The Girlfriends: Let’s talk about breasts baby

Mel: You can breast feed with small boobs!

Staci: Bras are from hell, especially after 12 hours, that’s when you began to see their true evil form.

Mel: I have like two bras I like. Ah lie three - if you include my sports bra. I wear a 34A. Small boobies but hear nah, if I go running and I don’t put on my sports bra (just my normal bra) - is pressure! You would think with these smallies, ah safe ent? Nope! Tennis balls ... basketball balls ... bounce is bounce!

Martie: I think it’s important for all women to get a proper bra sizing. I hate when WOMEN don’t understand back sizing and cup sizing. And then there are bra makers who shouldn’t be. They making bras for style but not being smart in the design. How you goanna make a C and up cup with padding? They make a C cup, then add the padding, so now the bra is too small so U have to buy a D to fit. And why would anyone c and up want extra padding, is beyond me? Most importantly though, I don’t think some women know how to care for their breasts. They are like any other part of your body. We take care of everything but our breasts. We tend to shower and bra...that’s the routine? Ladies, care for your mammaries the way you care for the rest of your bodies.

Mel: Agreed!

Martie: Giving yourself a breast exam once in a while isn’t enough.

Staci: There are quite a few things about boobs that we don’t really talk about, for one, under boob sweat! Or how they hurt like a b**ch leading up to your period or getting a lash in them is just as painful as a man getting hit in his groin.

Chanelle: Or the fact that women neglect out of either ignorance or laziness to clean the inside of their nipples if they have deep nipples. It accumulates muck just like one’s navel (for those who have innies) or one’s penis (for uncircumcised men).

Mel: The biggest thing for me was breastfeeding! Allyuh! I feeding the boy - first week. Meh boy drunk on he milk. Eh heh! He drop asleep. As he mouth fall off meh nipple, milk start to fly out projectile! Like three feet and ting! Well if that wasn’t enough - it started to spray from more than one hole! Well I nearly dead! I say the boy buss meh nipples! Quick search on Google - it normal! Nipples like a showerhead! Who knew!!!

Lis: The nipple can also discharge other than milk.

Mel: Mine still does! I got mastitis* in meh right one. Not nice yo! More painful than a contraction!

Lis: I have duct ectasia**...doctors tell me leave and it will sort itself out, 5 years later it still there. I read that women who smoke and/or eat a lot of meat are more prone to it. I do neither. It benign and it comes and goes so I just ignore it now.

Martie: Yeah it’s a benign situation. It mimics breast cancer and that’s why some women panic. It usually happens when a duct is widening or changing. I have a friend who has it so that’s how I heard about it. Lis, do you keep your areola moist or lubricated? My friend wipes ACV on hers every once in a while to cleanse her nipple then runs a little olive oil on it.

Lis: I just moisturize my skin with coconut oil.

Martie: Ok that should be good too. Yes ladies, you must moisturize the girls. The skin can become loose, get stretch marks and look older faster than other parts of your body.

Lis: And I put a few drops of frankincense essential oil in the coconut oil cause I read that cures everything.

Ronz: Here’s my take on all things boobies. Bras: clearly designed by men to torture women and can actually be harmful if too tight as it can block the lymph system.

Wearing the proper size and understanding what is what is so important. Best thing I ever did was doing a proper fitting after all my bras stopped working for me. 32DDD! Hard to find in a lot of places though. From small I wanted big boobs but they aren’t low maintenance (nobody tells you that part). Most bras that feel ok are so not sexy. Closer to my period they weight a ton and are super sensitive, especially when it’s cold up here in Toronto - that is literal pain! I ended up with stretch marks everywhere during my pregnancy. Breasts big like yuh head, yup been there! One is still bigger than the other (which is common for women anyway) and my areola never went back to its original colour. Nobody tells you these things beforehand... at least nobody told me.

It’s so important to know your breasts and to check them regularly. There’s an ad on TV with a woman eating an orange, like the size of a small portugal and then you see her spitting out a seed. The orange is the size lump you could detect yourself, the seed is what a mammogram could find. Which btw is another torture device meant to destroy breasts. I’ve done a couple and they hurt like hell!

Kimba: Well I now get breasts as I turn 40 so thanks for all the info!

Martie: I’ll be honest. I love them and hate them at times. But because of their size, I think I get a lil frightened about how they’ll look as I age so I try to stay as informed as possible about keeping them as firm as I can for as long as I can. That and well I seem to attract fellas younger than me sooooo I hadda make sure they’re happy with the packaging too!

Kimba: I just found out someone close to me has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. So breasts.... having them... can also make you susceptible to breast cancer.

Tamz: Men can also get breast cancer though...

Staci: I have a friend who was diagnosed when she was my age (36) and she had to have a large part of both breasts removed. She’s cancer free now and she plans on getting implants but she hasn’t yet. She showed me her scars at one point and it really hit home just how devastating breast cancer or any cancer for that fact can be.

Ronz: My mom was diagnosed with it last year. It was terrifying. Had a lumpectomy and radiation. Thankfully no chemo. She’s cancer free now as well but she has to be taking long-term medication. Like so many things we take for granted how quickly our life can change. It really is so important to know your breasts, and your body in general, so when something changes you notice and you can get it checked out as soon as possible.

Martie: But as far the boobies go, just because you don’t feel anything out of the ordinary, doesn’t mean you’re in the clear. As women, we pay more attention to the accessorizing of our bodies than we do the working aspects! Contact the T&T Cancer Society @ 800-TTCS to get screened today! *Mastitis is an infection of the breast tissue that results in breast pain, swelling, warmth and redness.

**Duct ectasia of the breast or mammary duct ectasia or plasma cell mastitis is a condition in which the lactiferous duct becomes blocked or clogged.

The Girlfriends is a group of 15 women between the ages of 26 - 45 who are willing to give an unadulterated look into their own experiences. Some names have been changed for privacy