The Fever Lever Center

“It is a bone-deep change you are going into, my beloved,” counsels Grandmother Growth. “You must open to your very marrow for this transformation. No cell is to remain untouched. You are to open more than you ever dreamed you could open, more than you have opened in birth or in passion. You open now to the breath of mortality as it plays the bone flute of your being. What can you do but dance to the haunting melody, develop a passion for an elegant posture and a long stride?

“Ah, yes,” Grandmother Growth smiles rather wantonly. “It would do you well to develop a taste for dark greens tarted with vinegar and mated with garlic. These things will build strong flexible bones to support you as you become Crone.”

Did you know that your bones are always changing? Every day of your life, some bone cells die and some new bone cells are created. From birth until your early 30s, you can easily make lots of bone cells. So long as your diet supplies the necessary nutrients, you not only replace bone cells that die, you have extras left over to lengthen and strengthen your bones.

Past the age of 35, new bone cells are more difficult to make. Sometimes there is a shortfall: more bone cells die than you can replace. In the orthodox view, this is the beginning of osteoporosis, the disease of low bone mass. By the age of forty, many American women have begun to lose bone mass; by the age of fifty, most are told they must take hormones or drugs to prevent further loss and avoid osteoporosis, hip fracture, and death.

Women who exercise regularly and eat calcium-rich foods enter their menopausal years with better bone mass than women who sit a lot and consume calcium-leaching foods (including soy “milk,” tofu, coffee, soda pop, alcohol, white flour products, processed meats, nutritional yeast, and bran). But no matter how good your lifestyle choices, bone mass usually decreases during the menopausal years.

For unknown reasons, menopausal bones slow down production of new cells and seem to ignore the presence of calcium. This “bone-pause” is generally short-lived, occurring off and on for five to seven years. I noticed it in scattered episodes of falling hair, breaking fingernails, and the same “growing pains” I experienced during puberty.

I did not see it in a bone scan, because I didn’t have one.

The idea behind bone scans is a good one: find women who are at risk of broken bones, alert them to the danger, and help them engage in preventative strategies. There’s only one problem: bone scans don’t find women who are at risk of broken bones, they find women who have low bone density.

I would like to help you let go of the idea that osteoporosis is important. In the Wise Woman Tradition, we focus on the patient, not the problem. In the Wise Woman tradition, there are no diseases and no cures for diseases. When we focus on a disease, like osteoporosis, we cannot see the whole woman. The more we focus on one disease, even its prevention, the less likely we are to nourish wholeness and health.

Focusing on osteoporosis, defining it as a disease, using drugs to counter it, we lose sight of the fact that postmenopausal bone mass is a better indicator of breast cancer risk than broken bone risk. The twenty-five percent of postmenopausal women with the highest bone mass are two-and-a-half to four times more likely to be diagnosed with breast cancer than those with the lowest bone mass. And that hormones which maintain bone mass also adversely affect breast cancer risk. Women who take estrogen replacement (often given to prevent osteoporosis), even for as little as five years, increase their risk of breast cancer by twenty percent; if they take hormone replacement, the risk increases by forty percent.

Focusing on bone mass, we lose sight of the fact that a strong correlation between bone density and bone breakage has not been established, according to Susan Brown, director of the Osteoporosis Information Clearing House, and many others. We lose sight of the fact that women who faithfully take estrogen or hormone replacement still experience bone changes and suffer spinal crush fractures.

Bone-pause passes and the bones do rebuild themselves, especially when supported by nourishing herbs, which are exceptional sources of bone-building minerals and better at preventing bone breaks than supplements. The minerals in green plants seem to be ideal for keeping bones healthy. Dr. Campbell, Professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University, has done extensive research in rural China where the lowest known fracture rates for midlife and older women were found. He says, “The closer people get to a diet based on plant foods and leafy vegetables, the lower the rates of many diseases, including osteoporosis.” Women who consume lots of calcium-rich plants and exercise moderately build strong flexible bones. Women who rely on hormones build bones that are massive, but rigid.

