BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please

Subject: lingerie critique thread
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Jan 17 - 04:20 PM

The truly intrepid among you may proceed directly to the following link; for the rest of us, some remarks follow the link.

The Beast/Best Of All Sports Bras   

Last year at this time, the BS section of the Mudcat Café had a "Women Only" thread. You can still find it, the thread has not been deleted. The most useful information on that thread concerns the OP and the questions in that post: laundering and general care of women's lingerie.

That earlier thread was longer than necessary because of two kinds of defensive behavior.

One kind was the defensiveness of those readers/posters that the thread topic made them aware of something personally sensitive, and they responded with posts that declared that they had an itch to scratch, and proceeded to scratch said itch verbally in their posts.

The other kind was the defensiveness of those readers/posters that the thread topic made them aware of something personally sensitive, and they responded with posts that concealed the pain -- no, that's not too strong a word -- with defensiveness to the point of rage and disgust.

See what you all have in common? Two extremes of sensitivity. And if you have doubt as to how such defensiveness is conveyed verbally, just search for the inactive "Women Only" thread and read the posts yourselves.   

Whether or not you want last year's history to repeat itself this year, on this thread, is your call.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 02 Jan 17 - 05:22 PM

With respect.

My experience of the BS section of this board is that you can't dictate how threads go. Almost every thread I've ever started has been hijacked, and I cheerfully accept that my ownership of a thread, if ownership ever existed at all, is forfeited the second I hit the submit button. If you want a respectful discussion of bras, I'm up for that and I won't come near the thread. But you simply can't dictate, and if you get blokes, or other women, making light, then that's life.

Perhaps there are other places on the web where sympathetic and constructive discussions of sports bras would stand a better chance. I'm sure there are valuable sources of information out there as there are for lots of other sensitive issues. Personally, I won't be searching for them.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 Jan 17 - 08:31 PM

And so to the garments themselves.

In a specialized category is the piece of lingerie that is structured to support the bosom, AND fastens in the front. Not many sports bras do so. Some sports bras are pull-over, like tubes with shoulder straps. Many sports bras fasten in the back, as Mudcat members observed in last year's "Women Only" thread.

The sports-bra that has been lovingly termed "The Beast," which earned the top reviews in the link in the OP, fastens in the front. There are numerous hook-and-eye fasteners in the front closure. So as to minimize movement or instability, the garment is a very tight fit. More than one review has observed that the surest way for a woman to don this sports bra herself, is to get the shoulder straps over her arms and shoulders, and then to lie down on her back, fastening the front hooks, one at a time, from the bottom (ribcage) up to the top (collarbone).

Did you know, by the way, that in the original French, "brassière" has a different meaning? it is more like a "singlet" or something. So, what do the French call the garment that is structured to support a woman's breasts?
I was taught that it is called a "soutien-gorge."
Which crudely translates, "sustaining the throat." Euphemistic much?!

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Thompson
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 03:19 AM

"Throat" was a Victorian euphemism for breasts in English too. If you read housekeeping guides of the era you'll find recommendations that if girls' breasts aren't growing (all expressed in mysterious terms), the solution is daily massage of "the throat" or "the neck". They meant massage of the breasts to stimulate the hormones and make them grow.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Thompson
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 03:23 AM

Incidentally, a) the word brassiere means an arm guard, so it's not only the French who are euphemistic, and b) in the same way that 'bra' is increasingly used in English rather than 'brassiere', in French 'soutif' is generally used in conversation rather than 'soutien-gorge'.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Will Fly
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 03:49 AM

The last time I had a drink in a brassiere was at La Coupole in the Boulevard de Montparnasse in Paris. Very nice atmosphere, and certainly stimulated the hormones. Highly recommended.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 04:04 AM

It's interesting that women's breasts are getting larger. Just after the War, most women were a 34B. I knew no-one with a bra size larger than that. I believe that at present the average size is 36D. And in shops such as M&S, one can now get K cup bras, which would have been unimaginable then.
I wonder if this is due to general overeating and obesity, hormone changes due to the Pill, a more fatty diet, earlier onset of puberty or a combination of all those?
Average waist size has gone up too. We all had waists of about 22" -24", but now it's 28" -30".
I don't do any sport, but I would love to find a front-fastening bra in my size, as my arms are a bit stiff and it would make life easier. Sports bras are rather too cumbersome and robust for everyday wear.

