70 - 80% Of Women Do Not Wear The Right Size Bra!
Every woman knows the difficulty involved in finding the right bra. Questions like What cup Size are you now? What style do you require? Seem to never end! Well...First and foremost it is essential that you know your correct size. A badly fitting bra can lead to back problems, muscle tension, and even headaches. If you are in your teen years, the strain caused by a badly fitting bra can lead to permanent problems with posture and even back pain. So that?s why teens should be fit by a bra expert at least twice a year or even after every noticeable growth pattern. Your first consideration should be the reason you need the bra; is it for athletics, coverage, comfort or support? There are different types and styles of bras made for specific types of bodies and physical activities. Although it would be nice, no one bra can do it all; you have different bras for different jobs.
A Sexy bra for those intimate private moments or a Sports Bra for when you want to perform arduous exercise. First Bras Training bras are for younger girls who have just started to develop breasts and are not able to fit into standard size bras. Age is not the concern, rather its getting the right fit and support for your breast size. Wireless Bras Light support or wireless bras usually have no underwire and are sometimes the preferred choice for those with smaller breasts. They are less constricting and more comfortable than full support bras. As they are wireless they offer less shaping and more freedom than other bras. You can find the padded and unpadded variety; what you choose is a matter of personal preference.
Underwire Bras Full support or underwire bras usually have an underwire or plastic boning holding them up. It doesn?t matter what breast size you are, however it is a must for those with larger cup sizes. They also are available in padded or unpadded varieties. Push Up Bras Sometimes referred to as padded bras and more famously attributed to the Wonderbra. They lift the breasts and add more shape to them with extra padding. There are some more innovative versions around that use silicone inserts or water sacks to enhance your look even further. They are known to "lift and separate" the breasts, creating a full cleavage and most importantly offer lots of support. Plus Size BrasPlus size bras have finally found a home away from the unsightly bras of yesteryear to the sleek and sexy bras of today. From sports to sexy to your everyday bra, plus size bras are know available in many styles and brands.
You can get extremely feminine lacy plus size bras, or bras finished in satin, silk, lace and cotton, under wire and strapless bras. Sports Bras Probably the least flattering and sexy in the bra family but ironically the most important one for growing teens to have. As well as offering full support, they also stop the breasts from moving during strenuous activity. The tissue in your breasts is very delicate and growing tissue especially needs to be protected during high impact exercise. Nursing Bras Your breasts start changing shape from the fourth month of pregnancy. As a result, most women find their previous bra too small. Purchase a nursing bras close to your due date or shortly after your baby arrives, because your breasts will grow larger toward the end of your pregnancy and when milk comes in. Consider buying a bra that has flaps and can be opened and refastened easily.
Since milk leakage is inevitable, it also makes sense to buy nursing pads to protect both your bra and clothes. It is always better to buy 100% cotton bras, as cotton is a breathable fabric. Synthetic fabrics trap moisture and encourage bacterial growth and soreness. Mastectomy Bras These types of bras are designed with pockets in the cup area to hold a breast prosthesis. There is a wide range of styles and colors available. The silicone breast prosthesis simulates the natural breast with regards to its shape and weight. The prosthesis's main advantage of is that it provides symmetry and balance to a persons body, who has survived from breast cancer.
Wearing the right prosthesis is primarily important to your ultimate comfort level. With a superior fitting prosthesis, and a well-made and fitted mastectomy bra, you in turn will help to balance your posture and provide fortification for your chest and breast cancer scars. Now you know the importance of the bra and the many types available, you should know firstly what size you need and how to determine that size. The following article gives you an insight into how to measure your self and the importance of a well fitted bra.
By: kalwant Rana
Monday, July 09, 2007
Monday, July 02, 2007
Half Sizes in Bras Now Available
August 11, 2003 - "Playtex has adopted the shoe industry's 1/2 size innovation for its Thank Goodness It Fits ® line, the only bra collection featuring 1/2 sizes," says Rivers.The collection features a patented sizing system innovation that offers half sizes ranging from Nearly A to Nearly C in addition to traditional cup sizes. It is the only bra collection that has twice as many cups sizes to choose from for a more perfect fit. "Seven out of 10 women wear bras that don't fit properly," says the marketing director for Playtex. "As news of the 1/2 size innovation spreads, we're going to change that long-standing industry figure. Women will now have more options for the proper size and style that will complement their figures."The LA Shoe Show is a fitting platform to announce Playtex's 1/2 size innovation as the shoe industry has long been offering consumers just such an option. "We wanted to pay a special thank you to the shoe industry for the innovation of 1/2 sizes," said Love. "Few things are harder to fit than bras and shoes, and we are proud to partner with our friends in the shoe industry."
Source: Playtex Apparel, Inc.
Source: Playtex Apparel, Inc.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
How to Buy a Bra
Step One
Calculate your bra size. Using a fabric tape measure, find the distance around your rib cage. Adding five to this number gives you your correct bra size.
Step Two
Measure around the fullest part of your chest. Subtract your first number (ribs) from this new number. The difference between the two gives you a cup size. One inch is equal to a full cup size, so 1=A, 2=B, etc.
Step Three
Select a variety of bras in your size. Types include full cup, demi-cup, lifting and enhancing styles, racerback and strapless.
Step Four
Choose a bra for comfort and purpose. Determine how you'll wear this bra. It may be everyday, for special occasions, or for athletics.
Step Five
Purchase several bras of different brands that offer a good fit. Within a couple of wears, you'll find a brand and style that is ideal for you
Tips & Warnings
-Bras don't last forever. Replace those that have lost elasticity and support.
-Bras can be expensive. To maintain them wash gently and air dry whenever possible.
Read the real article here
Saturday, June 16, 2007
Sexy Lingerie Sets
Most women enjoy having a piece of lingerie that they can wear under their clothes to go to the grocery store, run errands, and at work for a sexy confident feeling throughout the day and a sexy surprise once the clothes come off. Many pieces of lingerie come in sets. These sets can range from bra and panty / thong / g-string sets to a sexy lingerie halter top and matching skirt or garter.
Depending on what you are looking for you can typically find a set to fit your needs. Bra sets with a flirty skirt, tube top and cheeky shorts, bra with thong and g-string sets, and many more. Also they come on just about any color, pattern, and fabric that you may want.
Sexy little sets give you a perfect opportunity to wear something a little more daring under your clothes then the traditional undergarments. Manufactures have realized that women like to feel comfortable and sexy all day long so they are made for extended use. When you are wearing something sexy that you feel good in you tend to hold yourself better and be more confident because secretly you want people to know the sexy little piece you are hiding. Men also enjoy women in sexy lingerie sets because it's like a new surprise and the perfect ending to the perfect night.
Find the sexy lingerie sets and other lingerie pieces at NiceAndNaughty
by Ja'Nice West
Depending on what you are looking for you can typically find a set to fit your needs. Bra sets with a flirty skirt, tube top and cheeky shorts, bra with thong and g-string sets, and many more. Also they come on just about any color, pattern, and fabric that you may want.
Sexy little sets give you a perfect opportunity to wear something a little more daring under your clothes then the traditional undergarments. Manufactures have realized that women like to feel comfortable and sexy all day long so they are made for extended use. When you are wearing something sexy that you feel good in you tend to hold yourself better and be more confident because secretly you want people to know the sexy little piece you are hiding. Men also enjoy women in sexy lingerie sets because it's like a new surprise and the perfect ending to the perfect night.
Find the sexy lingerie sets and other lingerie pieces at NiceAndNaughty
by Ja'Nice West
Thursday, June 07, 2007
Bra Design & ManufacturingBras
Bra Design & ManufacturingBras for the most part are highly engineered and thoughtfully designed. It’s not unusual for a bra design to be composed of as many as 40 pieces and findings. Though most bras are beautiful, they are not so much about fashion, but more about achieving a certain look by the wearer. For this reason, we women need to understand what we are looking at when we pick up a bra to try on. Knowing what design features work best for our figure type will help us more quickly identify the style of bra that will suit our needs best.CupsWhereas the underwire defines your breast’s diameter, a cup size defines your breast’s projection or cup depth. Cup sizing is alphabetical – A, B, C, D etc. After the D size, however, manufacturers do not all agree on what to name subsequent sizes. Generally, American manufacturers prefer D, DD, DDD, DDDD. European manufacturers tend to prefer D, E, F, G. If your cup size is larger than a D, it can be very confusing to determine what size bra to purchase if the manufacturer has a unique sizing convention.
HerRoom has made this easier for you. We’ve compiled a chart comparing all plus size manufacturers’ cup sizing conventions. Simply refer to our chart to determine your correct cup size in that brand. It is also a good idea to know how many sizes larger than a D cup you are. That way if you come across a bra with unusual sizing, you can tell your salesperson you are 2, 5 or whatever cup sizes larger than a D cup. She will then be able to ascertain your correct cup size in that style.
There are 2 important things to know about cup size. The first is that a cup size on one band size is not equal to the same cup size on another band size. In other words, a 32D bra has smaller cup volume and diameter than a 34D bra yet both are a D cup. So I bet you’re wondering why the industry keeps the same size on a cup when it’s not the same between band sizes. Well, cup size is a measurement of how far your breasts project from your chest wall. Each cup size denotes a 1” increase in your body’s circumference around your bust line. Knowing this fact can help you zero in on your correct bra size. For example, you try on a bra and the band feels comfortable, but your breasts are spilling out. Keep going up in cup sizes on the same band size until you find the bra that fits. Alternately, the cups fit great, but the band is too big. When you go down a band size, you now know that you need to go up a cup size to maintain the same underwire diameter and similar cup volume (Example: Go from a 40C to a 38D).
The second important point about cup size pertains to women with cup sizes larger than a D cup. Trying to find cup equivalents among brands can be very difficult. In one brand you are a DDDD, but this same cup size can be a G, F, or FF in other brands. The first thing you should know is that all manufacturers size their cups up by 1” circumference increases. They may call their sizing by different letters, but the increases between sizes are uniform. So, as mentioned above, find out how many cup sizes above a D you are. On our site, when you look at the sizes available in a particular bra, we display the cup sizes in order from smallest to largest. If you are 4 cup sizes larger than a D cup, you can count down 4 sizes from D to find your correct size in that particular brand.
The Cup Size GameFinding a bra you love and the sizing stops just before your size can be frustrating. However, you may not be totally out of luck. Say you are a 40C and the bra you have found stops at 38DD. You MIGHT be able to wear the 38D or 38DD in that bra if the band doesn’t feel too tight. Deviating from your traditional bra size is called the cup size game. Substituting bra sizes will work more successfully on women with band sizes 40 and above and D cups or larger because there is more breast tissue and body circumference to work with - a 2” band increase or a 1” bust line circumference increase is not as significant as it would be on a smaller framed person.
A final thought about cup sizes - When a manufacturer grades his patterns to create different sizes for a bra style, he moves the bust points slightly wider with each cup size increase. B cup bust points are 1⁄2" farther apart than A cups. Bust points get 1⁄4” farther apart between B, C and D cups, and 1/8” farther apart with larger cup sizes.
