after three weeks they're just not there.”
“Fit is good and I've worn it every day for a month. Four stars because the pattern shows a little through my thinner white tees. I don't love that, so it lives under sweaters and button-downs for me. In a wire I couldn't get through dinner without unhooking. Now I forget. Still wish I'd picked a darker one instead of two the same.”
“Ordered the wrong size, my own fault, emailed Sunday night and had an answer Monday morning with nobody arguing. Sent it back and the bigger one came that Friday. Wear it to my water class now.”
Common Questions
Everything readers have asked us so far.
I'm 57 and a 38DD. Will it hold me up with no wire?
How fast does it get here?
What size do I order?
What if it doesn't fit?
Does the lace show under a thin white t-shirt?
Reader Comments (29)
wait so there are no hooks at all? my mother in law has arthritis in both hands and she gave up on back closures two years ago. sending this to my husband
16same with my mom, she wears my dads undershirts now instead. this would fix that
9day 9. no lines under my bust when i get in the shower. i keep checking for them lol
19That checking habit takes about a month to go away. Then you stop looking altogether.
I've been burned twice by wireless bras that turned into a tube by week two. So I ordered one and left the tab open for a week before I hit buy. It's been 5 weeks. I got into bed with it on last Sunday and didn't notice until I turned the lamp off. That has never happened to me in 30 years.
26The tab-open-for-a-week thing is the most common story I heard while reporting this. Nobody trusts wireless anymore, and the band edge is why.
im a 40DDD and every wireless one i try squashes me into one shelf across the front. does this actually give any shape or no
9bought the 3 pack for my wife after she read this over my shoulder at breakfast. she took the XL and hasn't taken the gray one off since friday
15my husband did the same thing, ordered it while i was talking. best thing he's done all year
7haven't put on a wire since february. threw four of them in the trash and didn't feel bad about it. they cost me more than this whole set and left dents
19