Bras Gone Bad - My Straps Keep Slipping

At first glance, you would think the average bra is a fairly simple piece of clothing to fit and wear. As we ladies know, this simply isn't the case. Getting the perfect fit is something akin to quantum physics. Problems like slipping straps seem to crop up all the time.

How do we deal with slipping bra straps? Well, the first step is to stop and make sure we understand how the bra is supposed to work. To understand, just picture a strapless bra in your mind. Since there are no straps, the support must be coming from somewhere else, right? The band running around the bottom of the bra should be providing the vast majority of support. This fact does not change simply because a bra has straps. If the straps on your bra are providing more than 10 to 20 percent of the support, you have things all wrong and should go see a bra consultant.

Since your straps are slipping off, we'll assume you have the bottom up support approach correct. Still, slipping straps are annoying and a bit unsightly when you have to keep reaching up to put them back up on your shoulder. The fix is usually not too difficult. We just need to figure out the cause.

The most common cause of strap slippage is rather obvious. Your cup size is too large for your body. This gives the cup room to bend forward and back where the strap connects to it. This has the practical effect of changing the bra size, which makes it impossible to get the straps just right. The fix for this problem is to switch to a bra with the appropriate cup size.

Another problem that has popped up in recent years is trend oriented. Ah, trends - the cure and cause of all our problems. Regardless, the trend we are discussing here are wide shoulder strap bras. These bras intentionally place the straps towards the edge of the shoulder to create more of a pushed up bra with deep cleavage look. The look is good, but many women don't have the shoulder shape to support the straps. If your shoulders are nearly horizontal across the top, then the bra is no problem. If they curve, however, the straps will tend to slide off when you lean, twist or do anything that creates a slight bit of slack.

The cure for this problem is to ditch this style of bra. I know it hurts to miss a good trend, but the pain is much less than the cumulative annoyance of having to deal with your bra straps every couple of minutes. Consider using a racerback bra to take care of the problem.