Saturday, June 02, 2007
ENELL Sports Bra
Running and Jogging editor didicated an entire review to the:
Here's just a portion of what she had to say: - For most women, the sports bra is the most important piece of equipment they buy. However, many women still aren't getting what they need out of their bra. This becomes especially problematic for women with large breasts. For some women, Enell sports bras have become the solution. Bras seem to come in all the wrong sizes, whether you are very big breasted or not. Enell has fixed this problem, by having an easy-to-use size chart and more sizes than a normal bra. They have bras that fit women from 32C - 50DDD. However, they also will make custom bras! If there isn't a bra your size, they'll make you one. They are also very nice if you contact them with questions about sizing (give us a call and let us prove it! at 1(800) 828-7661). Enell bras are the best support I have ever seen in bras. There is little-to-no motion at all, even during running or jumping. Through use of both compression and encapsulation, Enell bras are as close as you can come to leaving your chest at home.
Jesslyn BassRunning/ Jogging EditorAbout.com
Here's just a portion of what she had to say: - For most women, the sports bra is the most important piece of equipment they buy. However, many women still aren't getting what they need out of their bra. This becomes especially problematic for women with large breasts. For some women, Enell sports bras have become the solution. Bras seem to come in all the wrong sizes, whether you are very big breasted or not. Enell has fixed this problem, by having an easy-to-use size chart and more sizes than a normal bra. They have bras that fit women from 32C - 50DDD. However, they also will make custom bras! If there isn't a bra your size, they'll make you one. They are also very nice if you contact them with questions about sizing (give us a call and let us prove it! at 1(800) 828-7661). Enell bras are the best support I have ever seen in bras. There is little-to-no motion at all, even during running or jumping. Through use of both compression and encapsulation, Enell bras are as close as you can come to leaving your chest at home.
Jesslyn BassRunning/ Jogging EditorAbout.com
Saturday, May 26, 2007
Heidi Klum Gets Her Own Bra
CBS) Heidi Klum may just be the hardest working woman in fashion. She's a world famous model, the host and executive producer of the hit reality show "Project Runway," and she's expecting her third child. As if that's not enough, she has signed on to be the spokeswoman of the new Body Bra by Victoria's Secret and face of the campaign in her spare time. Klum visited The Early Show to talk about her new project, which involves a line of bras named after her nickname in the business, "The Body." "This is the new Victoria Secret bra they just came out with and they called it 'The Body,' which was one of my nicknames that I started having when I started work with Victoria's Secret, which was a huge honor for me," says Klum. "Now it's a big honor having a bra named after my nickname that people know in the business, 'The Body.' And this is probably one bra that every woman wants to have because it is so comfortable. It comes eight different colors, it has no seams, no stitches.
It is not the super sexy, lacy bra, but this is something functional that you want to have every day that is super comfortable and just great." Klum also shot a TV ad for the bra. "It was a lot of fun doing that because I got to tell my story a little bit, you know, how people gave me the nickname and everything, it was a lot of fun." The supermodel, who is halfway through her pregnancy, shot the ad while she was already expecting. A prop helped her hide the pregnancy on camera. "I had a chair to work with that I could hide behind a little bit. It all worked out fine," she explains. Asked where the nickname "The Body" came from, Klum says, "I don't know. It just kind of happened. I was one of the first new girls at Victoria's Secret when I started with them about seven years ago. They nicknamed me 'The Body' when I did the first Victoria's Secret fashion show with them. It was an honor for me. They put it in the paper. It was a big thing." It turns out that the nickname "The Body" replaced the nickname "Muffin." "I would eat so many muffins and brownies, but more muffins.
Like every day I would have a muffin, so they'd call me the 'Muffin' because I was always stuffing my face with muffins. I love them because in Germany we have no muffins," she explains. Her show, "Project Runway," is in its third season and Klum is up for an Emmy. Asked how the show is going, Klum says: "Very good. I mean, right now I think four or five weeks into the show. Now we know we filmed it awhile back. Now our designers, our finalists are all home working on their final collection for fashion week in September. "So this is a great thing for them because they all want to be designers and they get seen on television that can show people what their talent is about. It was a lot of fun being there and watching the whole process and seeing what they come up with every week. They are really, really talented people. I think it's fun for people to watch it and that's why they really enjoy the show because they love watching what people can do with their hands in such a short time."
Source:http://www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/09/people/main1878157.shtml
It is not the super sexy, lacy bra, but this is something functional that you want to have every day that is super comfortable and just great." Klum also shot a TV ad for the bra. "It was a lot of fun doing that because I got to tell my story a little bit, you know, how people gave me the nickname and everything, it was a lot of fun." The supermodel, who is halfway through her pregnancy, shot the ad while she was already expecting. A prop helped her hide the pregnancy on camera. "I had a chair to work with that I could hide behind a little bit. It all worked out fine," she explains. Asked where the nickname "The Body" came from, Klum says, "I don't know. It just kind of happened. I was one of the first new girls at Victoria's Secret when I started with them about seven years ago. They nicknamed me 'The Body' when I did the first Victoria's Secret fashion show with them. It was an honor for me. They put it in the paper. It was a big thing." It turns out that the nickname "The Body" replaced the nickname "Muffin." "I would eat so many muffins and brownies, but more muffins.
Like every day I would have a muffin, so they'd call me the 'Muffin' because I was always stuffing my face with muffins. I love them because in Germany we have no muffins," she explains. Her show, "Project Runway," is in its third season and Klum is up for an Emmy. Asked how the show is going, Klum says: "Very good. I mean, right now I think four or five weeks into the show. Now we know we filmed it awhile back. Now our designers, our finalists are all home working on their final collection for fashion week in September. "So this is a great thing for them because they all want to be designers and they get seen on television that can show people what their talent is about. It was a lot of fun being there and watching the whole process and seeing what they come up with every week. They are really, really talented people. I think it's fun for people to watch it and that's why they really enjoy the show because they love watching what people can do with their hands in such a short time."
Source:http://www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/09/people/main1878157.shtml
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
What To Expect After Breast Augmentation Surgery
The results of breast augmentation are quite apparent immediately after surgery. However, you will need time to recover before you can start to fully and comfortably enjoy your new and improved bustline. The healing process is an important consideration when you are thinking about breast augmentation. A well-informed commitment to surgery will include taking account of the post surgical steps to achieving your body goals. Breast augmentation entails the surgical insertion of breast implants, either silicone or saline, beneath your breast tissue and possibly even beneath the muscle tissue of your chest. The surgery is typically an outpatient procedure that lasts from one to two hours.
Depending on what you want for your body and what your physical form can accommodate, breast augmentation can increase your breast size by one or more bra cup sizes. Desiring a fuller bustline and a figure with more pronounced proportions are the primary motivations for women to seek breast augmentation. Reconstruction after breast surgery or injury, rejuvenation after pregnancy and nursing, and correction of breasts that have markedly differing sizes also are appropriate reasons for breast augmentation. Your First Week After Breast Augmentation Initially after your breast augmentation Beverly Hills, you will feel tired and sore for several days, but you should be up and walking after 24 to 48 hours. Pain medication will be prescribed as necessary to help you with post-surgical discomfort. You will have to completely avoid strenuous activity and monitor for any post-surgical problems like extreme swelling or bleeding.
After a few days, your gauze dressings will be removed and your plastic surgeon may direct you to wear a surgical bra. At the end of your first week of recovery you could typically return to your job unless your occupation is physically demanding. Then your plastic surgeon would have to gauge your recovery and advise you on the appropriate time to resume working. Your Second Week After Breast Augmentation At about the 10 day point, your stitches will be removed. If you have been experiencing a burning sensation in your nipples, this can often persist through the second week. Although your fuller breasts are in place, they will remain sore and you should limit physical contact with them as you continue to heal. Your Next Six Weeks After Breast Augmentation Under the supervision of your surgeon, you will begin to resume your regular physical activities in the ensuing weeks. Breast soreness typically lasts for three to four weeks before fading. Swelling should also diminish during this period, except for perhaps minor swelling. The scars from your surgery will be pink and firm for roughly six weeks. It will take months for the scars to soften and lighten. They will never be completely gone, but the scars often will diminish to barely noticeable.
The recovery timelines described above are what you can typically expect after breast augmentation surgery. Individual cases vary depending on physical characteristics, overall health, and how well you follow guidelines for limiting strenuous activity. Although breast augmentation requires a moderate recovery time, many women are immensely pleased with the results and agree that the discomfort was worth the opportunity to fulfill their dreams of an enhanced bust.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Bras and Breast Cancer--Are You Dressed to Kill?
Breast cancer is a cultural phenomenon. The incidence of breast cancer is dramatically increased only in cultures that wear bras.
How could this be?
The authors of the book, Dressed to Kill : The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras 1995 by Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer examined the habits of 4700 American women, nearly half of whom had breast cancer, before writing their book.
They found that wearing a bra more than 12 hours a day dramatically increased the incidence of breast cancer, cystic breasts (also known as tight-bra syndrome), breast pain, breast tenderness and other breast issues. Women who wear bras 18-24 hours/day have over 100 times greater incidence of breast cancer than those who go bra-less. So, basically you are 3-4 times more likely to get breast cancer from wearing a bra, than by smoking cigarettes!
Bras create constant pressure which compresses and constricts the lymphatic movement to the chest area. If you are a woman who wears a bra and you see red marks and lines after taking your bra off, you are at a greater risk for breast cancer.
The role of lymph is to flush out toxins and debris from tissues. If this flow is impaired, like when wearing a bra, tissues get toxic. We also impair toxin release by using underarm deodorants--they plug up and block our pores.
One interesting study done in the UK in the year 2000, followed 100 women with fibrocystic breast disease. These women went bra-free for three months. The results of this study were astounding, showing how effective this one treatment of going bra-less was in overcoming this particular health challenge.
Singer and Grismaijer validated their own study by going to Fiji and studying the incidence of breast cancer in that country. After working with the countrys epidemiologists, they found only a small percentage of the population with breast cancer. When interviewing these women, they found that every one of them had taken jobs in the corporate world and had started wearing bras within a few short years previous.
Eight Things You CAN Do if You MUST Wear a Bra:
1)Make sure the bra has a loose fit. Remove it when it is not necessary to wear it.
2)Choose a bra with no underwires. These wires block the energy meridians from moving freely through their natural cycles.
3)Use a larger size bra around your menstrual time as increased estrogen causes tissues to retain fluids making the breasts larger and the bra tighter.
4)Discontinue use of deodorizer/antiperspirants. Wash your armpits often with soap and water instead.
5)Bathe daily. The body releases 30% of all the toxins it produces through the skin.
6)Use a shower filter that filters out chlorine. Chlorine also causes several forms of cancer. As you shower, your skin and lungs are absorbing huge amounts of chlorine.
7)Occasionally incorporate Poke Root tincture into your diet to help the lymph flow easier (especially if you have little white dots around the outside of your irises. This is known as a Lymphatic Rosary and is a sign of a slow or sludging lymphatic system.)
8)Sleep naked or in a stretchy T-shirt. Women who wear cotton or nylon non-stretchable materials while they sleep who roll over often can cut circulation off as these materials resist stretching.
Are you dressed to kill? If so, take note and DO something for your health and your life.
2005 by Dr. Denice M. Moffat
How could this be?
The authors of the book, Dressed to Kill : The Link Between Breast Cancer and Bras 1995 by Sydney Ross Singer and Soma Grismaijer examined the habits of 4700 American women, nearly half of whom had breast cancer, before writing their book.
