Skin tightening for dummies
February 11, 2010 11:35 AM Subscribe
Serious question, women of AskMe: Have you tried anything, short of surgery, that helped to tighten/firm your breasts?
I would love to hear your anecdotes/experiences with dry skin brushing, massage, or any of the firming creams on the market. This is for young, nulliparous breasts that have been saggy basically since puberty - the fatty tissue itself seems firm enough, but the skin they're in (and specifically the skin on the top side) just seems too large; I have the breasts of a woman several decades and some children older than me. There's a genetic component I'm sure, but years of not-drastic-but-continuous fluctuations in body weight have taken their toll too. Generally I don't tend to show stretch marks and my skin seems pretty elastic and bounce back-able, though I do scar very easily.
I love my body, respect what it can do and how it makes me feel. My partner loves my body, too. This isn't really about esteem issues or anything else. I'm mostly just curious, and if there was some little thing I could change or do every day that might improve this one thing, I'd do it.
I would love to hear your anecdotes/experiences with dry skin brushing, massage, or any of the firming creams on the market. This is for young, nulliparous breasts that have been saggy basically since puberty - the fatty tissue itself seems firm enough, but the skin they're in (and specifically the skin on the top side) just seems too large; I have the breasts of a woman several decades and some children older than me. There's a genetic component I'm sure, but years of not-drastic-but-continuous fluctuations in body weight have taken their toll too. Generally I don't tend to show stretch marks and my skin seems pretty elastic and bounce back-able, though I do scar very easily.
I love my body, respect what it can do and how it makes me feel. My partner loves my body, too. This isn't really about esteem issues or anything else. I'm mostly just curious, and if there was some little thing I could change or do every day that might improve this one thing, I'd do it.
Push-ups certainly won't fix the problem entirely, but they do some good.
posted by kestrel251 at 11:56 AM on February 11, 2010
posted by kestrel251 at 11:56 AM on February 11, 2010
No, but one thing that will help your day-to-day appearance, and thus make you happier, would be to get the best possible bras. Get fitted professionally. Nordstroms is a good place, if you have one near you.
posted by BlahLaLa at 12:01 PM on February 11, 2010 [4 favorites]
posted by BlahLaLa at 12:01 PM on February 11, 2010 [4 favorites]
yeah - bearwife and kestrel251 have it - strengthen the muscles behind your breasts.
fwiw - i also agree with kathrineg - my breasts have had some sag since i started growing them (as a 9 year old), really. D cup + weight fluctuations = less perk. while our culture definitely suggests that older women with kids are where saggy boobs are, most of us don't look like the pages of a magazine. in fact, take christina hendricks - an amazing rack to be sure, but do you see all the rigging under her dress? my bet is that when she lets those things down for the night, they have a very natural slope (sag) to them...
posted by nadawi at 12:10 PM on February 11, 2010 [3 favorites]
fwiw - i also agree with kathrineg - my breasts have had some sag since i started growing them (as a 9 year old), really. D cup + weight fluctuations = less perk. while our culture definitely suggests that older women with kids are where saggy boobs are, most of us don't look like the pages of a magazine. in fact, take christina hendricks - an amazing rack to be sure, but do you see all the rigging under her dress? my bet is that when she lets those things down for the night, they have a very natural slope (sag) to them...
posted by nadawi at 12:10 PM on February 11, 2010 [3 favorites]
Weightlifting can help a lot. Mine are pendulous (inherited), and there's not much you can do, but lifting can make a difference.
posted by jgirl at 12:20 PM on February 11, 2010
posted by jgirl at 12:20 PM on February 11, 2010
Strengthening the muscles will change the shape of what's going on around and behind your breasts but will do nothing at all to the skin. So if your problem really is just saggy skin, which is genetic, then there's nothing you can do. Even then the changes you can get with exercise are a crapshoot, it may help if you're built the right way but even the biggest change will be small, or it may just do nothing except increase your band size (which is what happened to me). Firming creams etc are definitely scams although a good body moisteriser is always nice in general if you have otherwise dry skin.
So yeah, wear a good bra. And realise that this is totally normal for even younger women, regardless of what the fashion industry with it's fake breasts and airbrushing would have you believe, and many of us out here are exactly the same. You just can't tell because we wear good bras.
posted by shelleycat at 12:50 PM on February 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
So yeah, wear a good bra. And realise that this is totally normal for even younger women, regardless of what the fashion industry with it's fake breasts and airbrushing would have you believe, and many of us out here are exactly the same. You just can't tell because we wear good bras.
posted by shelleycat at 12:50 PM on February 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
Oh, I also meant to say that this is even normal for smaller women, size isn't really a contributing factor as far as I can tell. I'm a B cup and they still sag like crazy (have since my early twenties). Increasing the muscles was actually bad in the end because getting larger band sizes with a small cup size sucks.
posted by shelleycat at 12:53 PM on February 11, 2010
posted by shelleycat at 12:53 PM on February 11, 2010
My breasts look their highest and firmest when my body fat is at its lowest. My skin is a bit stretched from a pregnancy, but reducing my body fat did still help a bit. My weight/fat still flucuates a bit based on what I'm training for and how long I've been training. I've never seriously considered surgery mostly because of the costs (I have no other judgments about it for anyone). I buy $70 bras instead!
posted by peep at 1:37 PM on February 11, 2010
posted by peep at 1:37 PM on February 11, 2010
I agree with all of the above- weight training, push ups, and good bras have helped me.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:38 PM on February 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 3:38 PM on February 11, 2010 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by bearwife at 11:43 AM on February 11, 2010