Regarding this (or any other thread) I don't see why people can't discuss clothing, male or female, and relevant problems. It's an interesting subject and we all wear clothes (well, I'm assuming we do!) I know Steve has in the past said he hates being 'trussed up' in tight clothes, and his main aim is to be comfortably-dressed, which I totally relate to. Underwear is just as much part of our everyday lives as outerwear.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Thompson
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 04:14 AM

So true, Senoufou - and if you look at photos of us all in the 1960s, and of 1960s crowds, for instance at festivals such as Woodstock, everyone looks positively scrawny compared to the modern rounded look. We're experiencing the reverse of what the skinny Jazz Age folks experienced compared to their Edwardian mothers and fathers, who looked years older with their rounded faces and figures - even including the people of World War I, who looked so solid and moustachioed (the men, anyway) and sofa-busted (mostly the women).

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 04:35 AM

I agree Thompson, we all looked so different back then. I have photos of myself and friends in the late fifties and we were absolutely sylph-like. We were well-fed in my view, on plain, simple food, plenty of vegetables and fruit, wholesome stuff with no snacking or take-aways. Sweets were still rationed during my childhood. And of course we didn't sit down much (no TV or the Internet)!
I didn't like gym at school (I'm not in the least sporty) but no girl possessed anything resembling a sports bra. I actually wore a 'liberty bodice' as a child (!)
I must say, I think the young lassies of today look lovely in their special sports clothes doing their gym, exercise machines, yoga etc. Lycra has helped to provide supportive yet stretchy garments. Very pretty and practical.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Will Fly
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 04:48 AM

The British Film Institute has a whole range of films for viewing on their BFI Player website at:

http://player.bfi.org.uk/

I was watching a short film made about 1901 in Morecambe, with the camera travelling along the promenade on a Sunday or perhaps a public holiday. Crowds and crowds of people - and hardly anyone who you would call fat, or even slightly overweight. I think a walk on that same stretch of promenade today would present a quiet different picture.

I recall the post-war (1940 and 1950s) period as well, Eliza, and agree with you. I also had a sylph-like figure in those days - 9 stone wet through and dreadfully skinny until my early 30s! Time took its toll on that skinyness for some years until I made a conscious effort to lose weight some time ago and got to a respectable (for my height) 11.5 stone.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Thompson
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 04:53 AM

I'm convinced that changing the norm of transport from car to cycling would have an unprecedented effect on obesity (and health, and carbon footprint). If all journeys under 4km (a slow 20-minute bike ride) were made by bicycle rather than by car, there would really be very little obesity, and rates of hypertension, heart disease, diabetes and strokes would be cut.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 06:24 AM

There are at least two old ladies in our village (in their eighties) who go everywhere on their bikes, and have done all their lives. They're both as fit as fleas. Among the country folk in Norfolk there are very few who are obese. We sometimes visit a Morrison's supermarket out at Fakenham, (in the sticks) and it's quite noticeable that most of the customers are slim and fit-looking whatever their age. And I bet very few go to a gym or wear sports clothing particularly!
We also visit an Asda on the outskirts of Norwich, in quite a deprived area, and my Lord, we can't believe the sights to be seen there. Enormously fat people of both sexes and all ages. I should think diabetes is rife, not to mention heart problems etc. (I'm definitely not slim, but not obese either) It really is an epidemic.
But gyms are expensive. My husband used to go to one and was fantastic on all the machines & weights etc. But it became too costly for him to continue.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Thompson
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 06:33 AM

Does Britain have any equivalent of Dublin's
Passport for Leisure, through which if you're old and creaky (over 55) you get deep discounts on all council-run swimming pools, sports halls, gyms, etc?

I'm also convinced - well, not convinced, but I has me suspicions, like - that the enormous numbers of young people who are now gay are not just a result of it now being acceptable to be gay, but at least partly because of the massive use of hormones in agriculture (and maybe also partly because of the equally huge use of antibiotics on farm animals). It has to have an effect on the people who eat all this meat. And we eat much more meat than previous generations.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 07:22 AM

Will Fly: The last time I had a drink in a brassiere was at La Coupole in the Boulevard de Montparnasse in Paris.

Surprised it didn't leak!