They found that wearing a bra more than 12 hours a day dramatically increased the incidence of breast cancer, cystic breasts (also known as tight-bra syndrome), breast pain, breast tenderness and other breast issues. Women who wear bras 18-24 hours/day have over 100 times greater incidence of breast cancer than those who go bra-less. So, basically you are 3-4 times more likely to get breast cancer from wearing a bra, than by smoking cigarettes!
Bras create constant pressure which compresses and constricts the lymphatic movement to the chest area. If you are a woman who wears a bra and you see red marks and lines after taking your bra off, you are at a greater risk for breast cancer.
The role of lymph is to flush out toxins and debris from tissues. If this flow is impaired, like when wearing a bra, tissues get toxic. We also impair toxin release by using underarm deodorants--they plug up and block our pores.
One interesting study done in the UK in the year 2000, followed 100 women with fibrocystic breast disease. These women went bra-free for three months. The results of this study were astounding, showing how effective this one treatment of going bra-less was in overcoming this particular health challenge.
Singer and Grismaijer validated their own study by going to Fiji and studying the incidence of breast cancer in that country. After working with the countrys epidemiologists, they found only a small percentage of the population with breast cancer. When interviewing these women, they found that every one of them had taken jobs in the corporate world and had started wearing bras within a few short years previous.
Eight Things You CAN Do if You MUST Wear a Bra:
1)Make sure the bra has a loose fit. Remove it when it is not necessary to wear it.
2)Choose a bra with no underwires. These wires block the energy meridians from moving freely through their natural cycles.
3)Use a larger size bra around your menstrual time as increased estrogen causes tissues to retain fluids making the breasts larger and the bra tighter.
4)Discontinue use of deodorizer/antiperspirants. Wash your armpits often with soap and water instead.
5)Bathe daily. The body releases 30% of all the toxins it produces through the skin.
6)Use a shower filter that filters out chlorine. Chlorine also causes several forms of cancer. As you shower, your skin and lungs are absorbing huge amounts of chlorine.
7)Occasionally incorporate Poke Root tincture into your diet to help the lymph flow easier (especially if you have little white dots around the outside of your irises. This is known as a Lymphatic Rosary and is a sign of a slow or sludging lymphatic system.)
8)Sleep naked or in a stretchy T-shirt. Women who wear cotton or nylon non-stretchable materials while they sleep who roll over often can cut circulation off as these materials resist stretching.
Are you dressed to kill? If so, take note and DO something for your health and your life.
2005 by Dr. Denice M. Moffat
Sunday, May 06, 2007
How to make millions from bras and pants
Polly VernonSunday September 10, 2006
The Observer
Elle Macpherson has body issues. Not of the 'I hate my arse' variety, you understand. Elle is 42 years old, but her body is as glorious today as it was when she first began regularly gracing the cover of American body-fascist bible Swimwear Illustrated, more than two decades ago. She's a long-legged, lithehipped, muscular approximation of perfection, clad in tight-fitting black denim and leather. She carries her stupendous cleavage like a weapon. No. Elle's body issues are rather more notional.
For 20 years, Elle's body has been known as The Body. In 1986 Time magazine referred to it thus, and the world accepted it unquestioningly. But last month, Heidi Klum - the 5ft 9in, blonde-streaked flibbertigibbet of a 33-year-old German clothes horse, who has carved herself a substantial profile in the swimsuit-modelling market formerly dominated by Elle herself - made a flagrant and unapologetic bid to co-opt The Body moniker. Klum appeared in an advert for a Victoria's Secret bra, which first aired in early August insisting: 'They call me The Body - and now I have a bra named after me.' Elle's public, and her people, were horrified. 'We saw that, and we were like, oh my God!' Elle's spokesperson, Melissa Edwards, responded. 'We were initially flabbergasted ... we have numerous press clippings in the office referring to her as The Body.' Elle - who has produced a skincare range called 'Elle Macpherson The Body' and a fitness video entitled The Body Workout in past years - is tight-lipped on the issue.
It seems, on the face of it, to be the kind of daft row that only a couple of supermodels could ever get embroiled in. But there's maybe more to it than that. Heidi Klum is messing with Elle's brand, and no one can be allowed to do that.
No celebrity, male or female, has ever converted into a business force as successfully as Elle. She has an estimated personal worth of £35 million. Never mind Heidi Klum and her one piffling bra. Or Kate Moss with her endless ad contracts and her ineffable cachet. Or Linda Evangelista, Elle's contemporary on the 1990s supermodel scene and the woman who once boasted: 'I wouldn't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.' Elle blows them all away financially. Her licensing deal with New Zealand lingerie company Bendon, which produces her own-brand underwear, Elle Macpherson Intimates, is worth £40 million in Britain alone (it also sells in Australia, where it's the biggest-selling underwear brand, and the US, where it's increasing both its market share and its profile rapidly, despite the fact that it was only launched last year). The bestselling calendars and fitness video that she produces through Elle Macpherson Inc - the company she formed in 1994 after leaving Ford, her model agency - are worth tens of millions more.
She is officially one of Australia's richest women, and she was the only model to make the top 100 wealthiest women in 2006's Sunday Times Rich List. In July this year, Elle accepted an appointment as executive director on the board of Hot Tuna surfwear, thus guaranteeing herself substantial creative input and an estimated £2.5m in share options. And so it goes on. Elle makes money. Lots of it.
I'm not sure how, though. We're sitting, Elle and me, on an ornate chaise longue in a quiet corner of a vast warehouse located deep in the heart of New York's Long Island. Around us, the advertising shoot that will showcase the latest offerings from Elle Macpherson Intimates crawls along. On set, an improbably nubile young thing dressed in Elle-conceived scraps of washable silk drapes herself over a Halloween-theme fridge (edited highlights of the contents: pickle jars of eyeballs, takeaway cartons of intestines, etcetera) and moves her hips according to instructions delivered by acclaimed fashion photographer Regan Cameron. Elle herself no longer models in the campaigns. She did at first because 'it was cheaper'. Which demonstrates an unquestionably sound business instinct. But it's about the only solid evidence of one that I can find in the first instance.
Before I meet Elle, I am instructed by various powers not to ask about her personal life. About the recent-ish break-up of her nine-year relationship with Arpad 'Arki' Busson, the financier father of her sons Flynn (who is eight) and Aurelius Cy (three); about her brush with postnatal depression; or about the bust-up with Klum. And so instead, we're talking money. Elle is attempting to deconstruct her business style for me, and I am attempting to reconcile what I know about her place in the business world with her flaky, naive manner. 'I consider myself to be an "entrepreneur", you know?' she's saying. Elle has an odd way of talking; it's halting, precious - she speaks as if English is her second language, although she was born and raised in suburban Sydney. Her inflections are French, the legacy of her eight-year marriage to French photographer Gilles Bensimon, and of her relationship with Busson. She gets words wrong, she makes others up - she says she is 'passioned by business', for instance, and also that she has made 'lots of mit-sakes' - and it all lends her a cutesy, girlish, uncertain quality that is at odds with her business profile. She also speaks a clichéd, breathless kind of business rhetoric: 'I think outside the box,' she says with absolute sincerity. 'And I dare to dream, I dare to take risks. I believe that risk is the currency of the gods. You know. I don't like to think I'm a "businesswoman". "Businesswoman" conjures up this image of hard-ass, pencil-skirt-wearing control freak, and I'm not that.'
What is she, then, I ask. 'I am very passioned by what I do. I make decisions according to my heart. Business for me is very heartfelt. I go with my heart and my instincts and my intuition. And my passions and my love and my joy, and then what happens is, because there's a sense of integrity behind what I do, that often translates into dollars and cents. People recognise that, and people buy, I believe, integrity, and people buy honesty.' She thinks, moreover, that her lingerie 'empowers women ...' that it contributes to the universe because ' ...the nurturing power of femininity is extremely important to the universe ...' She thinks she could have been anything she wanted. 'A barrister - which is kind of like a performing lawyer, which is kind of what I do anyway,' or an architect, or a property developer, but what she chose to do - ultimately - was 'help other women!' How? With lingerie? 'Yes!'
Elle, in interview, strikes me as less of a moneymaking machine than an aspiring beauty-pageant winner, or maybe the devoted groupie of a motivational speaker. Elle in action, however, is a different matter. I watch her attack Regan Cameron's shoot. I watch her style and art direct and criticise and rearrange, I watch her admonish some staff members and team-build others; I watch her fire off endless, endless questions at Stuart Cameron, the manager with whom she has worked for more than 20 years; and I remember a recent quote from Mary-Ellen Field, the very senior consultant who advises Elle on her licensing deals, who claimed that Elle 'reads every document. She even sends them back with comments in the margin, and if she doesn't understand anything she asks you. She's extremely disciplined. You don't look like that unless you are.' And I get more of an idea of how she operates, and why it works for her.
'I'm not a control freak,' she tells me - again. But I'm not at all convinced.
Elle's private life is markedly less well managed, however. She's been (allegedly) involved in a series of jolly, gossip-column-worthy entanglements - with everyone from Tim Jeffries (Green Shields Stamp heir and serial romancer of the professionally gorgeous), to footballer Sol Campbell, to Hollywood's naughtiest superstar, Colin Farrell. But she's also endured painful rejection at the hands of Gilles Bensimon - a divorce that devastated her, she has said. 'I felt as if the rug had been pulled from under me.' And in June 2005 came the split from Arki Busson, after a nine-year relationship. She also developed postnatal depression after the 2003 birth of Aurelius Cy, her younger son, and that she spent some time in a clinic in Arizona receiving treatment for it. 'I have zero shame about it,' she has said, in the past. But nothing to say on the subject? 'No.'
She really doesn't want to address her personal life in any fashion. She says she doesn't see why she should, on the grounds that 'I don't seek press unless it's for my business, I don't ever really do self-gratifying or gratuitous press', which isn't actually any grounds at all. She may as well say: 'I don't like answering difficult questions that don't directly promote my commercial interests.' So when I approach the sticky territory of her non-business existence, Elle becomes flagrantly brittle and invokes the logistics of being a mother as a distracting, defensive tactic. 'I work one week and I have one week with my children. And when I'm with my children, I never work. That's just ... my rule. They are absolutely my priority. And then my children go to their father for one week and I work.'
Does she feel like a single mother, I wonder, with all the baggage that entails? She laughs, uncomfortably. She waits a while, in case I move on. I don't. She sighs. 'Ah - hum ...' she says, eventually. 'I'm a ... single parent. With two children. I'm a single parent. Yeah. My, uh ...' [Elle tries, and fails, to say the word 'ex'] ' ...the father of my children is very committed to ... you know ... we're both committed to co-parenting the children ... but ...' She trails off , and we return to the infinitely cosier territory of achieving a decent bra fit. Elle's party trick is a one-glance assessment of a stranger's bra size. I ask her to 'do' me, which she does, correctly.