Hormone replacement regimes do not increase bone cell creation; they slow (or suppress) bone cell killers (osteoclasts). There is a rebound effect; bone loss jumps when the hormones are stopped. Women who take hormones for five years or more are as much as four times more likely to break a bone in the year after they stop than a woman of the same age who never took hormones. Women who build better bones with green allies and exercise nourish the bone cell creator cells (osteoblasts).

Hormone or estrogen replacement, taken as menopause begins and continued for the rest of your life, is said to reduce post-menopausal fracture rates by 40-60 percent. Frequent walks (you don’t even need to sweat) and a diet high in calcium-rich green allies (at least 1500 mg daily) have been shown to reduce post-menopausal fractures by 50 percent. The first is expensive and dangerous. The second, inexpensive and health promoting. It’s easy to see why more than eighty percent of American women just “say no” to hormones. It is never too late to build better bones, and it is never too soon. Your best insurance for a fracture-free, strong-boned cronehood is to build better bones before menopause. The more exercise and calcium-rich green allies you get in your younger years, the less you’ll have to worry about as you age.

“A woman has lost half of all the spongy bone (spine, wrist) she’ll ever lose by the age of 50, but very little of the dense (hip, hand, forearm) bone. Attention to bone formation at every stage of life is vital; there is no time when you are too old to create healthy new bone.” - American MD

CALCIUM

“Osteoporosis is much less common in countries that consume the least calcium. That is an undisputed fact.” -T. C. Campbell, PhD. Nutritional Biochemistry

Step 1: Collect Information

Calcium is, without a doubt, the most important mineral in your body. In fact, calcium makes up more than half of the total mineral content of your body. Calcium is crucial to the regular beating of your heart, your metabolism, the functioning of your muscles, the flow of impulses along your nerves, the regulation of your cellular membranes, the strength of your bones, the health of your teeth and gums, and your vital blood-clotting mechanisms. Calcium is so critical to your life that you have a gland (the parathyroid) that does little else than monitor blood levels of calcium and secrete hormones to ensure optimum levels of calcium at all times.

When you consume more calcium than you use, you are in a positive calcium balance: extra usable calcium is stored in the bones and you gain bone mass (insoluble or unusable calcium may be excreted, or stored in soft tissue, or deposited in the joints). When you consume less calcium than you use, you are in a negative calcium balance: the parathyroid produces a hormone that releases calcium stores from the bones, and you lose bone mass.

To ensure a positive calcium balance and create strong, flexible bones for your menopausal journey, take care to:

• Eat three or more calcium-rich foods daily.
  
• Avoid calcium antagonists.
  
• Use synergistic foods to magnify the effectiveness of calcium.
  
• Avoid calcium supplements.

Step 2: Engage the Energy

• The homeopathic tissue salt Silica is said to improve bone health.

• What does it mean to you to support yourself? To be supported? To stand on your own? To have a backbone in your life?

Step 3: Nourish & Tonify

• What do we need to make strong flexible bones? Like all tissues, bones need protein. They need minerals (not just calcium, but also potassium, manganese, magnesium, silica, iron, zinc, selenium, boron, phosphorus, sulphur, chromium, and dozens of others). And in order to use those minerals, high-quality fats, including oil-soluble vitamin D.

• Many menopausal women I meet believe that protein is bad for their bones. Not so. Researchers at Utah State University, looking at the diets of 32,000 postmenopausal women, found that women who ate the least protein were the most likely to fracture a hip; and that eating extra protein sped the healing of hip fractures.

• Acids created by protein digestion are buffered by calcium. Traditional diets combine calcium- and protein-rich foods (e.g. seaweed with tofu, tortillas made from corn ground on limestone with beans, and melted cheese on a hamburger). Herbs such as seaweed, stinging nettle, oatstraw, red clover, dandelion, and comfrey leaf are rich in protein and provide plenty of calcium too. Foods such as tahini, sardines, canned salmon, yogurt, cheese, oatmeal, and goats’ milk offer us protein, generous amounts of calcium, and the healthy fats our bones need. If you crave more protein during menopause, follow that craving. CAUTION: Unfermented soy (e.g., tofu) is especially detrimental to bone health being protein-rich, naturally deficient in calcium, and a calcium antagonist to boot.

