Underwire poking? Here's what to do

An underwire usually pokes for one of four reasons: it's not sitting in the right spot against your ribcage, the size is off, the wire itself is worn out or bent, or your body just doesn't have the padding to cushion a hard wire in that spot. Test it below, it takes five minutes. Then you'll know exactly what to do.

1. The wire isn't sitting in the right spot

A wire should lie flat against your ribcage, along the side of your breast, never on top of it. If the bra doesn't fit your body well, the wire shifts inward or upward and ends up resting on soft breast tissue instead of around it. That's exactly where it starts poking, often in the armpit or just under the breast.

Try this: bend forward with your bra on and check yourself in the mirror. Does the wire lie completely flat against your body, or does it stick out somewhere, up or to the side? If it sticks out, it's not in the right spot, and it'll keep shifting and poking with every move you make.

This happens a lot with bras that run big in the band, so the whole bra slides around on your torso. To find out if that's happening to you, try the test under cause two as well.

2. You're wearing the wrong size

A poking wire is very often just the wrong size. Too small in the cup and the tissue spills over the edge, right where the wire cuts in. Too loose in the band and the wire slips out of place, so it rubs somewhere it's not supposed to.

Try this: push a finger under the band at your back. Can you fit more than two fingers under it? Then the band's too loose. The wire doesn't get a solid base and starts wobbling and poking with every step.

Try this too: check the mirror for tissue spilling over the top or side of the cup. If you see that, the cup's too small. If you're currently wearing, say, a 38C and you see spillover, try a 38D or 40C: same band, but more room for your breast so the wire sits around you instead of into you.

Out of 2,897 women we surveyed on this, 8.2% name the wrong size or cup as their biggest frustration. Still unsure? Check out what it means if you can easily slide your hand between your bra and your body, that often tells you more than a standard size alone.

3. The wire itself is worn out or bent

Wires wear out. Washing, drying, pulling the bra off over your head, or just time all bend the metal or plastic out of shape. A bent wire presses on a different spot than it was designed for, and that feels like poking or even cutting right away.

Try this: lay your bra flat on a table, wire side up. Does the wire lie smooth and symmetrical, or do you see a bump, a kink, or does one side sit flatter than the other? Can you feel the tip of the wire poking through the fabric with your finger? Then the wire itself is broken, no matter what size you wear.

This is a different problem than the wrong size, and the fix is different too: buying a new underwire bra only solves it for a while, since that wire will wear out eventually too. If the wire is already poking through the fabric, find out what to do about it in Underwire poking through the fabric: what now?

4. Your body just doesn't have the padding for a wire in that spot

Some women don't have much soft tissue right where a wire is supposed to sit: the rib or breastbone sits almost right under the skin there. No matter how well the wire fits, it always ends up pressing against bone. That's not a bad bra model, that's just the wrong concept for your body.

Try this: press a finger right on the spot that always pokes, usually the armpit or just under the breast. Do you immediately feel bone or a hard rib close to the skin, with hardly any tissue in between? Then pretty much any underwire bra will eventually press there, no matter how expensive or well fitted it is.

"The straps digging in and the wire poking my armpit as the day goes on"

That "as the day goes on" is the whole point. In the morning an underwire bra often feels fine. After a few hours, tissue swells slightly, the bra shifts a little, and the exact same wire that felt harmless that morning starts to poke. For 54% of the women we surveyed, this is a physical complaint, not a cosmetic one.

What you can do right now

Dealing with a poking wire and still have a few hours to get through? These tricks help right away:

• Tighten the band if you've got room left on the hooks: a snugger band holds the wire in place and stops it from sliding.
• Reposition the bra with both hands: grab the bottom of the cups and pull straight down and out, so your breast fully settles into the cup and the wire isn't pressing on tissue.
• Stick a small piece of bandage or tape over the spot where the wire pokes, as a quick fix to get you through the day.
• Switch, if you can, to a wire-free bra you've still got in your closet.

These are band-aids, literally and figuratively. If the problem keeps coming back, the real fix is usually: no more wire.

Why switching to wire-free is often the only real fix

If you notice that every new bra, every new brand, and every new size still ends up poking you somewhere, the problem isn't that one bra. It's the idea of a hard wire in a spot your body just doesn't like. That's exactly why so many women eventually switch to a wire-free style.

The Daily Essential Bra is built around that. Instead of a hard wire, memory foam cups adapt to your shape, so there's no hard point that can dig in anywhere. A 3-inch-wide band takes the weight of your breasts from below, so your shoulders and armpits don't have to do the work a wire normally would. On the side, a double shaping layer holds everything together, so your breast doesn't fall out to the side the way it does with a lot of other wire-free styles.

The bra comes in 12 sizes, from S to 3XL+, with a size chart that goes up to cup H, in band sizes 32 to 48. There's no XS, so measure your band before you order. If you're not sure the size will work out, you can use the 30-day perfect fit guarantee.

One customer put it this way: "No more irritation from underwires. You almost forget you're wearing a bra, and your clothes still lay nice and smooth." Another wrote: "No more poking from wires, I'll definitely order another one." Sound familiar? That's exactly what a wire-free style can give you.

Want to browse all the wire-free styles first? You'll find the full lineup in the wire-free bra collection.