The rigours of co-parenting and also life as a leading light on the business stage notwithstanding, Elle is shamelessly active on the international party scene. She's a regular fixture in the beach-club capitals of the world: St Tropez, St Barthes, upmarket Ibiza, Costa Smeralda. She knows Tory leader David Cameron. No self-respecting society-mag party page is complete without a pap snap of Elle, a terribly nice frock dangling from her glorious frame. She made number 11 on Tatler magazine's annual Hot 100 most desirable guest list - not as high as Busson, who made the top 10, but still ... Does she consider herself to be jet set? She pauses. 'I think, um, I'm quite open-minded about travel, put it that way.' She laughs. 'Uh. . I consider myself to be. .' Jet set? '. . Incredibly privileged. I have the capacity to travel, and I do. I take advantage of it. Er. And I mix in many different circles, and that's a huge gift in my life, to be able to grow and learn from all different walks of life. But, do I require a fast-paced, rich life? No! Am I happiest when I'm surfing on the beaches in Australia? I just took my sons on a surf safari, you know, camping? That's me at my best. Just a week in Western Australia with my two boys. And we built fires and we slept in tents and we surfed, and it was just ... But yes. I'm incredibly privileged, and I'm the first to say it.'
I wonder if there are limits on riches like Elle's. Does she ever have to reel herself in from a particular extravagance, for example. She responds airily, evasively. 'Oh, I'm not going to go into my finances and the way I run my life. But I try to be responsible. Responsible, and at the same time passionate. So if something moves me, I'll do it. But I don't do things for show. I'm not particularly extravagant for the sake of it. I'm extravagant, yes, in the way that some times I cringe and think, oh gosh, I shouldn't have flown first class here ... but other than that, nothing is for show, I try to be as discreet as I possibly can.' But she is, I imagine, phenomenally wealthy? 'Ha! I wish! I'm incredibly fortunate in that I have a job that I love, and that I'm still working after 25 years in an industry that says, basically, you're only valuable as long as you're young.' Is money important? 'No. Money's a by-product. That's all.'
Elle will not go as far as to admit that she has any regrets. She'll admit to mistakes: 'Lots! Yeah! Every day!' But then she says: 'But I don't believe there are any mik-stakes.' [sic] 'There are learnings. So I make learnings. Along the way. Hah!' She says that she isn't concerned with ageing, even though much of her professional existence has been dependent on her looks. She says she spends hardly any time on her appearance these days. I'm not sure. Her look is studied and high maintenance - the accessories, the hair, the jeans, the artfully scuffed biker boots. She's a smidgen over-tanned in the flesh, a cartoonish boy-pleasing variation on gorgeous that owes at least something to the signature look of Pamela Anderson. But still, she talks a convincing pitch on the not caring. 'Well, you know what, if I didn't age, where would I be? Dead, wouldn't I? I don't care. Fortunately, the people who are around me don't judge me by the way I look, but you know, I am a 42-year-old mother-of-two, so ...'
On which, does she anticipate a midlife crisis of any description? 'Well, I have had some crisises [sic] in my life already, you know!'
More than your fair share? Elle laughs. 'No,' she says. 'Not necessarily. Hah! You know, I'm sure I'll have more ... some more learnings along the way.'
· Elle Macpherson's lingerie starts from £26 for bras and £11 for knickers. For stockists, telephone 020 7478 0280 or go to www.ellemacphersonintimates.com
The Observer
Elle Macpherson has body issues. Not of the 'I hate my arse' variety, you understand. Elle is 42 years old, but her body is as glorious today as it was when she first began regularly gracing the cover of American body-fascist bible Swimwear Illustrated, more than two decades ago. She's a long-legged, lithehipped, muscular approximation of perfection, clad in tight-fitting black denim and leather. She carries her stupendous cleavage like a weapon. No. Elle's body issues are rather more notional.
For 20 years, Elle's body has been known as The Body. In 1986 Time magazine referred to it thus, and the world accepted it unquestioningly. But last month, Heidi Klum - the 5ft 9in, blonde-streaked flibbertigibbet of a 33-year-old German clothes horse, who has carved herself a substantial profile in the swimsuit-modelling market formerly dominated by Elle herself - made a flagrant and unapologetic bid to co-opt The Body moniker. Klum appeared in an advert for a Victoria's Secret bra, which first aired in early August insisting: 'They call me The Body - and now I have a bra named after me.' Elle's public, and her people, were horrified. 'We saw that, and we were like, oh my God!' Elle's spokesperson, Melissa Edwards, responded. 'We were initially flabbergasted ... we have numerous press clippings in the office referring to her as The Body.' Elle - who has produced a skincare range called 'Elle Macpherson The Body' and a fitness video entitled The Body Workout in past years - is tight-lipped on the issue.
It seems, on the face of it, to be the kind of daft row that only a couple of supermodels could ever get embroiled in. But there's maybe more to it than that. Heidi Klum is messing with Elle's brand, and no one can be allowed to do that.
No celebrity, male or female, has ever converted into a business force as successfully as Elle. She has an estimated personal worth of £35 million. Never mind Heidi Klum and her one piffling bra. Or Kate Moss with her endless ad contracts and her ineffable cachet. Or Linda Evangelista, Elle's contemporary on the 1990s supermodel scene and the woman who once boasted: 'I wouldn't get out of bed for less than $10,000 a day.' Elle blows them all away financially. Her licensing deal with New Zealand lingerie company Bendon, which produces her own-brand underwear, Elle Macpherson Intimates, is worth £40 million in Britain alone (it also sells in Australia, where it's the biggest-selling underwear brand, and the US, where it's increasing both its market share and its profile rapidly, despite the fact that it was only launched last year). The bestselling calendars and fitness video that she produces through Elle Macpherson Inc - the company she formed in 1994 after leaving Ford, her model agency - are worth tens of millions more.
She is officially one of Australia's richest women, and she was the only model to make the top 100 wealthiest women in 2006's Sunday Times Rich List. In July this year, Elle accepted an appointment as executive director on the board of Hot Tuna surfwear, thus guaranteeing herself substantial creative input and an estimated £2.5m in share options. And so it goes on. Elle makes money. Lots of it.
I'm not sure how, though. We're sitting, Elle and me, on an ornate chaise longue in a quiet corner of a vast warehouse located deep in the heart of New York's Long Island. Around us, the advertising shoot that will showcase the latest offerings from Elle Macpherson Intimates crawls along. On set, an improbably nubile young thing dressed in Elle-conceived scraps of washable silk drapes herself over a Halloween-theme fridge (edited highlights of the contents: pickle jars of eyeballs, takeaway cartons of intestines, etcetera) and moves her hips according to instructions delivered by acclaimed fashion photographer Regan Cameron. Elle herself no longer models in the campaigns. She did at first because 'it was cheaper'. Which demonstrates an unquestionably sound business instinct. But it's about the only solid evidence of one that I can find in the first instance.
Before I meet Elle, I am instructed by various powers not to ask about her personal life. About the recent-ish break-up of her nine-year relationship with Arpad 'Arki' Busson, the financier father of her sons Flynn (who is eight) and Aurelius Cy (three); about her brush with postnatal depression; or about the bust-up with Klum. And so instead, we're talking money. Elle is attempting to deconstruct her business style for me, and I am attempting to reconcile what I know about her place in the business world with her flaky, naive manner. 'I consider myself to be an "entrepreneur", you know?' she's saying. Elle has an odd way of talking; it's halting, precious - she speaks as if English is her second language, although she was born and raised in suburban Sydney. Her inflections are French, the legacy of her eight-year marriage to French photographer Gilles Bensimon, and of her relationship with Busson. She gets words wrong, she makes others up - she says she is 'passioned by business', for instance, and also that she has made 'lots of mit-sakes' - and it all lends her a cutesy, girlish, uncertain quality that is at odds with her business profile. She also speaks a clichéd, breathless kind of business rhetoric: 'I think outside the box,' she says with absolute sincerity. 'And I dare to dream, I dare to take risks. I believe that risk is the currency of the gods. You know. I don't like to think I'm a "businesswoman". "Businesswoman" conjures up this image of hard-ass, pencil-skirt-wearing control freak, and I'm not that.'
What is she, then, I ask. 'I am very passioned by what I do. I make decisions according to my heart. Business for me is very heartfelt. I go with my heart and my instincts and my intuition. And my passions and my love and my joy, and then what happens is, because there's a sense of integrity behind what I do, that often translates into dollars and cents. People recognise that, and people buy, I believe, integrity, and people buy honesty.' She thinks, moreover, that her lingerie 'empowers women ...' that it contributes to the universe because ' ...the nurturing power of femininity is extremely important to the universe ...' She thinks she could have been anything she wanted. 'A barrister - which is kind of like a performing lawyer, which is kind of what I do anyway,' or an architect, or a property developer, but what she chose to do - ultimately - was 'help other women!' How? With lingerie? 'Yes!'
Elle, in interview, strikes me as less of a moneymaking machine than an aspiring beauty-pageant winner, or maybe the devoted groupie of a motivational speaker. Elle in action, however, is a different matter. I watch her attack Regan Cameron's shoot. I watch her style and art direct and criticise and rearrange, I watch her admonish some staff members and team-build others; I watch her fire off endless, endless questions at Stuart Cameron, the manager with whom she has worked for more than 20 years; and I remember a recent quote from Mary-Ellen Field, the very senior consultant who advises Elle on her licensing deals, who claimed that Elle 'reads every document. She even sends them back with comments in the margin, and if she doesn't understand anything she asks you. She's extremely disciplined. You don't look like that unless you are.' And I get more of an idea of how she operates, and why it works for her.
'I'm not a control freak,' she tells me - again. But I'm not at all convinced.
Elle's private life is markedly less well managed, however. She's been (allegedly) involved in a series of jolly, gossip-column-worthy entanglements - with everyone from Tim Jeffries (Green Shields Stamp heir and serial romancer of the professionally gorgeous), to footballer Sol Campbell, to Hollywood's naughtiest superstar, Colin Farrell. But she's also endured painful rejection at the hands of Gilles Bensimon - a divorce that devastated her, she has said. 'I felt as if the rug had been pulled from under me.' And in June 2005 came the split from Arki Busson, after a nine-year relationship. She also developed postnatal depression after the 2003 birth of Aurelius Cy, her younger son, and that she spent some time in a clinic in Arizona receiving treatment for it. 'I have zero shame about it,' she has said, in the past. But nothing to say on the subject? 'No.'
She really doesn't want to address her personal life in any fashion. She says she doesn't see why she should, on the grounds that 'I don't seek press unless it's for my business, I don't ever really do self-gratifying or gratuitous press', which isn't actually any grounds at all. She may as well say: 'I don't like answering difficult questions that don't directly promote my commercial interests.' So when I approach the sticky territory of her non-business existence, Elle becomes flagrantly brittle and invokes the logistics of being a mother as a distracting, defensive tactic. 'I work one week and I have one week with my children. And when I'm with my children, I never work. That's just ... my rule. They are absolutely my priority. And then my children go to their father for one week and I work.'
Does she feel like a single mother, I wonder, with all the baggage that entails? She laughs, uncomfortably. She waits a while, in case I move on. I don't. She sighs. 'Ah - hum ...' she says, eventually. 'I'm a ... single parent. With two children. I'm a single parent. Yeah. My, uh ...' [Elle tries, and fails, to say the word 'ex'] ' ...the father of my children is very committed to ... you know ... we're both committed to co-parenting the children ... but ...' She trails off , and we return to the infinitely cosier territory of achieving a decent bra fit. Elle's party trick is a one-glance assessment of a stranger's bra size. I ask her to 'do' me, which she does, correctly.
