I love keeping up with internet trends and watching YouTube in my spare time.

The Decision Should Be Ours

If you don't want to go braless, you enjoy wearing a bra, or it enhances your life, that's fine. But for many women, bras are holding us back. If someone wants to give up bras, it should be socially acceptable for them to do so, which is why I'm giving a list of reasons why giving up bras can be a good thing. It has improved my life. I will never wear them again.

1. It Improves Circulation

The tipping point for me, when it came to giving up bras was when I was becoming winded walking around wearing them. They were just squeezing my rib cage so much that they felt like a vise and were hindering my movements.

Granted, maybe if I got a bra that was a different size, that could have fixed some of this, but I was tired of being held back physically by something I didn't deem necessary.

I had stopped wanting to leave the house anymore because it meant putting on a bra and suddenly having breathing difficulty again. I didn't want to stop living my life because of a piece of clothing. And I was scared it was cutting off my circulation in a way that wasn't healthy for me.

While this point won't apply to everyone, I think not wearing a bra can improve circulation in the body for a lot of people.

2. Self-Acceptance

Society judges everything about a woman's chest. It's not big enough, small enough, round enough, high enough. They make bras to minimize, squeeze, pad, and shape all these problems. But what if we just choose to accept our bodies how they are instead of hiding them shamefully? Not wearing a bra, at least for me, is a way of proudly accepting my body the way it is and not forcing it to conform to the shape everyone else wants it to be.

3. It Saves Money

Bras are expensive, especially the larger your bra size. For me, bras were costing $50–80 per bra. None of the rest of my clothing was that expensive, so giving up wearing bras is saving me a lot of money.

4. Bra Sizes Are Confusing

Our tatas seem to change size regularly. Lose five pounds, gain five pounds, or even just have your period and you are a different size. I got measured "professionally" a few times and the people measuring seemed confused when the bras they measured me for didn't fit. Many of the people doing the measuring don't seem to be properly trained. I also tried measuring myself and just wound up confusing myself.

I'm pretty sure the entire time I was wearing bras, I was always wearing the incorrect size. And even if I had landed the size right once, it changes so much that it probably wouldn't have been the right size for long.

Bras are at their best when they're fitting, which I feel they rarely do.

5. No One Notices a Difference

I thought everyone would notice that I no longer wear a bra. I felt ashamed the first time I stepped outside without one. But if they do notice, they don't say anything and no one stares either. So maybe it's not as big of deal as everyone says it is.

6. It Feels Empowering

Yes. I am a feminist and not wearing a bra feels like I'm flipping off the patriarchy. Don't get me wrong, though, you can wear bras, too, and be a feminist. That's the whole point of all of this. Bra wearing should be about what's comfortable for the woman, not what's comfortable for society. That's the part that is empowering.

7. Comfort

Nothing feels better to a woman than taking her bra off at the end of the day. Why not feel that way all day, every day?

It's like wearing headbands. I used to like wearing them, but it wasn't worth the tight squeezing headache I'd get at the end of the day from it. Maybe eliminating a piece of clothing that clings to the body this hard could make life a little less annoying and help improve your mood. It can be really uplifting to spend your day actually feeling comfortable.

8. There Are Alternatives

Even if you kind of like aspects of bras and what they cover up and shape, you can replace those things with less restrictive clothing. There are shirts that comes with cups that help holds things in place and cover things up, without squeezing so hard. Loose fitting clothing and hoodies can sometimes hide things as well, but they are so much more comfortable than bras.

9. It's More Hygienic

Let's face it: people who wear bras rarely wash them. This is not because they're gross people. It's because of a combination of factors, like that bras are too expensive to own very many and it's too much work to wash an item of clothing every day that you wear every day. We can't let bras sit in the dirty clothes like regular clothing does when we own so few pairs of them.

Combine this with the fact that bras rest so tightly against the skin that they get covered in sweat every day. Not wearing bras is more hygienic and probably smells better as well.

10. Bras Produce Too Much Heat

Wearing restrictive clothing like this, when it's the middle of summer and already suffocating, is too much. If you're already sweating, a bra makes things that much worse. It can get so bad that some people use deodorant underneath their bras. Wouldn't it also make sense to just give up wearing bras altogether?

No One Has To Give Up Wearing Bras

I think every woman should make the decision whether or not she wants to wear bras for herself. I'm just saying that it's a healthy alternative to go without them if it's what makes you more comfortable.

