This is going to be a pretty brief post, but it’s something I’ve noticed being asked fairly often by women who are new to correctly sized bras: I have red marks from my bra, is that normal?

Of course, the answer to this is YES! This is not only normal, but probably will always happen, just like you get red marks on your stomach from elastic waistbands, or on your ankles from socks, or on your hips from panties.

Then I get the question “How red/deep is normal?”

I pretty much feel like your band should be as tight as you can wear without major discomfort. Red marks that disappear within a half hour or so? Normal. A bra that digs in all day so that you can’t stop thinking about it, and red welts that are painful and itchy? Band too small! In order to try to show people what’s normal, I wore my Curvy Kate Tease Me (which has a pretty good band for me, maybe sometimes a little on the loose side since it’s getting a good amount of wear) for a half hour or so. If these pictures were after I’d worn it all night, the red marks would probably be darker and more prominent, so please keep that in mind until I can update it with after-all-day pictures!

For most people, the band in the middle would probably not leave quite so deep a mark. The reason it’s so dark there is because I was sitting the entire time I was wearing it, and I have a fat roll right below my boobs, so bands can tend to dig in there. Notice you can see the outline where my wires sit on me- that’s totally normal. As you can see (besides the dark mark in the middle that I’ve already explained), the marks are pretty non-consequential. Here’s what they look like from the side:

Once again, the darker red spot is because I was sitting and my stomach is just a weird shape, but the rest of these marks are all almost exactly what it looks like after I take my tights off at the end of the night (except quite a bit higher up on my torso!!)

So that’s my example of what (my) normal bra marks look like! Keep in mind that this is immediately after removing my bra, and in the time it’s taken to write this post (~15 minutes) they’ve almost completely disappeared. Your bra should never leave raised marks, painful or itchy marks, or cut into your skin in any way that’s severely uncomfortable. However, a properly tight band is the foundation for support, and red marks such as these above are to be expected!

*EDIT*

Here are the red marks from an altered Freya Deco. The darker red square shape you see in the side profile picture is from this alteration. I did it myself and it left a section that sticks out more than the rest of the band, which sometimes digs in uncomfortably, but is usually fine, just leaves a darker spot.