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Will Fly
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 07:36 AM

Ah well, I was drinking from large cups...

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 09:26 AM

Hahahaha! Gives a whole new meaning to, "He was in his cups..." !!

I've also wondered about that Thompson. Without wanting to sound dismissive or disrespectful of transgender people, there seems to be a huge increase in this type of situation. There must be a reason for it, and maybe hormones in our environment are having the effect of confusing the body's sexual orientation.

(Please don't anyone think I have a problem with gay, transexual or transvestite etc folk. I certainly don't, and maintain that each individual has the absolute right to be as they wish.)

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 09:48 AM

There's no science I know of to support that view. More likely, as times become more enlightened in some regards, people are becoming less coy about coming out for who they really are to the world. Good thing too.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 12:33 PM

Apropos of wearing loose clothing (well remembered, Senoufou!), it always amuses me to see these recreational cyclists round here, on our rough, twisty, hilly roads, on their jarring, super-light bikes with ultra-thin tyres, wearing skin-tight Lycra even in hot sunshine and shoes that you can't walk in when you finally manage to unhitch yourself from the pedals. For years I cycled to work and back, 22 miles a day, wearing trainers that slid nicely into my pedal cages with their adjustable straps, baggy cycling shorts in summer and jogging bottoms in winter (I'll concede that I wore thermal tights in extreme cold - down, girls!) and a fleecy top if needed. For longer rides something with a chamois-padded gusset was de rigeur. I hate tight anything about my person and would always rather be slightly cold than too hot. It's the honest truth when I tell you that not ONCE was I ever overtaken by a Lycra-alien! I always used 32mm touring tyres with good treads and I swore by my Brooks leather saddle. To a man or woman, I never see a single one of those Lycra dudes who ever looks anything other than thoroughly miserable. I really used to enjoy my bike-riding!

In a lot of sports you don't want your bodybits bouncing up and down, as this vertical activity is a waste of the energy needed for forward motion. Sprung saddles and shock absorbers on bikes are similarly a no-no if you want road speed. Bouncy boobs and dangly family jewels are similar liabilities, not to speak of uncomfortable. Such appurtenances may need some constraining, though most female athletes don't seem to have especially big breasts (so I'm told - naturally, I'm far too polite to look). There'll be lots of good technical advice out there, though I'm told that getting a correctly-fitting bra can be fraught, sports version or not.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 01:07 PM

The previous post brings us full circle.
The personal weblog to which the OP provides a link is the work of a published author and humorist, whose conventional measurements, she says, are thirty-eight triple D. Her weblog is named after one of her published books: People I Want To Punch In The Throat. You can guess that she gets straight to the point, unlike me, in her writing.
The weblog post, the specific post in the OP link, describes her testing of some very expensive sports-bra products. The author had access to these products as the result of an earlier post on her weblog.

In the earlier post -- "Open Letter to Bra Manufacturers" -- she described how she had acquired sports bras in a moderate price range that were readily available, and tried them out. The brands, which she names, were Just My Size, Danskin, and Jockey. The results were seriously FAIL. She also cusses out Maidenform and Victoria's Secret.
Here's the post.
Open Letter to Bra Manufacturers

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: keberoxu
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 01:32 PM

To continue:
The weblog post, linked to in the previous post on this thread, went, as they say, viral. It was reproduced elsewhere. And manufacturers of the more expensive lines of sports bra products contacted the weblog author, and she ended up with free samples of sports bras to try out, as she states (see OP link).

Let's get one of those products out of the way in this post.
Intelliskin has a sports bra product, but women's undergarments are not their specialty -- they specialize in sports. Their products are hideously expensive, and for all I can see, unique. Link to photos of their products modeled for their webpages, and it is like looking at television show, films, or book cover art for Science Fiction shortly after World War II, they look that...alien.

Briefly, the Intelliskin inventor's concept emerged from the sports-medicine practice of taping, so the invented undergarments are intended to stabilize, as taping stabilizes. I've never seen these products in the flesh, never mind in retail; and they look, as I hinted, more like COSTUMES than anything else.