The rigours of co-parenting and also life as a leading light on the business stage notwithstanding, Elle is shamelessly active on the international party scene. She's a regular fixture in the beach-club capitals of the world: St Tropez, St Barthes, upmarket Ibiza, Costa Smeralda. She knows Tory leader David Cameron. No self-respecting society-mag party page is complete without a pap snap of Elle, a terribly nice frock dangling from her glorious frame. She made number 11 on Tatler magazine's annual Hot 100 most desirable guest list - not as high as Busson, who made the top 10, but still ... Does she consider herself to be jet set? She pauses. 'I think, um, I'm quite open-minded about travel, put it that way.' She laughs. 'Uh. . I consider myself to be. .' Jet set? '. . Incredibly privileged. I have the capacity to travel, and I do. I take advantage of it. Er. And I mix in many different circles, and that's a huge gift in my life, to be able to grow and learn from all different walks of life. But, do I require a fast-paced, rich life? No! Am I happiest when I'm surfing on the beaches in Australia? I just took my sons on a surf safari, you know, camping? That's me at my best. Just a week in Western Australia with my two boys. And we built fires and we slept in tents and we surfed, and it was just ... But yes. I'm incredibly privileged, and I'm the first to say it.'
I wonder if there are limits on riches like Elle's. Does she ever have to reel herself in from a particular extravagance, for example. She responds airily, evasively. 'Oh, I'm not going to go into my finances and the way I run my life. But I try to be responsible. Responsible, and at the same time passionate. So if something moves me, I'll do it. But I don't do things for show. I'm not particularly extravagant for the sake of it. I'm extravagant, yes, in the way that some times I cringe and think, oh gosh, I shouldn't have flown first class here ... but other than that, nothing is for show, I try to be as discreet as I possibly can.' But she is, I imagine, phenomenally wealthy? 'Ha! I wish! I'm incredibly fortunate in that I have a job that I love, and that I'm still working after 25 years in an industry that says, basically, you're only valuable as long as you're young.' Is money important? 'No. Money's a by-product. That's all.'
Elle will not go as far as to admit that she has any regrets. She'll admit to mistakes: 'Lots! Yeah! Every day!' But then she says: 'But I don't believe there are any mik-stakes.' [sic] 'There are learnings. So I make learnings. Along the way. Hah!' She says that she isn't concerned with ageing, even though much of her professional existence has been dependent on her looks. She says she spends hardly any time on her appearance these days. I'm not sure. Her look is studied and high maintenance - the accessories, the hair, the jeans, the artfully scuffed biker boots. She's a smidgen over-tanned in the flesh, a cartoonish boy-pleasing variation on gorgeous that owes at least something to the signature look of Pamela Anderson. But still, she talks a convincing pitch on the not caring. 'Well, you know what, if I didn't age, where would I be? Dead, wouldn't I? I don't care. Fortunately, the people who are around me don't judge me by the way I look, but you know, I am a 42-year-old mother-of-two, so ...'
On which, does she anticipate a midlife crisis of any description? 'Well, I have had some crisises [sic] in my life already, you know!'
More than your fair share? Elle laughs. 'No,' she says. 'Not necessarily. Hah! You know, I'm sure I'll have more ... some more learnings along the way.'
· Elle Macpherson's lingerie starts from £26 for bras and £11 for knickers. For stockists, telephone 020 7478 0280 or go to www.ellemacphersonintimates.com
Saturday, May 05, 2007
What types of bras should you buy?
You may have a favorite bra…but you shouldn't wear it both when you go out and when you work out! Nordstrom's bra expert says one bra style will not work for all fashions and functions. You may not need a strapless bra, a sports bra and a bustier, but you should think about your lifestyle and wardrobe needs before buying a brassiere, Sandra says.
Source:Oprah.com
Monday, April 30, 2007
The Physics of Bras
Overcoming Newton's second law with better bra technology
One side effect of the obesity epidemic in America is rarely noted: Women's chests are expanding nearly as fast as their bellies. Poor eating habits, as well as breast implants and the estrogens in birth-control pills, have led to an increase in the past 15 years of more than one bra size for the average American woman—from a 34B to a 36C. For many women, this has been a burdensome trend. A pair of D-cup breasts weighs between 15 and 23 pounds—the equivalent of carrying around two small turkeys. The larger the breasts, the more they move and the greater the discomfort. In one study, 56 percent of women suffered from breast pain when jogging.
"Women will limit themselves from doing exercise because of their breasts," says Deirdre McGhee, a sports physiotherapist and graduate student in biomechanics at the University of Wollongong in Australia. "They actually deprive themselves."
GHOST OF THE MACHINE
An x-ray scan of a bra reveals major structural elements, including straps, fasteners, and underwires.And the less they exercise, the more obese and buxom they may become.
For most women, a good bra is still the best remedy. According to the American Apparel and Footwear Association, nearly 500 million bras were sold in the United States in 2001; last year, sales totaled more than $5 billion. As breasts have grown, so have the demands of customers, the scientific sophistication of bra design, and the competition among bra manufacturers. "Women like their bras to be sexy and sensual and comfy and supportive," McGhee says. "And to get all that is rare." Yet after nearly a century of experimentation, the perfect bra may well be in sight.
Bra designers begin with a significant handicap: The structure of breasts is still something of a mystery. Evolutionary biologists aren't sure why breasts evolved as they did—chimpanzees and other mammals develop them only when lactating—and no one knows what keeps them from sagging. An individual breast is made up of between 15 and 20 sections, known as lobes. These are composed of smaller lobules that end in bulbs that produce milk and are interconnected by a network of ducts. But breasts contain no muscles at all, and the bulbs and ducts are essentially the same in all women. Size is mainly determined by how much fat the breasts contain. Most anatomists believe the breasts' primary means of support are the Cooper's ligaments interlaced among the lobules. But others give the skin more credit.
To best support breasts, a designer has to understand how they move. To that end, McGhee's team in Australia, headed by biomechanist Julie Steele, tags women with light-emitting diodes and asks them to run on treadmills. (The women run with and without bras, so the laboratory doors are bolted to prevent uninvited people from bursting in.) Computer systems then track the breasts' motions in three dimensions by following the moving lights. "We can actually work out exactly where they're going, how they're moving, and how this movement is affected by bras," Steele says. Breasts move in a sinusoidal pattern, Steele has found, and they move a lot. Small breasts can move more than three inches vertically during a jog, and large breasts sometimes leave their bras entirely. "We have videos of women who, particularly if the cup is too low, spill all over the top," Steele says.
The larger the breasts and the more they move, the more momentum they generate. To change or stop that momentum requires a large force, usually applied through bra straps. When straps are thin, the pressure exerted through them can be so great as to leave furrows in the shoulders of large-breasted women. As the straps dig into the brachial plexus, the nerve group that runs down the arm, they may cause numbness in the little finger. In some cases, breasts can slap against the chest with enough force to break the clavicle.
"Force equals mass times acceleration," Steele says. "That's Newton's second law. You have a large mass, and it's going quickly, and the force is going to be large. If you have breasts that are slapping down and hitting the chest and having to come back up, they accelerate very quickly." No one really knows the long-term medical consequences of "excessive breast bounce," as Steele calls it. But it can cause pain and is the most likely reason for sagging breasts.
There are two ways to keep breasts from moving: encapsulation and compression. Encapsulation bras look like the old-fashioned brassieres our grandmothers wore, with large molded cups that completely contain the breast. Compression bras are more popular but less comfortable: They squash the breasts against the body, thereby reducing the amount of weight the bra has to cantilever.
Since the 1800s, when women used corsets stiffened by whalebone to support their breasts, bra designers have experimented with innumerable structures and materials. "Making a bra is like building a bridge," says Manette Scheininger, a senior vice president of design, merchandising, and research and development at Maidenform. "You have weight that has to be uplifted. You have to have support all around." Larger breasts compound the challenge, Scheininger says. "And not just by a little bit. The challenge grows dramatically."
The first sports bra was created in 1977, when two American women took a pair of jockstraps, cut them apart, and sewed them back together. They dubbed their creation the Jogbra. Other bra designs since then have used gel and water pads, silver fibers that cool the skin and dispel bacterial growth and body odor, and air bags that wearers can pump up to enhance the appearance of their breasts. This past summer, a virtually stitchless bra was introduced by Wacoal, a leading manufacturer. The bra is molded, compressed, and shaped at the same time—"sort of like a car fender," Wacoal designer Linda Hyde says. Thanks to cylindrical hosiery machines, other bras can now be knit in circular patterns with differing amounts of stretch and support.
Steele's team is taking fabric technology another step. Six years ago, her laboratory, in collaboration with the University of Wollongong's Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, began work on the world's first smart bra. It uses intelligent materials and electronic textiles to sense when breast motion increases and tighten appropriate parts of the bra in response. "When you're sitting around the office, it isn't restrictive," Steele says. "But if you need to run for a bus or something, it will sense that you've started to run, and it will give you the support of a sports bra." Steele's lab has teamed up with Marks & Spencer, a major retailer in Britain, to further develop the project.
Meanwhile, McGhee and Steele have their sights set beyond tinkering with bra straps and fabrics. They are using Steele's extensive work on the biomechanics of breasts to explore an entirely new way of designing bras. Starting in the 1970s, podiatrists and biomechanists radically redesigned running shoes to make them lighter and more stable. Steele and McGhee hope to accomplish a similar paradigm shift and correct the problem with the most supportive bras: They are also rated the most uncomfortable. "We're not testing a product but a concept," says Steele. "What we're trying to bring in now is an idea that will not be a gimmick—understanding the structure, function, and the movement and putting them all together with the science underpinning it."
New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob is often credited with inventing the bra in 1914, but the first patent for a breast supporter was granted half a century earlier to Luman. L. Chapman of Camden, New Jersey. Bra manufacturer S.H. Camp and Company first matched breast sizes to the letters of the alphabet, A through D, in 1933.
Steele and McGhee are reluctant to divulge any details for fear of tipping off rival designers—"It's a really dirty game," McGhee says. But initial trials are under way while they stake out intellectual property rights. Given that more than 30 percent of American women now wear D cups and larger, the team shouldn't have trouble finding a commercial partner if they succeed. When it comes to bras, the usual rules of exercise are reversed: No pain, very much gain.
Source: http://discovermagazine.com/2005/nov/physics-of-bras
One side effect of the obesity epidemic in America is rarely noted: Women's chests are expanding nearly as fast as their bellies. Poor eating habits, as well as breast implants and the estrogens in birth-control pills, have led to an increase in the past 15 years of more than one bra size for the average American woman—from a 34B to a 36C. For many women, this has been a burdensome trend. A pair of D-cup breasts weighs between 15 and 23 pounds—the equivalent of carrying around two small turkeys. The larger the breasts, the more they move and the greater the discomfort. In one study, 56 percent of women suffered from breast pain when jogging.
"Women will limit themselves from doing exercise because of their breasts," says Deirdre McGhee, a sports physiotherapist and graduate student in biomechanics at the University of Wollongong in Australia. "They actually deprive themselves."
GHOST OF THE MACHINE
An x-ray scan of a bra reveals major structural elements, including straps, fasteners, and underwires.And the less they exercise, the more obese and buxom they may become.