• Bones need lots of minerals not just calcium, which is brittle and inflexible. (Think of chalk, calcium carbonate, and how easily it breaks.) Avoid calcium supplements. Focus on getting generous amounts of calcium from herbs and foods and you will automatically get the multitude of minerals you need for flexible bones.

• Because minerals are bulky, and do not compact, we must consume generous amounts to make a difference in our health. Taking mineral-rich herbs in capsule or tincture form won’t do much for your bones. (One cup of nettle tincture contains the same amount of calcium - 300 mg - as one cup of nettle infusion. Many women drink two or more cups of infusion a day; no one consumes a cup of tincture a day!) Neither will eating raw foods. I frequently come across the idea that cooking robs food of nutrition. Nothing could be further from the truth. Cooking maximizes the minerals available to your bones. Kale cooked for an hour delivers far more calcium than lightly steamed kale. Minerals are rock-like, and to extract them, we need heat, time, and generous quantities of plant material.

• Green sources of calcium are the best. Nourishing herbs and garden weeds are far richer in minerals than ordinary greens, which are already exceptional sources of nutrients.

• But calcium from green sources alone is not enough. We need calcium from white sources as well. Add a quart of yogurt a week to your diet if you want really healthy bones. Because the milk has been changed by Lactobacillus organisms, its calcium, other minerals, proteins, and sugars (no lactose) are more easily digested. This carries over, enhancing calcium and mineral absorption from other foods, too. (I have known several vegans who increased their very low bone density by as much as 6 percent in one year by eating yogurt.) Organic raw milk cheeses are another superb white source.

• Horsetail herb (Equisetum arvense) works like a charm for those premenopausal women who have periodontal bone loss or difficulty with fracture healing. Taken as tea, once or twice a day, young spring-gathered horsetail dramatically strengthens bones and promotes rapid mending of breaks. CAUTION: Mature horsetail contains substances which may irritate the kidneys.

Step 4: Stimulate/Sedate

• Beware of calcium antagonists. Certain foods interfere with calcium utilization. For better bones avoid consistent use of:
  • Greens rich in oxalic acid, including chard (silver beet), beet greens, spinach, rhubarb.
    
  • Unfermented soy products, including tofu, soy beverages, soy burgers.
    
  • Phosphorus-rich foods, including carbonated drinks, white flour products, and many processed foods. (Teenagers who drink sodas instead of milk are four times more likely to break a bone.)
    
  • Foods that produce acids requiring a calcium buffer when excreted in the urine, including coffee, white sugar, tobacco, alcohol, nutritional yeast, salt.
    
  • Fluoride in water or toothpaste.
    
  • Fiber pills, bran taken alone, bulk-producing laxatives.
    
  • Steroid medications, including corticosteroids such as prednisone and asthma inhalers. (Daily use reduces spinal bone mass by as much as ten percent a year.)
    
  • Restricted calorie diets. Women who weigh the least have the greatest loss of bone during menopause and “neither calcium supplements, vitamin D supplements, nor estrogen” slow the loss. Among 236 premenopausal women, all of whom consumed similar amounts of calcium, those who lost weight by reducing calories lost twice as much bone mass as women who maintained their weight.

• Although chocolate contains oxalic acid, the levels are so low as to have only a negligible effect on calcium metabolism. An ounce/3000 mg of chocolate binds 15-20 mg of calcium; an ounce of cooked spinach, 100-125 mg calcium. Bittersweet (dark) chocolate is a source of iron. Recent research has found chocolate to be very heart healthy. As with any stimulant, daily use is not advised. Chocolate is an important and helpful ally for women. Guilt about eating it and belief that it is damaging to your health interferes with your ability to hear and respond to your body wisdom. If you want to eat chocolate - do it; and get the best. But if you’re doing it every day - eat more weeds.

• Excess phosphorus accelerates bone loss and demineralization. Phosphorus compounds are second only to salt as food additives. They are found in carbonated beverages, soda pop; white flour products, especially if “enriched” (bagels, cookies, cakes, donuts, pasta, bread); preserved meats (bacon, ham, sausage, lunch meat, and hot dogs); supermarket breakfast cereals; canned fruit; processed potato products such as frozen fries and instant mashed potatoes; processed cheeses; instant soups and puddings.