Be that as it may, in her sports bra critique, the weblog author was happy with the product -- a lucky good-fit experience.

the women's department, Intelliskin

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 02:00 PM

When we're driving about on winding, sometimes narrow Norfolk roads, we're terribly worried about those kind of cyclists Steve. They look so fragile and vulnerable. In fact we came across a small(ish) accident near Mattishall where a lady in Lycra had caught her front wheel on her husband's pedal and crashed to the road. She was crying loudly in pain. We stopped and I could see she'd dislocated her shoulder and had a nasty wound on her brow. My husband wanted to call an ambulance, but they didn't want one, so we gently eased the lady into the front seat of our car, with my cardigan made into a sling, and left her husband to cycle along wheeling his wife's bike. He was a grumpy sod and didn't seem too worried about his poor wife. I got the lady into her house and dressed her wound, but she obviously needed medical attention for the shoulder. Husband arrived, so we left them to it. Cycling is a dangerous business, and wearing flimsy Lycra stuff seems, as you say, inadequate. Motor-bike leathers would be safer!

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 02:27 PM

The best sports bra I have ever found, bar none, is made by the American company Wacoal. Unlike most bra manufacturers, Wacoal actually offers more than one or two styles that combine cup sizes above D with band sizes below 36.

The underwire put me off at first, but it works -- much to my surprise. You see, it's on the *outside* of the bra, where it can do its job without scraping one's ribs.

As for Lycra, I can attest to its benefits in the gym, but I would not ride a bike in it. I like Lululemon yoga leggings, which stand up well to frequent washing and don't flap or get snagged on things. I hate tight, show-offy workout shirts, so I'm wearing 10-year-old Underarmour while awaiting the death of the current fad for backless singlets.

My brother cycles from one side of Ottawa to other every working day as long as his route is free of ice, and he prefers an outfit much like what Steve Shaw describes, plus a high-viz jacket and helmet. I don't cycle, myself, being blind in one eye and not too clever in the other; it's not that I can't, but that I would prefer not to take the risk. The Brother has had a few bad spills over the years, and he is an expert cyclist with good peripheral vision and 50 years of experience; I just don't like my chances.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 02:46 PM

My old friend Adam, rest his soul, a Glaswegian from before the age of political correctness always used to comment that sports don't wear bras.

:D tG

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 02:55 PM

Years and years ago, when I looked almost human, I joined a creative dance class (just ladies) and actually wore a very nice lilac-and-silver striped Lycra leotard over some thick pale blue tights, and had woolly legwarmers over my knees, plus quite attractive pastel-coloured trainers. The leotard was skin-tight and seemed to do the job of a sports bra. I also used to do Scottish dancing, but by then my bust had increased and it was a bit of a wobbly job, bobbing about in an eightsome reel. I nearly hit myself in the eye several times.
I'm only 34" bust, but with size F cup, and this is the problem. You can get larger band sizes, but size 34" bras usually stop at a D cup.
Front-fastening would be such a help. My husband is always kind and helps me, but it's a bit undignified. He says it's like saddling a horse, the cheeky thing.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Senoufou
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 03:08 PM

Charmion, I've just had a look at your Wacoal link, and the sports bras are really lovely. But in size 34" there doesn't seem to be an F cup, only D, DD and DDD. Are these equivalent to an F or different?

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Charmion
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 06:05 PM

Americans are weird, Eliza; for some odd reason, they don't have E or F. US bra sizes go D, DD, DDD, G, H. I wear a G so I'm not absolutely sure the DDD is equivalent to a UK F, but logic suggests that it should be.

I once had a Freya bra size 34FF. I have no da what the Yanks would call that.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 06:33 PM

Well, Senoufou, you may have hit yerself in the eye but I'm sure you've never polished yer shoes as you walked along...

As we seem to be allowed the odd moment of levity, whilst hopefully maintaining respect, I hope no-one will mind if I briefly go back to this keberoxu remark:

"I've never seen these products in the flesh..."

Do your own rephrasing in the converse...

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: frogprince
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 08:30 PM

I couldn't resist following this, and I must say I found it rather uplifting. : )

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Jan 17 - 08:56 PM

Bra sizes are amazing in how far up the alphabet they go these days, at least in the U.S.

Victoria's Secret makes very good undergarments, but I am absolutely sold on a brand I recently found in the outlet store of a very good department store here in the U.S. The brand is Chantelle, and the "Spacer" design with the front fastening is the best fitting bra I've had in years. That's me modeling it. . .