For most women, a good bra is still the best remedy. According to the American Apparel and Footwear Association, nearly 500 million bras were sold in the United States in 2001; last year, sales totaled more than $5 billion. As breasts have grown, so have the demands of customers, the scientific sophistication of bra design, and the competition among bra manufacturers. "Women like their bras to be sexy and sensual and comfy and supportive," McGhee says. "And to get all that is rare." Yet after nearly a century of experimentation, the perfect bra may well be in sight.
Bra designers begin with a significant handicap: The structure of breasts is still something of a mystery. Evolutionary biologists aren't sure why breasts evolved as they did—chimpanzees and other mammals develop them only when lactating—and no one knows what keeps them from sagging. An individual breast is made up of between 15 and 20 sections, known as lobes. These are composed of smaller lobules that end in bulbs that produce milk and are interconnected by a network of ducts. But breasts contain no muscles at all, and the bulbs and ducts are essentially the same in all women. Size is mainly determined by how much fat the breasts contain. Most anatomists believe the breasts' primary means of support are the Cooper's ligaments interlaced among the lobules. But others give the skin more credit.
To best support breasts, a designer has to understand how they move. To that end, McGhee's team in Australia, headed by biomechanist Julie Steele, tags women with light-emitting diodes and asks them to run on treadmills. (The women run with and without bras, so the laboratory doors are bolted to prevent uninvited people from bursting in.) Computer systems then track the breasts' motions in three dimensions by following the moving lights. "We can actually work out exactly where they're going, how they're moving, and how this movement is affected by bras," Steele says. Breasts move in a sinusoidal pattern, Steele has found, and they move a lot. Small breasts can move more than three inches vertically during a jog, and large breasts sometimes leave their bras entirely. "We have videos of women who, particularly if the cup is too low, spill all over the top," Steele says.
The larger the breasts and the more they move, the more momentum they generate. To change or stop that momentum requires a large force, usually applied through bra straps. When straps are thin, the pressure exerted through them can be so great as to leave furrows in the shoulders of large-breasted women. As the straps dig into the brachial plexus, the nerve group that runs down the arm, they may cause numbness in the little finger. In some cases, breasts can slap against the chest with enough force to break the clavicle.
"Force equals mass times acceleration," Steele says. "That's Newton's second law. You have a large mass, and it's going quickly, and the force is going to be large. If you have breasts that are slapping down and hitting the chest and having to come back up, they accelerate very quickly." No one really knows the long-term medical consequences of "excessive breast bounce," as Steele calls it. But it can cause pain and is the most likely reason for sagging breasts.
There are two ways to keep breasts from moving: encapsulation and compression. Encapsulation bras look like the old-fashioned brassieres our grandmothers wore, with large molded cups that completely contain the breast. Compression bras are more popular but less comfortable: They squash the breasts against the body, thereby reducing the amount of weight the bra has to cantilever.
Since the 1800s, when women used corsets stiffened by whalebone to support their breasts, bra designers have experimented with innumerable structures and materials. "Making a bra is like building a bridge," says Manette Scheininger, a senior vice president of design, merchandising, and research and development at Maidenform. "You have weight that has to be uplifted. You have to have support all around." Larger breasts compound the challenge, Scheininger says. "And not just by a little bit. The challenge grows dramatically."
The first sports bra was created in 1977, when two American women took a pair of jockstraps, cut them apart, and sewed them back together. They dubbed their creation the Jogbra. Other bra designs since then have used gel and water pads, silver fibers that cool the skin and dispel bacterial growth and body odor, and air bags that wearers can pump up to enhance the appearance of their breasts. This past summer, a virtually stitchless bra was introduced by Wacoal, a leading manufacturer. The bra is molded, compressed, and shaped at the same time—"sort of like a car fender," Wacoal designer Linda Hyde says. Thanks to cylindrical hosiery machines, other bras can now be knit in circular patterns with differing amounts of stretch and support.
Steele's team is taking fabric technology another step. Six years ago, her laboratory, in collaboration with the University of Wollongong's Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, began work on the world's first smart bra. It uses intelligent materials and electronic textiles to sense when breast motion increases and tighten appropriate parts of the bra in response. "When you're sitting around the office, it isn't restrictive," Steele says. "But if you need to run for a bus or something, it will sense that you've started to run, and it will give you the support of a sports bra." Steele's lab has teamed up with Marks & Spencer, a major retailer in Britain, to further develop the project.
Meanwhile, McGhee and Steele have their sights set beyond tinkering with bra straps and fabrics. They are using Steele's extensive work on the biomechanics of breasts to explore an entirely new way of designing bras. Starting in the 1970s, podiatrists and biomechanists radically redesigned running shoes to make them lighter and more stable. Steele and McGhee hope to accomplish a similar paradigm shift and correct the problem with the most supportive bras: They are also rated the most uncomfortable. "We're not testing a product but a concept," says Steele. "What we're trying to bring in now is an idea that will not be a gimmick—understanding the structure, function, and the movement and putting them all together with the science underpinning it."
New York socialite Mary Phelps Jacob is often credited with inventing the bra in 1914, but the first patent for a breast supporter was granted half a century earlier to Luman. L. Chapman of Camden, New Jersey. Bra manufacturer S.H. Camp and Company first matched breast sizes to the letters of the alphabet, A through D, in 1933.
Steele and McGhee are reluctant to divulge any details for fear of tipping off rival designers—"It's a really dirty game," McGhee says. But initial trials are under way while they stake out intellectual property rights. Given that more than 30 percent of American women now wear D cups and larger, the team shouldn't have trouble finding a commercial partner if they succeed. When it comes to bras, the usual rules of exercise are reversed: No pain, very much gain.
Source: http://discovermagazine.com/2005/nov/physics-of-bras
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Avoid Bad Plastic Surgery - Ten Precautionary Steps
Bad celebrity plastic surgery consistently gets blizzards of media coverage. However, these mishaps are not confined to celebrities. Cosmetic surgical procedures can produce wonderful, sometimes astonishing transformations in appearance, feelings of self worth and self confidence. What the media barrage points up is that plastic surgery gone wrong has no respect for who you are.
If you are contemplating elective plastic surgery, what can you do to elude the polar opposite of a marvelous outcome? Here you'll see a roadmap to assist you in fulfilling your end of the equation to avoid what sometimes is popularly called "awful plastic surgery".
1. Ask if your doctor is Board Certified: Be sure that the cosmetic surgeon you select is board certified. The doctor you select choose be certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. This assures that the physician specializes in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, has received years of cosmetic surgery training, undergone stiff examinations and established the necessary competence in the specialty.
2. Verify that your Doctor specializes in the procedure you're seeking: A plastic surgeon whose specialty is breast implants may not be the best choice to rearrange your nose.
3. Your expectations should be realistic: While cosmetic surgical procedures can deliver astounding improvements in appearance, the precise aesthetics you desire, in reality, may not be attainable. Scrutinize your motives and be realistic and levelheaded.
4. Determine that your physical and emotional health is good: A complete examination of your past and present physical health, emotional health and motives for wanting plastic surgery should be conducted by your doctor.
5. STOP SMOKING! - if you're a smoker: Smoking can lead to complications and hinder achieving the desired result.
6. Consult at least one more physician: Too many unqualified fraudsters seek to entice patients in this field. They can sound very convincing. Be wary, and check, at a minimum, that they are a Board Certified plastic surgeon.
7. Get pictures and testimonials: Any doctor who has a good track record will show you pictures of former patients and provide testimonials. It's a good idea to see if you can speak with prior patients.
8. Be certain you understand the costs of cosmetic surgery: A doctor offering a cut rate may be unqualified. If you are considering leaving the United States for cheaper surgery, bear in mind that many other countries do not adhere to U.S. standards. Do the math, including air fare, hotel, meals, etc.
9. Be aware of the risks of plastic surgery: All surgeries carry risks. Among the risks are infection, anesthesia, reaction to medications, blood clots, respiratory difficulties and death. Plastic surgery is no different.
10. Think twice about having multiple surgical procedures done simultaneously: This poses increased risks, all of which should be discussed with you by your surgeon.
A couple of additional points need to be considered:
Cosmetic plastic surgery is elective and is not covered by most forms of medical insurance. For those on a limited budget, it's well to think about whether paying for surgery for cosmetic reasons will leave you so financially strapped that the anticipated outcome will fail to outweigh the distress of financial hardship.
This raises the question of having plastic surgery performed in another country. While costs can be substantially reduced in countries like Thailand, Brazil and India, you need to take into account the costs of air fare, hotels, meals, etc. Many seemingly attractive packages are promoted, but, in the final analysis, many people report that the only justifiable rationale for exiting the U.S. is for the sake of anonymity (many celebrities do this) or simply to mix the surgery with a vacation.
Your own common sense, armed with the information you assemble following the steps suggested here, will strengthen your chances of having a wonderful new you and preclude a bad plastic surgery outcome.
by Robert G. Knechtel
If you are contemplating elective plastic surgery, what can you do to elude the polar opposite of a marvelous outcome? Here you'll see a roadmap to assist you in fulfilling your end of the equation to avoid what sometimes is popularly called "awful plastic surgery".
1. Ask if your doctor is Board Certified: Be sure that the cosmetic surgeon you select is board certified. The doctor you select choose be certified by the American Board of Plastic Surgery. This assures that the physician specializes in cosmetic and reconstructive surgery, has received years of cosmetic surgery training, undergone stiff examinations and established the necessary competence in the specialty.
2. Verify that your Doctor specializes in the procedure you're seeking: A plastic surgeon whose specialty is breast implants may not be the best choice to rearrange your nose.
3. Your expectations should be realistic: While cosmetic surgical procedures can deliver astounding improvements in appearance, the precise aesthetics you desire, in reality, may not be attainable. Scrutinize your motives and be realistic and levelheaded.
4. Determine that your physical and emotional health is good: A complete examination of your past and present physical health, emotional health and motives for wanting plastic surgery should be conducted by your doctor.
5. STOP SMOKING! - if you're a smoker: Smoking can lead to complications and hinder achieving the desired result.
6. Consult at least one more physician: Too many unqualified fraudsters seek to entice patients in this field. They can sound very convincing. Be wary, and check, at a minimum, that they are a Board Certified plastic surgeon.
7. Get pictures and testimonials: Any doctor who has a good track record will show you pictures of former patients and provide testimonials. It's a good idea to see if you can speak with prior patients.
8. Be certain you understand the costs of cosmetic surgery: A doctor offering a cut rate may be unqualified. If you are considering leaving the United States for cheaper surgery, bear in mind that many other countries do not adhere to U.S. standards. Do the math, including air fare, hotel, meals, etc.
9. Be aware of the risks of plastic surgery: All surgeries carry risks. Among the risks are infection, anesthesia, reaction to medications, blood clots, respiratory difficulties and death. Plastic surgery is no different.
10. Think twice about having multiple surgical procedures done simultaneously: This poses increased risks, all of which should be discussed with you by your surgeon.
A couple of additional points need to be considered:
Cosmetic plastic surgery is elective and is not covered by most forms of medical insurance. For those on a limited budget, it's well to think about whether paying for surgery for cosmetic reasons will leave you so financially strapped that the anticipated outcome will fail to outweigh the distress of financial hardship.
This raises the question of having plastic surgery performed in another country. While costs can be substantially reduced in countries like Thailand, Brazil and India, you need to take into account the costs of air fare, hotels, meals, etc. Many seemingly attractive packages are promoted, but, in the final analysis, many people report that the only justifiable rationale for exiting the U.S. is for the sake of anonymity (many celebrities do this) or simply to mix the surgery with a vacation.