• To avoid phosphorus overload and improve calcium absorption:
  • Drink spring water and herbal infusions; avoid soda pop and carbonated water.
    
  • Eat only whole grain breads, noodles, cookies, and crackers.
    
  • Buy only unpreserved meats, cheeses, potatoes.
    
  • Avoid buying foods with ingredients; they are highly processed.

• Excess salt leaches calcium. Women eating 3900 mg of sodium a day excrete 30 percent more calcium than those eating 1600 mg. The main sources of dietary sodium are processed and canned foods. Seaweed is an excellent calcium-rich source of salt. Sea salt may be used freely as it contains trace amounts of calcium. Salt is critical for health; do not eliminate it from your diet.

• Increase hydrochloric acid production (in your stomach) and you’ll make better use of the calcium you consume. Lower stomach acid (with antacids, for example) and you will receive little bone benefit from the calcium you ingest. Some ways to acidify:
  • Drink lemon juice in water with or after your meal.
    
  • Take 10-25 drops dandelion root tincture in a little water before you eat.
    
  • Use calcium-rich herbal vinegars in your salad dressing; put some on cooked greens and beans, too.

Step 5a: Use Supplements

• I really wish you wouldn’t use calcium supplements. They expose you to dangers and don’t prevent fractures. A study in Australia that followed 10,000 white women over the age of 65 for six and a half years found “Use of calcium supplements was associated with increased risk of hip and vertebral fracture; use of Tums antacid tablets was associated with increased risk of fractures of the proximal humerus.”

• If you insist on supplements, go for calcium-fortified orange juice or crumbly tablets of calcium citrate. Chewable calcium gluconate, calcium lactate, and calcium carbonate are acceptable sources. Dolomite, bone meal, and oyster shell are best avoided as they usually contain lead and other undesirable minerals.

• For better bones, take 500 mg magnesium (not citrate) with your calcium. Better yet, wash your calcium pill down with a glass of herbal infusion; that will provide not only magnesium but lots of other bone-strengthening minerals, too.

• Calcium supplements are more effective in divided doses. Two doses of 250 mg, taken morning and night, actually provide more usable calcium than a 1000 mg tablet.

Step 5b: Use Drugs

Even if you take hormone therapy (ERT or HRT) you must get adequate calcium to maintain bone mass, according to researchers at Columbia University. That’s 1200-1500 mg a day (a cup of plain yogurt, two cups of nettle infusion, a splash of mineral-rich vinegar, plus three figs is about that). As you increase your intake of calcium-rich foods/herbs, gradually cut back on your hormone dose if you wish.

Step 6: Break & Enter

Bone density tests are frequently used to push women into taking hormones or drugs. If your bone density is low, use the remedies in this section and schedule another test (for at least six months later) before agreeing to such therapies.

Susun Weed
PO Box 64
Woodstock, NY 12498
Fax: 1-845-246-8081

Visit Susun Weed at: www.susunweed.com and www.ashtreepublishing.com

For permission to reprint this article, contact us at: susunweed@herbshealing.com

Vibrant, passionate, and involved, Susun Weed has garnered an international reputation for her groundbreaking lectures, teachings, and writings on health and nutrition. She challenges conventional medical approaches with humor, insight, and her vast encyclopedic knowledge of herbal medicine. Unabashedly pro-woman, her animated and enthusiastic lectures are engaging and often profoundly provocative.

Susun is one of America’s best-known authorities on herbal medicine and natural approaches to women’s health. Her four best-selling books are recommended by expert herbalists and well-known physicians and are used and cherished by millions of women around the world. Learn more at www.susunweed.com

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Spending a bomb to buy a facial product with claims of having all natural ingredients for beautiful skin and having drastic results on its usage is very depressing for any beauty conscious woman. We see wide varieties of cosmetics available in supermarkets, department stores, health food stores as well as internet and TV.

Not everybody has the same skin type. What product works on your friend’s skin, might not work for you and vice versa. If you buy a product for your skin type, it could have adverse effect as there could be some chemical or ingredient which could cause a reaction on your skin. Moral of the story - “Not all cosmetic products work well for everyone’s skin”.

