Everything that happens to your boobs if you stop wearing a bra

There’s no better feeling than getting home, taking your bra off and flinging it to the other side of the room.

And in recent years, some of us have decided to ditch that lace and underwire for good.

During the days of lockdown, 34% of women said they saw it as an opportunity to go braless, and in 2022, Selfridges reported that sales of non-wired bras were up by 90%.

It’s a trend that shows no sign of slowing. Body positivity movements, coupled with celebs embracing their nips online, and the enduring chic-ness of the naked dress, have seen Gen Z in particular embracing their boobs au natural.

However, if you’re used to wearing a bra, not wearing one can take a bit of getting used to, and after years, even decades, of being told that bras equal support, comfort and a better shape, it begs the question: what happens to your boobs if you do without?

Metro spoke to a surgeon and a bra specialist to get the low down on just what happens to your breasts when you bin off bras.

You might feel the strain

‘Our breasts are made of fat and glandular tissue, which can be quite heavy,’ Dr Jo Wakefield-Scurr, aka The Bra Professor, tells Metro. ‘On average, each breast weighs 750 grams, so it’s quite an additional mass that hangs on your chest.’

Despite their weight, our boobs are only supported by skin and ligaments, and this can be an issue if you consistently don’t wear a bra.

Jo, who researches the biomechanics of the breast, says: ‘Skin is quite stretchy, so the amount of support the skin provides your breasts degradesover time.

‘If we don’t wear a bra, the skin stretches beyond its natural limit and the breast starts to sag, leaving stretch marks on the skin.’

We hear you – stretch marks are normal and nothing to be ashamed of. So who cares, right? Well, if you’re larger chested, this may go beyond aesthetics.

Plastic surgeon Dr Dan Marsh, who works on breast reductions and implants agrees, telling Metro: ‘In extreme cases you can risk nerve damage if you have large breasts, resulting in insensate nipples.

‘The weight of the breasts stretch the nipples so much that the nerves are damaged, meaning you have no feeling there – it’s not common but you do see it.’

What’s more, is it could actually increase your breast size. ‘As your skin stretches, the breasts will get larger,’ he adds. ‘If you’ve got heavy breasts, they’ll get bigger and heavier due to gravity.’

Your skins ability to support your breasts is also impacted by some unexpected factors. Jo says: ‘If you get sunburned on your breasts they won’t be as supported because you reduce the natural support of the skin.

‘Smoking affects this too, as does hydration levels, health and fitness, and age.’

‘If you don’t wear a bra, the breast tissue hangs and touches your chest, then you’ve got that skin on skin contact,’ Jo says.

‘This can create a micro-climate underneath the breast, at the breast root, and that can lead to skin conditions.’

Dan, co-founder of The Plastic Surgery Group, explains: ‘You can get fungal infections, the most common being candida albicans.’

This will appear under the breast in raised red patches – so keep an eye out for any discolouration.

‘You could get dermatitis,’ Dan adds. ‘Or hidradenitis suppurativa, which is chronic pustules on the skin which can be tricky to treat.’

The NHS says it causes a mixture of boil-like lumps, blackheads, cysts, scarring and channels in the skin that leak pus and can be very painful.

Chaffing cream won’t prevent the issue but can certainly help manage symptoms, and as for all these conditions, wearing even a simple cotton breathable bra could help prevent them.

Pain from back to front

About 51% of the female UK population experience breast pain, for which Jo says a bra can be an effective solution.

‘That’s whether it’s clinical breast pain (related to tissue damage or inflammation) or pain related to the movement of the breast, a supportive bra can be a solution to this,’ she explains.

Not wearing a bra could mean you’ll suffer with discomfort more than you have to, and the same goes for back pain.

‘Not wearing a bra will 100% exacerbate back pain and neck pain if you already suffer with it – especially if you have larger breasts,’ Dan says.

‘Each breast can sometimes weigh up to a kilo or two kilos if they’re bigger, and it’s not functional for your back to have that weight hanging down your front.’