Your own common sense, armed with the information you assemble following the steps suggested here, will strengthen your chances of having a wonderful new you and preclude a bad plastic surgery outcome.
by Robert G. Knechtel
Thursday, April 12, 2007
One dress, two ways: Shape style director Jacqui Stafford finds the perfect desk-to-dinner dress
Q I want to buy one dress that works for all occasions. What do you recommend?
A You can't go wrong with a black strapless dress. Not only can you dress it up or down, but it flatters every body type from petite to large-chested. It also draws the eye upward, to the most sensual and elegant parts of a woman's body, her shoulders and decolletage. One of the most affordable options is the silk Ann Taylor "Jillian" dress ($188; anntaylor.com), pictured below. It has an Empire waist, so it cinches just below the bustline (the slimmest area on most women) then gently flares out to camouflage a fuller middle or pear shape. Make it casual with a feminine belted cardigan, ballet flats, and a chunky bag, or complement with sparkly heels and eye-catching jewelry for an elegant soiree.
Q I'd love to find a belt that looks as good with formal pants as it does with jeans. Any ideas?
A Our secret: Shop in the men's department. A classic men's belt adds flair to even the most casual pair of jeans, and it works beautifully with a more tailored pant. (Take the pants with you when you go shopping to make sure the belt fits through the belt loops.) Choose a plain leather band in black or chocolate with a midsize buckle. A large buckle looks good only if you're petite, whereas a smaller buckle is better if you're fuller on top (it gives the appearance of a longer torso).
Q My strapless bras all pinch my skin and won't stay up properly. What's the deal?
A It sounds like they're too small. Most women think they need a tighter band to keep a strapless bra in place, but it should be the same size as your regular one. Straps simply anchor the bra; breast support comes from the underwire or under-cup support panels. To be sure you're wearing the right size, have a fit specialist in the lingerie department measure you. (It turns out that 7 out of 10 women are wearing the wrong size bra!) Then turn the bra inside out and look for a stay-there power band that hugs the body. Another common strapless problem: color. If your top is black, pick a black bra; otherwise, the rule of thumb is to match the bra to your skin tone. Try the Lejaby Nuage strapless bra ($72; figleaves.com), which is available in five shades.
1 Milly cardigan ($472; 617-558-1855)
2 Treesje "Goleta" clutch ($150; select Bloomingdale's)
3 Rafe "Belgravia Reese" flat ($365; rafe.com)
DRESS IT UP
4 Carlos Falchi clutch ($350; at Saks Fifth Avenue stores)
5 Charles & Colvard Moissanite circle pendant ($1,740; at J.C. Penneys nationwide)
6 Stuart Weitzman "Cuando" stiletto ($375; stuart weitzman.com)
SPLURGE
$260 Gucci men's leather belt with elongated silver-knot buckle (gucci.com)
STEAL
$45 Landes toggle belt (landes.com)
One Perfect Bra
Maidenform One Fabulous Fit strapless bra ($29.50; maiden form.com)
COPYRIGHT 2006 Weider PublicationsCOPYRIGHT 2006 Gale Group
A You can't go wrong with a black strapless dress. Not only can you dress it up or down, but it flatters every body type from petite to large-chested. It also draws the eye upward, to the most sensual and elegant parts of a woman's body, her shoulders and decolletage. One of the most affordable options is the silk Ann Taylor "Jillian" dress ($188; anntaylor.com), pictured below. It has an Empire waist, so it cinches just below the bustline (the slimmest area on most women) then gently flares out to camouflage a fuller middle or pear shape. Make it casual with a feminine belted cardigan, ballet flats, and a chunky bag, or complement with sparkly heels and eye-catching jewelry for an elegant soiree.
Q I'd love to find a belt that looks as good with formal pants as it does with jeans. Any ideas?
A Our secret: Shop in the men's department. A classic men's belt adds flair to even the most casual pair of jeans, and it works beautifully with a more tailored pant. (Take the pants with you when you go shopping to make sure the belt fits through the belt loops.) Choose a plain leather band in black or chocolate with a midsize buckle. A large buckle looks good only if you're petite, whereas a smaller buckle is better if you're fuller on top (it gives the appearance of a longer torso).
Q My strapless bras all pinch my skin and won't stay up properly. What's the deal?
A It sounds like they're too small. Most women think they need a tighter band to keep a strapless bra in place, but it should be the same size as your regular one. Straps simply anchor the bra; breast support comes from the underwire or under-cup support panels. To be sure you're wearing the right size, have a fit specialist in the lingerie department measure you. (It turns out that 7 out of 10 women are wearing the wrong size bra!) Then turn the bra inside out and look for a stay-there power band that hugs the body. Another common strapless problem: color. If your top is black, pick a black bra; otherwise, the rule of thumb is to match the bra to your skin tone. Try the Lejaby Nuage strapless bra ($72; figleaves.com), which is available in five shades.
1 Milly cardigan ($472; 617-558-1855)
2 Treesje "Goleta" clutch ($150; select Bloomingdale's)
3 Rafe "Belgravia Reese" flat ($365; rafe.com)
DRESS IT UP
4 Carlos Falchi clutch ($350; at Saks Fifth Avenue stores)
5 Charles & Colvard Moissanite circle pendant ($1,740; at J.C. Penneys nationwide)
6 Stuart Weitzman "Cuando" stiletto ($375; stuart weitzman.com)
SPLURGE
$260 Gucci men's leather belt with elongated silver-knot buckle (gucci.com)
STEAL
$45 Landes toggle belt (landes.com)
One Perfect Bra
Maidenform One Fabulous Fit strapless bra ($29.50; maiden form.com)
COPYRIGHT 2006 Weider PublicationsCOPYRIGHT 2006 Gale Group
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
Breast Feeding and Birth Control
Many women who have just delivered a baby want to use methods to make sure that they do not conceive again until they are ready. While not all women choose to breast feed, many women do choose breast feeding and wonder about how birth control use while breast feeding will affect their baby. Before you start taking birth control while you are breast feeding your new baby, it is important that you consider your options and the positive and negative aspects of each option before you make your final decision. There are three basic methods of birth control that are available to you, including hormonal birth control, non-hormonal birth control, and the Lactational Amenorrhea Method of birth control.
Hormonal Birth Control The first type of birth control method you may be considering is hormonal birth control. There are both progestin birth control contraceptives and combination contraceptives that consist of both progestin and estrogen. While some believe that hormonal birth control use while breast feeding can cause problems for the baby, there are no actual studies that prove this; however, this type of birth control should be used with caution. Before you decide on hormonal birth control, be sure to weigh all of your options carefully to make sure this is what you really want and need. If you decide on taking progestin contraceptives, it is suggested that you wait for about three weeks after you deliver to start taking these pills. If you decide on taking estrogen contraceptives, you should probably wait at least six weeks after having your baby to start taking this kind of contraceptive. It is important to note that while progestin can actually increase your amount of breast milk, estrogen can decrease the amount of milk you produce, which may cause problems in the future.
Non-Hormonal Birth Control Another type of birth control that many women consider after they have their baby is non-hormonal birth control. This is viewed as one of the best types birth control to use since there are no negative effects caused to the baby from birth control use while breast feeding with any of the non-hormonal methods that are available. Some types of non-hormonal types of birth control include diaphragms, spermicide, condoms, vaginal sponges, and a cervical cap. For women who choose to use a diaphragm, they need to make sure that they are fitted for a new one after having a baby. Most of the time there are changes to the cervix after childbirth and failing to be refitted may result in the failure of the diaphragm.
Lactational Amenorrhea Method of Birth Control One method of birth control that many women are unfamiliar with is the Lactational Amenorrhea Method of birth control. Using this type of birth control while breast feeding is very natural; however, it is important that you understand how it works in order for it to be effective for you. This type of birth control is specifically for women who have yet to get their period, who are providing more than 90% of the nutrition for their child, plan to nurse their baby for more than six months, and breast feed an average of every four hours. Breast feeding this much can actually provide women with natural contraception and can last up to six months. It is very important that women are meeting all of the criteria for this method, though, or it may not be effective for them.
As a nursing mother, you need to be informed about the various types of birth control available and how it can affect you and your baby while breast feeding. Once you have the facts, you can decide which method will work best for you. Birth control use while breast feeding is possible, and it can be very safe if you choose the best methods for you and your child.
by MiShaun Taylor
Hormonal Birth Control The first type of birth control method you may be considering is hormonal birth control. There are both progestin birth control contraceptives and combination contraceptives that consist of both progestin and estrogen. While some believe that hormonal birth control use while breast feeding can cause problems for the baby, there are no actual studies that prove this; however, this type of birth control should be used with caution. Before you decide on hormonal birth control, be sure to weigh all of your options carefully to make sure this is what you really want and need. If you decide on taking progestin contraceptives, it is suggested that you wait for about three weeks after you deliver to start taking these pills. If you decide on taking estrogen contraceptives, you should probably wait at least six weeks after having your baby to start taking this kind of contraceptive. It is important to note that while progestin can actually increase your amount of breast milk, estrogen can decrease the amount of milk you produce, which may cause problems in the future.
Non-Hormonal Birth Control Another type of birth control that many women consider after they have their baby is non-hormonal birth control. This is viewed as one of the best types birth control to use since there are no negative effects caused to the baby from birth control use while breast feeding with any of the non-hormonal methods that are available. Some types of non-hormonal types of birth control include diaphragms, spermicide, condoms, vaginal sponges, and a cervical cap. For women who choose to use a diaphragm, they need to make sure that they are fitted for a new one after having a baby. Most of the time there are changes to the cervix after childbirth and failing to be refitted may result in the failure of the diaphragm.
Lactational Amenorrhea Method of Birth Control One method of birth control that many women are unfamiliar with is the Lactational Amenorrhea Method of birth control. Using this type of birth control while breast feeding is very natural; however, it is important that you understand how it works in order for it to be effective for you. This type of birth control is specifically for women who have yet to get their period, who are providing more than 90% of the nutrition for their child, plan to nurse their baby for more than six months, and breast feed an average of every four hours. Breast feeding this much can actually provide women with natural contraception and can last up to six months. It is very important that women are meeting all of the criteria for this method, though, or it may not be effective for them.
As a nursing mother, you need to be informed about the various types of birth control available and how it can affect you and your baby while breast feeding. Once you have the facts, you can decide which method will work best for you. Birth control use while breast feeding is possible, and it can be very safe if you choose the best methods for you and your child.
by MiShaun Taylor
Friday, March 30, 2007
Stop Excessive Drinking To Protect Your Breast Health
Medical experts recommend the following measures to best protect your breasts while maximizing your overall health:
Do not use underarm deodorant that contains aluminum salts or other compounds. Aluminum is a heavy metal that can enter the blood and lymph systems through the skin and severely challenge the immune system.
Eat a well-balanced diet - Include lots of fruits and vegetables, and keep your intake of fried foods, red meat, and junk food to a bare minimum. Prevent taking hydrogenated fats like margarine and vegetable shortening. (Be conscious of products that are in many store-bought crackers, cakes, and cookies - even health-store brands.) Cook with olive, peanut, sunflower, or sesame oils and butter or - better still - clarified butter (ghee) on bread.