I also came across the Wacol brands in my search for comfortable bras, so it's good to have confirmation of that. If I visit the outlet store every couple of months and keep a list of acceptable brands in mind, I'm bound to find something that fits and is also deeply discounted (I got this $78 bra for about $15).

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Thompson
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 03:03 AM

Senoufou, I have a friend who's 32G - a very narrow back and large breasts. I *think* she gets her bras in M&S. Debenham's and Littlewoods seem to advertise 32FF bras online, anyway.
Don't know about sportswomen having small breasts. This used to be so, but perhaps not so much any more - the Williams sisters, tennis geniuses, for instance, see pretty sturdily built; perhaps it depends on the sport. Isn't the standard wisdom on sports that endurance - marathons and the like - need a spare, skinny build, but short sprinty sports need a stockier set of muscles and a bit of padding?
As for Lycra (which I think Americans call Spandex?) and cycling, I've cycled most of my life in linen and wool, but in this icy winter I've moved to Lycra cycling tights under a warmer tracksuit bottom, and a Lycra short-sleeved shirt under a merino wool base layer and top layer (all from Lidl, whose cycling wear is ace; next time they have a cycling sale I'll be picking up some of those padded shoe covers that keep your toes warm on long cycles).

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 03:16 AM

Front-fastening would be such a help. My husband is always kind and helps me, but it's a bit undignified. He says it's like saddling a horse, the cheeky thing.
I thought the trick was to use a back-fastening bra, fasten it at the front, slide the fastening around to the back & then get the 'fleshy bits' inserted & the shoulder loops on.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Will Fly
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 03:33 AM

I'm useless at fastening bras, back or front, but in my younger days - well, even into my middle years - was an expert at unfastening them with one hand.

Then along came front fasteners...

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Senoufou
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 03:44 AM

How very odd Charmion that the American sizing system avoids E and F! Here, there is a size DD which is for breasts that are rather long in shape.
I have to have the band very tight to prevent it from riding up. So if, as Nigel suggests, I did my bra up at the front then slid it around, it would hurt my poorly arms even more. (I have had a go at this method but found it a bit too painful) While my husband was in Africa last August for several weeks, I had to go bra-less, and as Steve says, they were practically polishing my shoes, hee hee.
Thompson, I have assiduously tried on quite a few M&S bras, but strangely none of them felt comfortable. I had to get the bra lady to do them up for me, as they weren't too happy about letting my husband into the fitting area to do his usual job. What they didn't know was that African men have very little interest in ladies' breasts as they see them hanging around all the time on a daily basis. Most of his family wisely go topless in the huge communal courtyard when the temperature reaches 40 degrees, and mums breastfeed 'on demand' which I find completely sensible and normal. Now ladies' legs and bottoms, which are always completely covered over there, seem to be of enormous interest...

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Thompson
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 04:03 AM

M&S bras also have RFID chips in them, as I understand, so you set off alarms going through airport scanners, and anyone with a reader can discover where you bought your underwear. For some reason, I don't like this.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 02:12 PM

For the most part female athletes need labels saying front and back, as they seem to be totally flat chested!!!

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 02:30 PM

..and you hoped for a respectful thread. Nice to see Bernard Manning is alive, well and living on Mudcat.

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: JHW
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 02:50 PM

'for all needing support & comfort' ?

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 02:52 PM

A fitting remark.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: keberoxu
Date: 04 Jan 17 - 02:59 PM

The OP in this thread linked to a personal weblog; the article there was a writer sharing her own personal experiences. Many posts in this thread do likewise, with people sharing their own opinions based on first-hand experiences with the garment in question.

The most useful response to a certain post before this one, I think, would be exactly such first-hand accounts of women who engage in high-impact activities and -- as one or more women inimitably put it -- "cannot leave your boobs at home." So here goes.

Bras I Hate and Love

3 Undergarments You Need To Know About

Sports Bras for Equestrians

yet another product

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 05 Jan 17 - 04:12 AM

Despite the opening message of this thread, the discussion Women Only Please has not been closed.

This link is included for those who wish to review it.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: keberoxu
Date: 05 Jan 17 - 06:29 PM

"Inactive" is what the OP says.
Good idea linking to that older thread, thanks for providing the link.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Helen
Date: 05 Jan 17 - 07:03 PM

keberoxu, you are a brave woman, and an optimist. Good luck with maintaining a peaceful and respectful discussion thread.