© 2021 EB Black

Comments

Umesh Chandra Bhatt from Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, India on March 01, 2021:

Well presented. Useful.

EB Black can't imagine life without glasses and enjoys sharing the humorous side of being a glasses-wearer.

Glasses aren't merely accessories for some of us. They help us function by giving us the ability to see. They might be one of the most expensive things we wear on our bodies, but they are worth their price tag.

We're used to wearing glasses now, but many of us were resistant at first. Bad vision happens gradually, and it's easy to adjust and pretend your vision isn't going bad as it's happening. But now that we've given in to wearing them, we can't imagine our lives without them.

Here is a list of things that only people who wear glasses (and are blind without them) understand.

1. People Always Telling You How Great You'd Look If You Didn't Wear Glasses

People always want to fix you. They think the fact that you wear glasses shows that there is something "wrong" with you. You should wear contacts. You would look so much better with contacts. But you like wearing glasses and that will always sit wrong with certain people.

2. How Hard It Is to Try to Find Your Glasses Without Your Glasses On

Even if I were to grab my glasses and purposefully drop them at my feet on a floor with nothing else on it, I would have difficulty finding my glasses. This is why sometimes I keep my old pairs of scratched up glasses in drawers I can easily access. They aren't the right prescription anymore, but they are better than nothing and can sometimes help me find my glasses when I lose them and am alone.

Anyone who is near-sighted like me has had to feel around the floor or the counter or their bed to find their glasses. We've all accidentally knocked them onto the floor, too, when feeling for them and cursed loudly either in our head or out loud because of it.

It's panic-inducing. You're scared you will never find them or that you'll step on them, but once you get them again, it's the most relieving feeling in the world.

3. Keeping Your Glasses Close to You While You Sleep, Just in Case

Sometimes I get scared someone will break into my house someday. Even worse, I get scared they will break into my house and I won't even be able to see them. In the darkness of my room, without my glasses on, my vision is so blurry that someone could stand completely still and they might blend into darkness completely. I'd never know they were there, just staring at me.

This is why I sometimes hold my glasses in my sleep like a teddy bear or at the very least keep them right next to me on the dresser, so I can see anything I need to see easily at night.

4. Not Being Able to See Anything in the Shower or When You're Swimming

I mean, you can go swimming or take a shower with your glasses on, but so much water gets on them that you can't see anything out of them anyway. There's also always that risk that they will fall off while you are swimming and you will lose them forever.

Trying to find your glasses when you drop them on the floor... difficult. Trying to find your glasses when you drop them in a pool... impossible. Even if you get your friends with perfect vision to help you get the glasses and know exactly where you dropped them, you might never see them again.

So, you've probably decided to never wear your glasses while you are showering or swimming. It's a pain cleaning them afterwards anyway and getting rid of all the residue the droplets of water leave behind when they dry. It's fine, except for the parts where you lose your friends at the swimming pool and can't find them anymore. Or you see a black blob in the shower and can't tell if it's a spider or not. (Do you stick your head really close to see? Do you really want your face that close to a spider?) Or when you try to shave a part of your body, but can't see it without your glasses to tell whether or not you got all the hair off of it.

These situations are the only time when you might consider wearing contacts instead of glasses. But even then, losing a contact in the water is much worse than losing a pair of glasses.

5. Not Being Able to Wear Cool Sunglasses

That moment when you and someone else go shopping and they all of a sudden see a rack of sunglasses, so they go to try them on. You might foolishly try on a pair of sunglasses over your glasses, but it doesn't look right and it never will. Because you can't wear cool sunglasses.

At best, maybe you can have one pair of prescription sunglasses that you buy at the eye doctor, but they just aren't the same. At worst, you have clip-on sunglasses that you put on over your glasses and look like a dork in. Either way, you don't get to wear the cool sunglasses your friends do.

6. Being Jealous of People Who Can Get Cheap Pairs of Glasses at the Drug Store

There are people who have ten pairs of glasses, people who lose a pair and don't think it's a big deal, and people who don't have to wear glasses twenty-four hours a day. Those people buy their glasses at the drug store because they only have mild prescriptions and they only need them for reading.