Sensuality and sexuality are not opposed to or the enemy of spirituality. Celebrate the sensuality of your body!
Avoid excessive drinking of alcoholic beverages - Some studies indicate there may be a link between drinking alcohol and an increase risk for breast cancer. Occasional red / white wine is fine or rather it benefits your health.
Enjoy nurturing yourself. You need to massage your breasts and/or pamper yourself with a massage or your favorite spa treatment. It is a MUST survival skill.
Take in supplements such as vitamins E, C, and B-complex as well as minerals. When your stress level is high, eat mineral-rich sea vegetables or take mineral supplements.
Do exercises that involve the movements of your shoulders and build up your chest and upper arm strength regularly
Expose your breasts to sun and moonlight. It feels good to experience the sun, sea, and air on the rest of your body at topless beaches or in the privacy of your back yard!
Put on underwear that is comfortable, natural fiber (i.e. cotton). Wearing bras that have under wires or that are strapless will push the breast up and/or make red marks weaken supporting muscles and constrict lymph tissue. If they are worn often or for long periods will make the breasts sag and allow toxins to build up in your breast tissue.
The above information is found in Ms Yvonne Lee, internationally acclaimed book "To All Women Who Want To Enhance Their Breasts Naturally, But Don't Know How To Start". It describes and details the most important breast enhancement techniques from every corner of the world. Author Yvonne Lee, provides an unbiased pro-and-con analysis of each technique, in addition to practical information such as how and where to get it, cost, and potential impact on insurance coverage. The ebook version of the book is now available at:
http://www.breastenhancementbook.com
by Julie Walker
Monday, March 26, 2007
Tuesday, March 20, 2007
The Ghost of the Silicone Implants Returns
No, not poltergeists: Breast implants filled with silicone gel.
For women who've had a bad experience with implants, that news may be little better than a visit from an angry apparition. There are women around the world who hold silicone breast implants responsible for their autoimmune disease or cancer. These women must be shaking their heads in amazement: Why are silicone implants available again?
The way this question is answered says a lot about the role you think the government should play in your healthcare. Is it the role of government to minimize all danger, or is it their role to make sure we are aware of dangers, and then leave the final decision to us, the individuals?
Silicone implants still aren't "safe," depending on how you define that word. Even the Mentor company, which manufactures saline and silicone implants, acknowledges that implants can cause some health complications. These may include "hardening of the area around the implant, breast pain, change in nipple sensation, implant rupture and the need for additional surgery," says spokesperson Melissa Vayra. And the FDA is on record saying that a woman getting breast implants needs to understand that there is a significant chance she will need additional breast implant surgery in the future. Ruptured implants can go undetected and silicone can migrate in the body, even into organs. This escaped silicone can form lumps, and some of it may be impossible to remove from the body.
Sounds nasty. But none of these side effects, in isolation, represent a grave threat to a woman's health. On the question of silicone implants' role in causing autoimmune disease or cancer, the prosthetic devices fare better: the large majority of studies and trials conducted since silicone implants were taken off the open market back in 1992 have failed to show a link between silicone implants and the development of these serious diseases. While it's impossible to say that they do not have some still-undetected part to play in ill health, to quote the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (SGKBCF), "the overwhelming body of evidence does not support the existence of a link between silicone breast implants and major diseases of the body..."
If you believe that the government's role in healthcare includes protecting us from ourselves, you may want silicone breast implants to remain off the market. According to the SGKBCF, only 20-percent of breast implants are related to medical need (for example, breast reconstruction). Multiple implant surgeries, pain, loss of sensation and migrating silicone may sound like a high price to pay for a fundamentally cosmetic procedure.
But the question is, do you - or the government - have the right to make that choice for women who are willing to pay the price? The substantiated hazards of silicone implants are well-documented; information on the risks is available. And many women, clearly, think the risks are worth it.
by Kristen Kelly
For women who've had a bad experience with implants, that news may be little better than a visit from an angry apparition. There are women around the world who hold silicone breast implants responsible for their autoimmune disease or cancer. These women must be shaking their heads in amazement: Why are silicone implants available again?
The way this question is answered says a lot about the role you think the government should play in your healthcare. Is it the role of government to minimize all danger, or is it their role to make sure we are aware of dangers, and then leave the final decision to us, the individuals?
Silicone implants still aren't "safe," depending on how you define that word. Even the Mentor company, which manufactures saline and silicone implants, acknowledges that implants can cause some health complications. These may include "hardening of the area around the implant, breast pain, change in nipple sensation, implant rupture and the need for additional surgery," says spokesperson Melissa Vayra. And the FDA is on record saying that a woman getting breast implants needs to understand that there is a significant chance she will need additional breast implant surgery in the future. Ruptured implants can go undetected and silicone can migrate in the body, even into organs. This escaped silicone can form lumps, and some of it may be impossible to remove from the body.
Sounds nasty. But none of these side effects, in isolation, represent a grave threat to a woman's health. On the question of silicone implants' role in causing autoimmune disease or cancer, the prosthetic devices fare better: the large majority of studies and trials conducted since silicone implants were taken off the open market back in 1992 have failed to show a link between silicone implants and the development of these serious diseases. While it's impossible to say that they do not have some still-undetected part to play in ill health, to quote the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation (SGKBCF), "the overwhelming body of evidence does not support the existence of a link between silicone breast implants and major diseases of the body..."
If you believe that the government's role in healthcare includes protecting us from ourselves, you may want silicone breast implants to remain off the market. According to the SGKBCF, only 20-percent of breast implants are related to medical need (for example, breast reconstruction). Multiple implant surgeries, pain, loss of sensation and migrating silicone may sound like a high price to pay for a fundamentally cosmetic procedure.
But the question is, do you - or the government - have the right to make that choice for women who are willing to pay the price? The substantiated hazards of silicone implants are well-documented; information on the risks is available. And many women, clearly, think the risks are worth it.
by Kristen Kelly
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
The Wonders of Strapless Bras
Strapless bras are one of the most dangerous bras you'll ever wear. Why is that, you say? Well, it's not because the underwire's any more likely to pop out and stab you in the side. It's not because they're made from cancer-causing materials (they're not!). It's because you just might die of embarrassment if you don't get the right fit.
One wrong move in an ill-fitting strapless--especially one with built-in padding--and you could have breasts down on your stomach. First it slides down an inch or so, making you uncomfortable. You can't adjust in public at the moment, so you squeeze your arms to your sides and hope no one can see what's happening. Then, what do you know, the bra's around your waist, leaving your assets uncovered and adding a few extra lumps to your midsection.
Why bother with a strapless, right? You can get the right fit. Then you can wear those halters, tanks, tube tops and strapless dresses with confidence and support.
Strapless bras can also be very versatile bras. If you buy a convertible bra, you can have strapless, two-straps, one strap, halter or criss-cross. A girl needs options! The straps are easily removable. You can even buy cute straps at department stores and lingerie boutiques to replace a boring set of white ones with if you think they may peak out.
One wrong move in an ill-fitting strapless--especially one with built-in padding--and you could have breasts down on your stomach. First it slides down an inch or so, making you uncomfortable. You can't adjust in public at the moment, so you squeeze your arms to your sides and hope no one can see what's happening. Then, what do you know, the bra's around your waist, leaving your assets uncovered and adding a few extra lumps to your midsection.
Why bother with a strapless, right? You can get the right fit. Then you can wear those halters, tanks, tube tops and strapless dresses with confidence and support.
Strapless bras can also be very versatile bras. If you buy a convertible bra, you can have strapless, two-straps, one strap, halter or criss-cross. A girl needs options! The straps are easily removable. You can even buy cute straps at department stores and lingerie boutiques to replace a boring set of white ones with if you think they may peak out.
Friday, March 09, 2007
Baby Doll Lingerie Emphasises And Supports Your Bust As Well As Showing Off Your
A Baby doll is a short night gown consisting of a robe or loose top and matching bottoms. This lingerie is often trimmed with lace, ruffles, fur, bows and ribbons. Sometimes you can also find spaghetti straps.
The top is normally loose fitting and is usually just below the bust line and is short, ending at or just below your rear. Baby doll sets are available in a wide variety of fabrics from silk, satin to sheer lace.
A baby doll nightie with will provide support for your breasts while letting you flaunt what you got below. Baby doll lingerie is flattering and feminine and puts emphasise on the bust and takes the attention off your waist.
Baby Doll Lingerie In Pinstripe And Lace
This type of baby doll lingerie has stretch lace and micro fiber stripe and adjustable straps. This set includes matching thongs and costs around £22.47.
Baby Doll Lingerie In Chantilly Lace
This baby doll piece and thong are made from Chantilly lace. This has a lace up front and black floral lace with spaghetti straps and costs around £19.66. A really sexy piece!
Satin Baby Doll Item And Thong Panty
This item is made from stretch satin and comes with a side slit hem. It also has spaghetti straps and black lace trimmings. A thong panty is also available with this set and costs around £19.00.
BabyDoll in Lace Fishnet
This is an attractive baby doll piece with lace and fishnet. This baby doll dress has a ribbon lace up in front and costs around £13.00.
Baby Doll Dress With A G-String In Sheer Chiffon
This type of baby doll dress is made from sheer chiffon, with floral embroidered accents. It also has a sheer gathered front. This has adjustable straps and matching G-strings and costs around £21.00.
Blush Baby Doll Lingerie Pieces
This is a sheer baby doll piece which has a front ribbon fastening. The lace top fishnet holdups provide added beauty to this baby doll dress and costs around £35.
Baby doll lingerie items come in various styles and fantastic colours. You will be sure to have a fantastic time with this piece of sexy lingerie.
by Kalwant Rana
The top is normally loose fitting and is usually just below the bust line and is short, ending at or just below your rear. Baby doll sets are available in a wide variety of fabrics from silk, satin to sheer lace.
A baby doll nightie with will provide support for your breasts while letting you flaunt what you got below. Baby doll lingerie is flattering and feminine and puts emphasise on the bust and takes the attention off your waist.
Baby Doll Lingerie In Pinstripe And Lace
This type of baby doll lingerie has stretch lace and micro fiber stripe and adjustable straps. This set includes matching thongs and costs around £22.47.
Baby Doll Lingerie In Chantilly Lace
This baby doll piece and thong are made from Chantilly lace. This has a lace up front and black floral lace with spaghetti straps and costs around £19.66. A really sexy piece!
Satin Baby Doll Item And Thong Panty
This item is made from stretch satin and comes with a side slit hem. It also has spaghetti straps and black lace trimmings. A thong panty is also available with this set and costs around £19.00.
BabyDoll in Lace Fishnet
This is an attractive baby doll piece with lace and fishnet. This baby doll dress has a ribbon lace up in front and costs around £13.00.
Baby Doll Dress With A G-String In Sheer Chiffon
This type of baby doll dress is made from sheer chiffon, with floral embroidered accents. It also has a sheer gathered front. This has adjustable straps and matching G-strings and costs around £21.00.
Blush Baby Doll Lingerie Pieces
This is a sheer baby doll piece which has a front ribbon fastening. The lace top fishnet holdups provide added beauty to this baby doll dress and costs around £35.
Baby doll lingerie items come in various styles and fantastic colours. You will be sure to have a fantastic time with this piece of sexy lingerie.
by Kalwant Rana
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