Off the Rack ~ Comparing Underwire Comfort Pads

Without fail, every single bra I own cuts into me in the same spot—my right side where the underwire and the band meet, and then following the band back. And I do mean that literally. Even too-big bands, even my Panache sport with its padded, enclosed wires, still hits that spot and drives me crazy. With some bras, this phenomenon is super itchy. With others, it can actually break the skin like a rug burn. It’s worse when I’m sitting still at a desk all day.

I know I’m wearing the right size and it’s only on the right side, so I suspect it’s the result of where my ribs happen to be located in relation to the band and the fact that I don’t have much squish in that area.

Depending on what I’m wearing, sometimes I’ll tuck my shirt up under that spot on the band to create some extra padding and give my skin a break. But recently I decided to look for a better solution. I ended up buying two types of “underwire cushion” to compare: Braza’s Underwire Comfort Strips, and Nearly Me’s Silicone Underwire Pads. I found both on LadyGrace.com.

Braza’s pads are thin strips of fabric stuffed with a tiny bit of padding. Their backing is a flexible textured plastic that sticks to the soft side of velcro. The texture will also stick to your underwire casing, and that’s how it stays on. It’s slightly curved to follow the curve of your underwire.

I tried the Braza strips first, and found them pretty much useless. For one thing, they’re simply too small for the purpose I needed. They only fit over the underwire and aren’t big enough to cover the entire band area that irritates me.

Further, after one day of use, the underwire has permanently squished and made a dent down the center of the strip, so now it’s basically got no padding at all. It’s been several days since I wore the strip and it still hasn’t bounced back. So I definitely do not recommend these. I’m wondering if I can find some other purpose for them, as it seems wasteful to just throw them away.

The silicone pads, on the other hand, are amazing! After trying it once, I’ve been wearing one every day. They’re available in two lengths—four inches or six inches (I purchased the four-inch ones)—and are a little over an inch wide. They’re super squishy and thick. One side is soft, tan fabric, and one side is ultra-sticky, clear silicon.

You get two in a package, and they come stuck together with a sheet of plastic separating them (like the plastic that comes on Dr. Scholl’s reusable gel inserts for shoes). When you’re ready to use it, you peel one strip off and stick it on your body, then carefully put on your bra. They can be washed with gentle soap and water, then allowed to air-dry before sticking back onto the plastic sheet and storing in a zip-loc baggie (which they come in).

The silicone pads completely solve the discomfort I was experiencing. They’re big enough that I don’t have to be that precise in putting them on, and they stick really well and stay put all day even when I’m moving around a lot. I do sweat a little extra on that spot when wearing one, but so far it hasn’t bothered me and the silicone still stays stuck on despite the sweat.

Here’s a photo of how I placed it under my bra (this is the Comexim Magic Blue):

And after removing the bra:

The other red marks you see are not painful or itchy, they’re just normal imprints I always get. There’s just something about the spot under the silicone that is painful for some reason.

I love these pads so much that I’m probably going to order loads more of them, maybe in both lengths. I’ll probably be wearing them every single day from now on.