Dents in your shoulders from your bra? This helps

Grooves in your shoulders almost always happen because your straps are doing the job your band should be doing. If the band is too loose, too stretched out, or just not the right fit, the whole weight of your chest hangs from two thin strips of fabric. That presses straight into your skin. Fix the band, and in most cases the groove disappears too.

Below are the five most common causes, each with a quick test you can do right now, while you're wearing your bra. In a few minutes you'll know if it's your band, your cup, or just a habit that needs to change.

Your band isn't holding on, so your straps are doing all the work

A bra that actually fits carries most of the weight through the band, around your ribs. The straps are mainly there to keep the cup in place, not to lift your chest. If your band is too loose or the fabric has stretched out, all that weight shifts upward, to your shoulders. Right where the groove shows up.

• Put your bra on and fasten the hooks at the setting you normally wear.
• Slide two fingers under the band at your back. If you can easily fit three or four, the band is too loose.
• Now lift your straps an inch off your shoulders. If the cup drops right away, the band isn't carrying its share and your straps are catching everything.

A band that actually supports from below takes that weight off your shoulders. The Daily Essential Bra has a 3-inch wide band built to carry the weight instead of your straps. Many women feel less pressure on their shoulders because of it, right where it used to dig in.

Are your straps just too thin for what they're carrying?

A thin strap spreads the weight of your chest over a small patch of skin. The narrower the strap, the deeper it digs in for the same weight. With a bigger cup size, you can really feel that difference, even if the rest of the bra fits fine.

• Grab a ruler and measure the width of your strap where the groove sits.
• Less than half an inch at a C cup or bigger? That strap is really too narrow for the weight it's carrying.
• Compare that to how deep the groove is by the end of the day. A wider strap spreads the pressure over more skin and feels less sharp.

This is exactly why thin, lacy straps look pretty but dig in faster than wide ones once there's real cup weight involved. You might turn fewer heads at a party, but your shoulders pay for it by the end of the night.

Spilling over the cup a little? That pulls weight upward

If the cup is too small, your chest has no room to settle. It presses against the edge, or even spills over a bit. That extra weight the cup can't hold then pulls on the straps, and digs deeper into your shoulders.

• Check in the mirror with your bra on. Do you see flesh spilling over the top edge of the cup, or does the cup edge leave a line in your skin? The cup is too small.
• If you're currently wearing a 34C, say, and you see this happening, try a 34D or 36C instead. Often the band size isn't the problem. The cup is.

Memory foam cups that mold to your shape, like in the Daily Essential Bra, give your chest more room to settle instead of pushing against the edge. That takes weight straight off your straps.

Do you keep tightening your straps to compensate?

When a bra doesn't support well, you tend to reach for the straps without thinking. You feel it sagging, so you tighten them. The problem is that doesn't fix the cause, it just makes the symptom worse. A tighter strap means more pressure on the exact same spot.

Actual grooves in my shoulders

This customer put it exactly right: not a little redness, actual grooves. That almost always happens after weeks of tightening the straps bit by bit, because the rest of the bra isn't doing its job.

• Loosen your straps one notch from what you're used to.
• Does the cup stay put without sagging? Then your straps were simply too tight, not because your bra was too loose overall, but because the band wasn't carrying its share.

Do you just have a heavier cup, so you feel every strap?

With a bigger cup size, there's simply more weight to distribute. Even with the right size and a wide band, you might still feel a slight mark after a long day. That's not a sign your bra is wrong, but it is a sign you need a style built specifically for more weight.

• Compare how your shoulders feel after one hour of wear to how they feel after eight. If the groove only shows up late in the day, the band is probably stretching out as the day goes on.
• If it shows up within the hour, the cup or strap probably just doesn't have enough support for your size.

Of the nearly 2,900 women we surveyed ourselves, 5.2 percent name back, shoulder, or neck discomfort as their biggest bra frustration. That's a smaller group than, say, underwire complaints, but it's a group dealing with real grooves and marks, not just a vague sense of discomfort. Read more about what actually happens when a bra feels heavy with a larger chest, and what to do about it.

What a double layer of support does that a thin strap can't

Beyond the band and the cup, how the side of the bra is built matters too. Without support at the side, your chest tends to find its own path, forward, inward, or just up toward the strap. A double layer that holds everything together at the side keeps your chest from pulling that way, so the strap isn't stuck catching the weight. That's exactly why styles with higher side panels tend to hold up longer than a simple triangle cup with a thin strap. You'll notice the difference most toward the end of the day, right when a basic bra has already started to sag.