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To help you choose the best bras for travel, Travel Fashion Girl has sought out the best in the business: Linda the Bra Lady! Read on as she shares her expert tips about choosing, packing, and traveling with the right travel bra.
Choosing the Best Bra for Your Trip!
Hi I’m Linda the Bra Lady! I’m pleased to share some insider tips on traveling and bra care. Mostly because it’s my mission for 25 + years to help women find the best bras for their bodies, but also because I travel – a lot. In all of my years of flying, driving, and crisscrossing around the map, I’ve learned a thing or two about packing bras in the suitcase.
Here are my expert tips on choosing the best bras for your travels:
Pack the right bras!
This is the most important thing: get a professional fitting to determine the best bra for your unique shape! There’s no point in toting a stack of ill fitting bras all over the world. Once you and your fitter have found some great bras, you can match a few to your wardrobe. Lay out the clothes you want to bring and make sure you have the right bras to pack.
For example:
- For light colored t-shirts: pack a smooth bra that’s close to your skin tone (nude bras are less visible than white) This lingerie line has a range of nude shades in deeper colors.
- For black or dark tops: a great black bra (dark clothing bleeds onto light bras)
- Strapless, halter or racerback clothes: A neutral colored strapless or convertible bra (Don’t forget to pack the straps!)
- Deep V neck tops: a plunging bra (to avoid the bra showing)
- High neck tops: a full coverage bra (to avoid quad boob ,or any lumps and bumps)
Be sure to pack more than just one or two bras so that you can rotate them while you travel and not overwear one. The best bras for travel are the ones that are easy to mix and match with your travel clothing!
Versatility is key to a capsule wardrobe. Learn more in my guide!
Pack the right way!
Big tip: Whether your bra is in your lingerie drawer or a suitcase, never fold one cup into the other. This ruins the shape and integrity of your bras. Instead, stack one behind the other, keeping the cups puffed up.
You can even invest in The Brag Travel Bra Bag (which comes in two sizes and lots of colors like leopard print!) to protect your bras. But you can also pack your bras toward the top of your suitcase with enough room to avoid crushing.
Also, stuff some socks or rolled up tank tops behind the cups. This will help them (and you!) keep their shape.
Many of our readers like to designate one packing cube just for their bras and underwear!
I know I do not have to explain the awful feeling of not packing enough underwear. Similarly dreadful: packing the wrong underwear.
Before you pack, look at your dresses and bottoms. Just like bras, give yourself a few styles and colors to choose from that match your travel wardrobe.
And to keep the dirty away from the clean, (and to avoid the regrettable “sniff test”) use a Panty Pak. The useful “Clean”, and “Not So Clean”, zippered pockets are a lifesaver.
Pack important extras
Don’t forget to include a few travel accessories like The Strapper, which easily converts any basic bra into a racerback bra.
And for longer trips, pack a travel sized lingerie wash. Just two tiny capfuls of LeBlanc wash keep your delicates and bathing suits fresh AND looking like new.
Other soaps are too harsh and will ruin your favorite things! And a silk sleep mask can be a travel girl’s best friend.
PS: Don’t forget about bathing suits! I carry designer brands, great basic or fashion styles, AND cup-sized swimwear from AA-K cup. But that’s a whole different blog post…
What brands do you think have the best travel underwear for women? Comment and share!
For more tips on travel underwear, please read:
- Travel Underwear – How Many Should I pack for My Round-the-World Trip?
- 10 Best Thermal Underwear for Women
- How Many Bras Do You Pack When Traveling?
- The Three Bras Every Woman Should Pack When Traveling
Hope you found liked this post on how to choose the best bras for travel. Please share with your friends on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest. Thanks for reading!
Any idea how to tell beforehand which underwires will set off the metal detectors? I have a couple of brands that always do, and end up with a sports bra on the trip just for airports because it is the only thing I can find that fits that has no underwires. Underwire is pretty much the norm for my size, but there must be a way to find out they’re a problem before I’m at the airport? Thanks!
I always wear underwire bras when I travel and have never set off metal detectors at security (not in Europe, nor Jamaica, nor Turks & Caicos, nor Argentina, nor Brazil, nor the US)! I wear a 32F (UK) size for reference. My fav bra is the Fantasie 4510 which honestly is what I wear to travel in 99% of the time as it is my most comfortable bra.
My underwire bra set off the detector in Frankfort, Germany. It was pretty embarrassing when the TSA woman grabbed my breast to feel for the wire.
Bras should be made of moisture wicking fabric; wire, hook and tag free! I tend to wear a lot of black clothing so I opt for a black, racer back bra. Well, and also the darker colour is a bit more forgiving for keeping clean
Sounds like you have the perfect travel bra!
For the UK readers wanting a bra case… My boyfriend bought me a really cute bra case that I use all the time when I travel. I can’t be without it now 🙂 I don’t have to worry about folding or crushing or any of that stuff. If you’re interested, they sell them here: jackyscollection.uk/
thanks for the tip!
Love the post. The Bra Travel Bag link doesn’t work. Help a traveler out! Love from Switzerland.
Sorry to hear this Amber! Here is a direct link http://amzn.to/1U8NNI4
I LOVE to travel with a wire free bra!! There’s this australian brand that sells The Wire Free Bra and it’s glorious they’re called b free intimate apparel or be free intimate apparel and I’m a D and still soo comfy for flights and so on! I have the gap one too I love them both!
That sounds good, I’ll have to check it out! Wire free feels very good especially when it’s hot.
Hey y’all! I’ve found a bra that’s pretty perfect for traveling. The Gap favorite wireless bra. It’s halfway between a normal bra and a sports bra. I wear it as both since I’m on the not-so-chesty side. It has convertible straps (normal or cross-back) and it’s reasonably priced ($36). I’m about to buy another, so I’ll have 2 for an upcoming trip. Highly recommended!
gap.com/browse/product.do?cid=84648&vid=1&pid=644693002
-A
hi there, thanks for the tip! that bra looks like heaven 🙂 i’d loooove to get one with support AND comfort. will for sure check it out. thanks!
lovely tips linda.. I have to get one of these great bra cases!
Thanks Brandy! Me too 🙂
Thanks Brandy! Those cases are cute AND functional 🙂 xo Linda
OMG I am so guilty of folding my bra’s, one cup into the other! That bra travel bag seems like a really good idea, I think I might just get one!
Yes I am too! Never really thought about it but when you only have a couple bras for an entire trip, it’s important that they last.
The bra bags are such a fabulous idea 🙂 Glad you liked it! It comes in 7 different colors (I like the leopard or purple, personally!) xo Linda the Bra Lady
One thing to note, if you’re flying there really isn’t any safe place in your suitcase to avoid things being crushed. When your bag is checked it’s always put on the conveyor belt wheels up which means top-down. Also, bags are stacked on top of one another so if something can’t survive you sitting on your suitcase, don’t pack it in your checked baggage.
One way to avoid that would be to use a hard-sided suitcase or pack your crushable items in a hard case inside your normal suitcase.
Hi Melissa Thanks for the travel tips 🙂 Happy Holidays!
Thanks for sharing my tips! One other note: make sure you wear a bra that fits properly for your long car ride or flight. You’ll feel so much more comfortable. Or, go wireless (still has to fit and support, though!) My favorite bra to wear during long trips is a non-underwire, smooth style from Anita: http://www.lindasonline.com/anita-active-medium-impact-sports-bra-5521-skin.html It’s a “sports bra” but it looks great under clothing. xoxo Linda the Bra Lady
Thanks for all the great tips Linda. I’ll have to check out this bra. Would be a dream to get away from my underwire bras 🙂
Thanks again!