bras for smaller sizes

[woodlandmanor]

I am a 34j and have had a masectomy, I have had fantastic help and support from Beverley the owner of Beautiful Bosoms - you will find them on the internet and they are based in kent. Bev adapts bras, fits - knows everything you need to know about bras post surgical, and long term don't hesitate to call her. She specialises in the harder to fit lady but also all of us who need a comfortable bra and an adapted one later on. She really won't try and sell you anything you don't need and stocks very reasonable bras.

[Guest user]

Breast cancer care informed me about the VAT issue on bras. I was told that each time we buy a bra we should be fitted anyway and the fitter would then know about you having mx. Alternatively it was suggested that your breast care nurse could write a few lines to verify we have had the op and then taking that with you to the fitting. JOhn Lewis are fully up to speed on the VAT issue. Happy shopping everyone!! Annys xx

[Guest user]

lol, thanks Nymeria - I saw your post, and that's a good idea. Looking online, M&S seem to have a reasonable selection of mx bras, and the reviews on some are good - it'll be interesting to see how many they actually stock in store (if any!). I know the fitters there are good - I dragged my eldest daughter along when the appropriate time came. There's also a Just Jane's in Salisbury, and they are prob. the best bra fitters around here, but I think they are quite pricey. Something for me to consider in a few weeks/couple of months time, maybe. Ooh, just in time for christmas, lol.

[Lucy_BCC]

Hi nymeria

You can edit your own posts if you wish to change any details

Best wishes
Lucy

[nymeria]

Oops, replied to the wrong person there!

[nymeria]

Annys, ask an assistant in M&S before you go to pay to find out what their procedure is - their order desk maybe able to help with this. Alternatively you could ask to talk to one of their fitters who should also be able to tell you what their procedure is.

With VAT going up soon every penny we can save is important!

[swallowtail]

I have ordered from Amoena and they sent me a form to fill in and I dont pay vat now , but dont fancy standing in a queue and telling the sales assistant so I will stick to online for bras I think,
Celia.x

[Guest user]

annys - how do we avoid paying it? I suppose when ordering online we can just email the vendor - but can you stand in M&S and tell the sales assistant that we don't pay VAT? Lmao - I'm picturing christmas queues and me, Mrs newly one boob, holding up all of Salisbury...

[Guest user]

I recently found out that women who have had mastectomies don't have to pay VAT on their bras. I paid a fortune after my mx but didn't know at the time. Every penny counts so next time I'll be mentioning it. Annys xx

[nymeria]

Well the new google search didn't turn up much suitable for immediately post-op but Chantilly Rose get a big thumbs up from me because after I looked through all the lovely things on their website and couldn't find anything in my size, I emailed them.

This evening I got a lovely long email back with lots of very good and honest advice. They said that I would unfortunately find it very difficult to buy suitable bras in my size but they did suggest one style that came in S,M,L that would at least be okay to begin with. I think as long as I have something to come home from hospital in I can cope with trying to find other ones later on.

http://www.chantillyrose.co.uk/

[nymeria]

thanks Sarah I didn't think of that, I'll try it and see what comes up.

[CheshireCheese]

Hi nymeria
Sorry I should have said - if you use the Google advanced search and then put 30D mastectomy bra in the "find web pages that have all these words" box, then you will get a better result.
Sarah x

[nymeria]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I googled '30D mastectomy bra' and was really annoyed at how many sites came up and yet when I looked them it turned out that yes, they sell 30D bras but no, they aren't mastectomy ones. Even the specialist shops don't seem to stock below a 32. Arrrrgh!

I may very well have to do as fairyem suggested and take the wiring out of some of my current ones. I might also see how easy it would be to make my own pockets too. If I get really desperate I know that Royce offers a custom service and that might be an option for special occasion bras.

I suspected that I might find it hard to track anything down because 30D bras are hard to come by anyway. I'll keep looking and if I come up with anything I'll post some links here.

I have always wished for slightly bigger boobs - now I know why! 🙂

[libby_2010]

Whoops my edited post came as a 2nd one. Sorry Nymeria can't find the thread/post with the ladies name on it and as you may know the search facility on here is not very good. I know it was a women's name perhaps 2 names and I had not put it in my saved discussions.Jackie

[libby_2010]

Hi Nymeria Love the clematis btw.Have you tried Bravissimo? They have larger cup sizes D and above and as small as 28 back, and this year started doing a few non wired styles. I had a WLE but struggled to find a bra without wires as small back and a larger cup size, until I ordered a sports bra( Freya brand) and another style. They do mail order and have helpful ladies on the phone lines and have shops around the country too. Wishing you luck with the bra hunt and with the op.Whoops sorry forgot to say they are not cheap around the £25 mark.These are not pocketed stles but I do remember there being a posting on here some while back from one of the BCC nurses about a lady who has a lingerie business that can poocket almost any style and sell them too. I'll have a look to see if I can find it or perhaps one of the BCC ladies will see this and pop in with the info Love Jackie

[libby_2010]

Hi Nymeria Love the clematis btw.Have you tried Bravissimo? They have larger cup sizes D and above and as small as 28 back, and this year started doing a few non wired styles. I had a WLE but struggled to find a bra without wires as small back and a larger cup size, until I ordered a sports bra( Freya brand) and another style. They do mail order and have helpful ladies on the phone lines and have shops around the country too. Wishing you luck with the bra hunt and with the op.Whoops sorry forgot to say they are not cheap around the £25 mark.Love Jackie

[fairyem]

Hi,

Well one thing I did was to remove the wire from one cup of a bra, it worked quite well with the softie boob as I could pin it in but not with my proper prostethis.

Another thing I found was that the mastectomy bras I had were all the Lara by Amoena, a t-shirt style non wired bra around £25. When I was fitted for it the lady said they all came up a little tight so whereas before I was in a 34C/D I ended up wearing a 36B.

I do recommend getting fitted properly, I was lucky a few weeks after my op a local shop had a specialist fitting day and the shop started stocking a range too. I was just wearing cropped tops and vest tops with a support in until then.

Best of luck with your op and Bra hunt.

Em x

[CheshireCheese]

Hi nymeria
Have you tried the obvious thing and Googled 30D bras - I just did and it came up with quite a few places you could try.
Sarah x

[nymeria]

Hi everyone,

Is anyone here a 30D? I will be having my mx early next month and I am finding it very hard to find post surgery bras in my size. Just about everyone seems to start at 32, so if anyone has any recs I'd be very grateful for them as I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever find something suitable! I've had a look through what I've already got at home and most of them are underwired or otherwise unsuitable, so I'm not sure where to start looking.

It's just as well I have two weeks to find something!

Cheers,

Nymeria