Recently I watched and Australian tv science show called Catalyst with a segment about a newly developed bionic sports bra

The transcript of the segment is on that page.

I avoid exercise so I have no need for any such item of clothing, but those science people are very clever. I doubt whether the bras are available to buy yet.

Helen

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 06 Jan 17 - 07:54 AM

"Inactive" is what the OP says.
Good idea linking to that older thread, thanks for providing the link.
My apologies, I read the lines You can still find it, the thread has not been deleted and search for the inactive "Women Only" thread and read the posts yourselves. as suggesting that it was available in a 'read only' format, i.e. closed.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Jan 17 - 09:33 AM

So that thread hasn't gone tits up after all.

Sorry, I tried very hard not to do that. I promise that I'm off to confession right now for the first time in 50 years. Where's that church. Mea culpa (he said, as he beat his, er, breast...)

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Senoufou
Date: 06 Jan 17 - 10:21 AM

Steve, you're obviously NOT the Messiah, but a Very Naughty Boy. Ten Hail Mary's for you, and a smacked bottom. Go in peace and sin no more...

Must be fate, but this morning a very nice catalogue arrived through the door called JD Williams. It's for Large Ladies, and shows all kinds of clothes, not just underwear. But their bras-and-pants sets are really gorgeous and come in sizes up to K cup. Their clothes go up to size 30. (I'm a size 18-20 in clothes usually) Later today I might have a closer look a their bras, as they're really very pretty, if a bit expensive.

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: olddude
Date: 06 Jan 17 - 07:39 PM

Will,
I once dated a girl that you could swim in the thing

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 06 Jan 17 - 07:57 PM

Bit harsh that, Senoufou (I'll take the smackie botty any time though...). Generally speaking I only ever got three Hail Marys for impure thoughts, though once the priest hesitated following my description of the aforementioned misdeed then asked me if I was married. I was eleven... The worst I ever got was five Our Fathers, five Hail Marys and five Glory Bes. That was after I'd told him I'd taken communion whilst in mortal sin. I'd kicked my football against this old bloke's garden fence, broken one of the pales and run off dead quick like. That was the mortal sin. Then gone to communion next morning. I'm still quaking in me boots in case I'd accidentally left out a Glory Be... He's not really a vengeful God, is he? 😳

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Senoufou
Date: 07 Jan 17 - 04:10 AM

I've never been to Confession Steve, being CofE. But we did once have a very High Church vicar when I was young. I was confirmed at ten years old and this vicar prepared us for the administrations of the Bishop. He asked us to write all our sins down on a piece of paper and he would scrutinise them and absolve us. My father (a Calvinistic Scot) was practically incandescent, and hurtled round to the vicar's house dragging me along behind. The chap insisted on being called 'Father' but my dad roared at him that HE was my bloody father! And what possible bloody 'sins' could a wee lass of ten have committed? I was excused the sin bit, and confirmed in all my wickedness!

Sorry about this thread drift. (More Hail Mary's coming my way.)

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Jan 17 - 04:48 AM

I go to confession about once a year, just to keep in practice. I usually confess the sin of getting impatient with Mudcatters, and occasional unkindness to Steve Shaw. It makes me feel better to get that off my chest. My usual penance is to Be Nice To Steve Shaw, which is a difficult penance, indeed. I admit it's not my favorite sacrament....

But about sports bras. I think that for the most part, they're sufficiently decent to be worn in public without embarrassing anybody, and they look good in their various bright colors. I'd wonder about chafing and whether sweat makes them uncomfortable. I have the same concern about undershorts for hiking, although I invariably wear those under something else. Haven't found the perfect undershorts. I bought some at $30 a copy for my Alpine hiking last summer, and they didn't fit the bill. They pilled up, and then the fabric stuck to itself.

We do need something to control the floppy parts during exercise. Otherwise, it gets painful.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: sports bra critique. Respectful please
From: Senoufou
Date: 07 Jan 17 - 06:08 AM

I too think they look good Joe, lovely bright colours and perfectly decent in public. But I have always preferred natural fibres in underclothing, and all mine are cotton. Lycra (Spandex) does 'give' and is great for sporty activities though.

I don't find you either impatient or unkind Joe on Mudcat. But perhaps you're a Secret Grumbler! :)