Going bra-less and drooping - myth or fact?

I rarely wear a bra. A few months ago, I stopped wearing a bra regularly. At first, I only wore one at work (I'm in the military - no flames please! - and it's a mandatory part of the uniform). Last week I forgot to bring it with me to the gym and I really didn't feel like wearing a sweaty sports bra all day. So I went without. I haven't worn one to work since. I still wear one to the gym because it's REALLY obvious if I don't in my PT uniform and somebody would say something to me (odd as it sounds). I mentioned to a friend of mine yesterday that I never bother wearing one because I don't have much to support and I just didn't see the point. She said that over time if you don't support your boobs with a bra, they'll droop more. Mine are already slightly droopy from having a baby and they started drooping long before I stopped wearing a bra.

This just seems like an old wives' tale to me - is there any truth in it? If not, why have bras become this mandatory piece of clothing? It's like if you don't wear one, you're either a slut or a hippie (and people that say that don't mean hippie in a good way). I don't get it!

 

i'm pretty sure that's a myth. i used to hear it all the time, too.
the reason i wear one is because my boobs are pretty big and if i don't wear one, they start to hurt from jiggling around all day. the bra actually makes me more comfortable!

 

I think whether you sag or not has a lot to do with genetics. And why are bras mandatory? Because they're highly profitable for the amount of material used.

 

It's definately a myth. It tends to be propegated via all those National Geographic women with really saggy boobs. People tend to conclude it's because they don't have bras, but really, if you look at the younger girls who haven't had kids yet, their boobs are "normal." Breastfeeding will sag your boobs faster than anything (but it's a sign of a good mama!).

 

Not true. That's one thing I know for a fact. It's just an excuse given by women who don't want to breastfeed. It's pregnancy that makes your boobs sag, not breastfeeding.

 

Most women experience sagging at some point; aging, childbirth, lactation, the affects of gravity (with or without a bra) are all culprits. Breasts have no muscle, and breast tissue tends to stretch over time. So no, according to what I've read, bras do not prevent sagging...

 

A bra doesn't prevent breasts from sagging? Sure it does! Right up until the time you take it off.

 

Check out your national geographic magazine. Either African women have bad genetics or there might be something to bras...

 

well, when i'm wearing a bra regularly, when i take off the bra, i have a few days before my breasts will start to droop. i've worked out the muscles under them consistently for years to make sure. i have gigantic boobs, though. i can't imagine small breast drooping all that much, aside from the fact that all the small breasted girls i've ever known that go braless regularly are saggy. i think it's more because they haven't worked out those pectoral support muscles much, since they're not totally paranoid about their tits sagging between their knees like i am. but i never go without a bra. if i go without a bra, people stare incessantly and they hurt when they jiggle and swing all over the place. and they also get all nasty and sweaty underneath.

 

I stopped wearing bras over a year ago with short periods of times of wearing bras again and my boobs are still perky. I think if you have small boobs you're fine. My mom tried to tell me that not wearing a bra makes your boobs sag later in life and thats what scared to wearing one again. But then I just said fuck it. And I don't even think about it. And my boobs look amazing.

 

Well... I don't have breasts (unless you count manboobs ;-)), but I can still have an opinion....

I think that (generally speaking) women who do not wear a bra will develop saggier breasts than women who do. The reason? The tissue that supports the breasts develops micro cuts with each bounce. These micro cuts in the supportive tissue eventually leads to sagging. Bras reduce bounce, hence they reduce sagging.

If you don't believe this theory just watch a documentary about African tribes people. The women in these traditional societies don't wear bras and look how saggy their breasts are.

 

But if you constantly support your breasts the tendons will atrophy and won't be able to hold up the breasts, causing drooping. I've never seen microcuts mentioned in any discussion of this topic. References?

 

What you're seeing if you look at native women in documentaries and so forth is just the same as if they were the woman next door, except for skin color. You don't often see white women with bare boobs, but if you did, they'd be sagging just the same. Can't people get used to the idea that breasts don't naturally jut out into space? I don't see why so many of us have this fetish about women's breasts strapped into contraptions that hoist them up and out. They're naturally soft and they hang down. It makes them easier for babies to reach.

 

Okay...first off, this thread is awesome.

One dudes perspective here...I don't really care how saggy a woman's boobs are. They're all good.

I have no opinion on the bra vs. no bra debate because I have minimal knowledge of the damn things. Do what you like, I say.

 

^^ True, true. And as KC and minka said, a lot has to do with the muscles, ligaments, and skin surrounding the breasts. If a woman is in good shape, takes care of herself, hasn't gained-and-lost weight countless times (which can cause the breasts to grow and shrink, as with pregnancy), and she doesn't wear a bra pretty much *ever*, her body will do what it has naturally done since the dawn of Woman.

Bras have not been around that long, historically speaking. The modern brassiere was only invented in 1913. And yet, people everywhere live in disbelief that any woman could or has ever lived happily or been found attractive without them.

 

i have large breasts and havnt worn a bra for about two years. i dont know if it will make them sag more and i really dont care at all. they look wonderful and quite perky now, but if they were saggy, i would still think they were lovely because thats just the way nature inteded them to look.

 

I only wear a bra because it keeps me breasts from jiggling around when I'm out and about or if I'm wearing a top that would otherwise expose my nipples in an environment where such exposure would just cause a lot of hassle. I don't believe that they keep your breasts from sagging; childbearing, age, genetics, body size and shape, etc., have considerably more to do with it than a couple bits of fabric and underwire.

http://www.007b.com/breast_gallery.php Is a site that helped me to overcome my own fears of having "bad boobs" after emerging from puberty. It helped me to realize that real breasts don't neccessarily look like the images I'd been shown on TV, in magazines and in the general media while I was growing up (though I still have a lot of "growing" to do!). Of course, having a beautiful, supportive au-natural-mama also taught me a lot!

 

It isn't true, as other have already pointed out, breasts are not muscle, and will not resond to resistance (a bra) as muscle would.

Although there are many factors brought up here by KC and hummble said which are true.

Also consider when your looking at places where women are bare chested, those are often parts of the world where women are prone to have many many more children.

 

OH MY GOD THANK YOU!!!

That's exactly what I had wanted to say but couldn't put into words. You're my new hero.