But the rest of us who are blind without our glasses all the time, those who can't see far away or sometimes need bifocals... our glasses cost hundreds of dollars a pair. We've found deals, yes, for really cheap frames. Sometimes our frames are as cheap as one dollar a pair, but it doesn't help much. The problem was never the frames, it was the lenses, which always cost a couple hundred dollars apiece.

7. Laughing and Joking About How Blind You Are Without Your Glasses On

Why you do this? You don't know. But it's fun to take off your glasses and randomly point out to someone all the things you can't see. Like the pattern on their blouse or their facial features or a giant sign on the other side of the room.

8. Squinting at Something and Then Worrying Your Eyes Are Getting Worse

You had to squint to read that sign far away. The letters were pretty small and the sign is very far... no one, even with perfect vision, could read that sign, right? You don't know because it's been a very long time since you've had perfect vision, assuming that you ever did.

Are your eyes getting worse? You aren't sure. Maybe it's time to go to the eye doctor or maybe you just need to clean your glasses and see if that doesn't resolve the issue.

9. How Entertaining It Is When Your Glasses Suddenly Fog Up

It's unusually cold outside, or the drink you are sipping is hot. Before you know it, your glasses have fogged up. You laugh. You point it out to other people. You try to make it happen again once the fog goes away. It's very funny to you.

10. People Holding a Mirror up to Your Face When You Don't Have Glasses on and Expecting You to Be Able to See Your Reflection

You get your hair cut. You take your glasses off to get your hair cut and can't see a thing the entire time they are cutting your hair. You have to trust that they aren't messing everything up.

Then, before you put your glasses on, they are suddenly finished cutting your hair. They hold up a mirror to the back of your head and expect you to be able to see your hair. But you can't because your glasses aren't on.

Or, when you get your eyes checked and you have to find a new pair of frames. You try some on and the salesperson holds up a mirror for you to see them on yourself. You squint and hope they look good on you because you can't really see yourself and have no idea how you look.

You'd think of all people, they would understand, but they still don't.

Everyone is surprised that you can't see yourself in the mirror, like you are just wearing your glasses as some kind of gag or something. They forget that glasses are something that you actually need and not just an accessory choice you are making.

11. Looking Too Far in One Direction and Not Being Able to See Anything

Hold your head still and look as far as you can left or as far as you can upward. Just look with your eyes.

You're used to it, but the fact is, your entire visible world is stuck inside a frame. Always. And if you look too far in any direction without moving your head, the whole world is blurry once again.

You're so used to it that you don't notice it most of the time, but it's still there.

12. Hearing That One of the Symptoms of a Disease Is "Blurry Vision" and Giggling Because Your Vision Is Always Blurry

Or hearing that it's the side effect of a medication. May cause blurry vision? Hah! You already have blurry vision. They are too late!

13. The First Time You Wore Glasses and How Shocked You Were by All the Details of the World Around You

Let's face it. Most of us were reluctant to get our first pair of glasses. We put it off for as long as we could. We were scared or nervous about them for whatever reason and let ourselves function blind for far too long.

Then you put them on for the first time and are suddenly shocked by all the details in the world you've been missing.

For instance, my mom grew up with bright red hair and I was shocked when I put on my first pair of good glasses to find out that she had freckles all over her face and arms. I thought I knew how my mother looked, but it turned out, with better vision, she looked much different than I thought she did. It fascinated me.

I'm sure you have stories along these lines, too. Please tell me in the comments below!

It's always nerve wracking when you get a new pair of glasses because you know things are going to look different. And sometimes you can't tell if it will be a normal kind of different or the kind that makes you feel dizzy and confused for a while until your eyes adjust to the new prescription. So you're excited by every new pair and what new things you will be able to see, but also reluctant to get a new pair.

14. People with Perfect Vision Trying on Your Glasses and Loudly Exclaiming, "Whoa! You're Blind!"

People who try on your glasses always say they feel like they are on some kind of drug and start giggling about how weird the world around them looks with your glasses on, while you squint at them blindly.

They exclaim loudly, "Wow! You're really blind!"

Yes. That's why you wear glasses. You knew this already.

15. Comparing How Things Look with or Without Your Glasses On

For no reason at all, sometimes when you are with other people or by yourself, you will take your glasses off and look at something, then put them back on and look at the same thing, then repeat the steps. It's just fascinating how different things look with and without your glasses on.

Comments

Joshua Hanna on February 18, 2020:

Everyday after i come home from school my vision becomes blurry, and stays that way till the next morning...WHY!