Cosmetics labeled as having “natural ingredients” do contain some amount of artificial chemicals or elements. With over priced cosmetics made from natural ingredients, many people have started preparing beauty products at home. Making a facial mask at home with all the ingredients available in the kitchen is quite easy and inexpensive.

- Create a salon like atmosphere while doing a facial at home. Ideally they tie your hair in high ponytail or make you wear a band around head. Choose to do what ever you feel comfortable about.

- Start by splashing tepid water all over your face. Massage your face gently with water. Repeat it twice or thrice and let your face air dry.

- While your face is still damp, massage vitamin E on your face. Let your face soak the oil for 5 minutes or so. Use a mild soap to remove the oil from your face.

- Again splash your face with water at room temperate. Repeat it for 2 or 3 times. Avoid towel drying your face.

- Next make your facial mask. Blend 1 egg white or fresh Aloe Vera juice of same quantity, 2 tsp vegetable oil and 1 tsp pure apple juice in a clean bowl.

- Dip your hands in the facial mask and apply the mask to your skin. Start with your chin, move upwards and then outwards skipping the area around the eyes and lips.

- Now you have to just sit back and relax. Cover your eyes with wet cotton balls or cucumber pieces. The mask has to dry completely. An ideal time for a small nap.

- Mask takes anywhere from 20 - 30 minutes to dry. You feel your skin tightened when the mask is dry. Splash water all over face and gently remove the mask with light massage strokes on your face. Continue doing this till your face is cleared of the entire home made facial mask. Let your face air dry.

Use this home made facial mask once or twice a week or depending up on the time you have on hand. You will feel fresh and have much younger looking face all the time.

Sharon Hopkins manages www.skin-care-at-home.com > Natural Skin Care and Skin Nutrition sites. Find information on natural skin care and tips on skin nutrition. Read up on making and giving your self a facial with natural ingredients.

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Men often grow a goatee to simply change their appearance or to make up for a lack of hair on their head.

When a guy shaves his head or keeps his head hair cut very short, growing a goatee can help to create a good look that offsets the lack of head hair.

When it comes to growing a goatee, men often have questions that relate to how it will make them look as well as questions related to goatee maintenance.

How does a goatee feel? Personally, I don’t really notice much of a difference with a goatee as I tend to keep it short. I use a beard trimmer to keep my goatee trimmed which also helps to line a goatee and keep it neat.

How long does it take to grow a goatee? Depending on how quickly your facial hair grows, you can start seeing a noticeable goatee within several days or thereabouts. It also depends on how long you decide to grow your goatee since leaving it relatively short can be accomplished pretty quickly.

How will I know if a goatee suits me or not? The best part of growing a goatee is that if it doesn’t suit you, you can get rid of it quickly by shaving it off! No harm done! Whether a goatee suits you or not will largely depend on the color of the hair that grows in, the amount of facial hair that you are able to grow (ie. can you actually grow a goatee?) and the shape of your face and head. A goatee suits some guys and for some guys it doesn’t really work.

What considerations are there for goatee grooming? I use a beard trimmer for goatee grooming and I find it works very well. Using a manual razor (or even an electric shaver) can assist in goatee shaping, too. You just have to make sure you don’t shave off too much or it could end up looking kind of funny.

What about some goatee tips on maintenance? Remember to wash your goatee as you’d normally wash your hair. Using shampoo and a conditioner can help to keep your goatee clean and soft which can help to minimize the chance that it gets itchy.

Temporary and permanent hair removal technology is evolving constantly and is relevant to both men and women who want to remove unwanted hair.

For more information on hair removal options, visit http://www.PermanentHairRemovalTips.com

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Silver is widely diffused but is rarely found in the native
state.

Silver is originally as widespread as gold, occurring in nearly
all of the volcanic rocks. Whereas gold remains unaltered by the
action of the elements and is often carried long distances from
its original place of occurrence, silver on the contrary is only
to be found in the rocks where it originally occurs. When these
rocks are broken down or worn away, the silver is either driven
into new mineral combinations, or more often dissipated and
lost. Silver, therefore, is only to be obtained by subterranean
mining. Shafts are driven and the ore brought to the surface,
and by use of various processes the silver is extracted, refined
and made ready for commercial purposes.

An old process and one still employed extensively throughout
Mexico where a large quantity of silver is produced, is to take
the ore after it has been crushed or reduced to a fine mud or
puddle and spread it about two feet deep over the floor of a
large courtyard. Powered sulfate of copper is spread over the
mass and then horses or mules are driven around in circle to
tread the sulfate in and mix it thoroughly with the ore. After
about one day’s treading a quantity of common salt is added and
after two days more treading quicksilver is added. This mass is
trodden over for a period of about fifteen days, and is then
shoveled into a large tank through which a rapid stream of water
is passed. This washes away all but the silver and quicksilver,
which is then poured into cone-shaped canvas bags. Most of the
quicksilver runs out leaving the silver, which is then retorted.
The quicksilver is used over and over again to assist in
recovering the silver.

Pure silver has a beautiful white color and luster; it is almost
as plastic as pure gold and like it very soft. Silver does not
tarnish in natural air, but when it comes in contact with sulfur
compounds it readily forms black silver sulfide. The sulfur
compounds which act on silver are found in small quantities in
the air as a result of burning coal and illuminating gas, while
larger amounts occur in vulcanized rubber, wool, and foods like
eggs.

Pure silver is too soft to make durable objects that require
lightness and stability of form. This defect is overcome by
alloying it with a little copper.

An alloy of 925 parts fine silver and 75 parts copper is called
925-1000 fine or what is commonly known as sterling silver. This
alloy is used almost universally for jewelry and the best
silverware.

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Why Men’s Skin Needs Special Care Too

Thanks to an increasingly health and beauty conscious society, men are also reaping the benefits of the latest skin care product technology just as women have been for years. It is no longer unusual for a man to own cosmetic skin care products too - after all, a man’s skin has special needs too, right?

Heck, most of the men I know, including my boyfriend, have quite a few advanced skincare lotions, creams, hair removers and a bevy of other skin care products and toiletries in their medicine chests, right alongside their aftershave!

Men’s skin is just as sensitive as a woman’s many times, it just is not typically as “thin” as a woman’s skin tends to be. Men tend to have a tougher outer layer of skin, but that does not mean they are not just as susceptible to sun damage, wrinkles, age spots and blemishes as women are.

Intensive skin care is also needed for men, especially men with problem skin, and also once men reach the age of 30, as an age prevention measure. I encourage men to take care of their skin if they want it to be healthy and youthful looking for as long as possible.

This may mean skin supplementation (I have a personal favorite that I would recommend to men and women of all ages), or special skin creams with natural anti aging ingredients - or it could mean anti blemish skin care, since men get blemishes at all ages just like women.

Although there are cosmetic skin care products specifically geared for male use, there are even more that are unisex, meaning they are equally beneficial and therapeutic for men and women’s skin. While some mens products are really only designated as a male product simply due to the fact that it does not have heavy or feminine perfumes in it, there may be some products that really are made more for a man’s skin than for female skin.

I would challenge you to show me a substantial difference in formulation though. I can guarantee it has more to do with packaging and fragrance than it does with actual product content! So, if you’re a man who’s looking for quality skin care products that may be “cosmetic” in nature, meaning it cosmetically enhances your appearance, you don’t have to look far. Actually just look for products that advertise to both men and women - that way you can be sure you’re getting an equally effective product.

Visit Cosmetic Skin Care Products for a Man for more information on skin care products for men. Danna Schneider is the founder of Cosmetics Galore.com where you can find out how to get Skin Care Reviews: CosmeticsGalore.com.

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Most women do not wear the correct bra size. With monthly
water retention cycles, dieting, and general aging, it also
should not be assumed that the size you were two years ago is
the same size you are today (or that a bra can be worn that
long, for that matter). Even a change of 5 pounds can
change your bra size. This guide will help you to properly
measure your bust, so that you can find the size for you.

While most shops will have a salesperson to assist you in proper
measurements, in order to buy sexy lingerie from a catalog, it
is important to know your size.

How To Know If Your Current Bra Does Not Fit

The back rides up. This may mean that the cups are too
small, or the band is too tight. The front of the band is too
tight to get a finger under it. This means you need a
larger band.

The bra cups should be entirely filled, or you may need a
smaller cup. If, on the other hand, the cups are
overflowing, you may need a larger cup or a different style of
bra.

If the underwire digs in, you may need a larger cup size.
(Or your bra could just be very old. In either case, it’s
time to replace it.) This could also be an indication that
the side wings of the bra are not large enough.

Proper Measurements

First, you will need three measurements: under bust, upper bust,
and full bust. For under the bust, measure directly under your
bust. With all measurements, hold the tape secure but not
too tight. For the upper bust, measure above the bust and
below the arms.

If the difference between the under and upper bust is less than
two inches, the under bust is your band size (round up to
nearest even number). If the difference is more than two
inches, add 2-3″ to the under bust measurement to get an even
number and use this as your band size. For the full bust,
measure around a fullest part of your breast. Make sure
the tape is secure around the back.

Your cup size is determined by your full bust measurement - your
upper bust measurement. If the difference is less than 1″,
you are a AA, 1″ is an A, 2″ is a B, 3″ is a C, 4″ is a D, 5″ is
a DD (or an E), etc.

Beyond Measurements

Of course, your measurements are just the beginning. There
are other things to keep in mind when looking for a comfortable,
yet sexy bra.

When trying on different bras, make sure that the area in
between the two cups actually comes into contact with your
chest. Do not make the straps support your breast
alone! This will be very uncomfortable over long periods
of time, the bra will wear out quickly, and the pressure on the
straps can cause back problems.

If you are finding the band sizes to differ for a different
brand, you may also need to change your cup size.
Generally, as you decrease the band size, you will need to
increase your cup size, while a larger band will call for a
smaller cup.

Bra Styles

Different styles of bras have different fits. Beware the
convertible bras: while they may sometimes work, it is rare that
every possible style will work for your body.

• Full
  Cup / Full Coverage - Designed for support, these bras cover the
  entire breast.
  
• Half Cup / Demi Cup - These bras
  cover 75 percent of the breast. This is a sexy cut that
  increases cleavage, but make sure your breasts are not “cut-off”
  in the center. Your profile should still be smooth, and if
  it isn’t, you need a larger cup size.
  
• Underwire
  Bras - These bras give the most support.
  
• Racerback
  Bras - These bras have a crossover pattern in the back.
  They can have a front or back clasp, or can simply pull over the
  head. This is a common style for a sports bra.
  


• Halter-Top Bras - As the name imply, these bras have a strap
  that loops around the neck, rather than the usual shoulder
  straps. These bras can increase cleavage, and can be worn
  with both halter tops and tops with low center
  coverage.
  
• Backless Bras - While some backless bras
  literally have only front coverage, generally this refers to
  bras with extremely low backs, so that many dresses with low
  backs can be worn without the bra showing.
  


• Strapless Bras - These bras have no straps at all, only the
  band. Some of these can cover the stomach area as well,
  and some even cover the body like a leotard. These longer
  strapless bras tend to stay in place better.
  
• Padded
  Bras / Push-Up Bras - These bras have extra padding in the cups
  in order to give the illusion of a larger breast and/or to
  increase the cleavage. The padding can be made of the same
  material as the bra, foam, or gel. Gel is becoming more
  popular because of its more natural look. In some bras,
  the padding is removable.
  
• Décolleté - These bras
  are lower cut than a demi bra, allowing you to wear something
  even lower cut without revealing your bra.
  


• Light-Support Bras - These bras have no underwire.
  While you may be tempted to wear one to an all-day event, if you
  are larger than an A cup, you may not be getting the support you
  need. A properly fitted bra will be comfortable whether or
  not it has underwire.
  
• Sports Bra - These bras are
  designed to minimize bouncing during athletic activity.
  While some inexpensive varieties do this by squishing your
  breasts, it is better to find on that is sized by cup sizes (as
  opposed to small, medium, and large) and get fitted as you would
  with a regular bra. Over the long term, this will increase
  your comfort.
  
• Nursing Bras - For the convenience of
  nursing mothers, these bras have a snap on each of the shoulder
  straps, so she can easily remove them to feed the baby without
  taking off the entire bra. Generally, nursing bras are
  full-coverage for the added support a new mother
  needs.

Now you can order all your intimate apparel with
confidence! So next time you find the perfect little black
dress, you can be sure you will look your best.

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