Sore, tender breasts on the "heavy" days

Breast pain and tenderness is "one of the main symptoms, especially in the perimenopause." Some days your breasts are just "a lot more uncomfortable," and "a lot heavier."

Water retention is part of it: "your bra size and your breasts can go up a size literally overnight." And "especially on those days when your breasts get bigger, if you're wearing underwired bras, they can really dig in."

Even she got her size wrong for decades: "I had been, I thought, a 36B all my life. It turns out that I'm a 32DD." The usual answer is to "get yourself measured every year." But when your size can change overnight, last month's measurement is already out of date.

The Comfy Curve tank doesn't depend on a band being the perfect size. There's no wire, the support comes from the whole garment, and the soft stretch fabric moves with you on the good days and the swollen ones.

Losing your waist (and the roll over your band)

Nobody likes the words "sagging breasts." But as oestrogen falls, breast tissue "just loses a lot of strength, so the breast tissue starts to fall instead of being kept upright."

When it isn't held up, "that's going to cover your waist," and you start to look "a bit dumpier and a bit rounder." No wonder "losing your waist in the menopause can really affect your confidence."

Then there's the giveaway: "a skin fold coming over the top of your bra." That roll isn't menopause weight. It's a strip of tight elastic pressing into soft skin and pushing it up and over.

Proper support "lifts everything up. It shows your waist." The tank's built-in cups lift and hold, so your shape looks lifted. And with no band, there's nothing to push a roll over. Your back stays smooth under a fitted top.

Neck and shoulder aches at the end of the day

Here's something most of us were never told: "your breast tissue is attached to the chest muscles." So "if your breasts are getting heavier, if they are dipping that way, that's going to actually pull on the muscles in the chest."

And it doesn't stop there. "These muscles are then going to pull the shoulder muscles, the neck muscles," which can mean "constant neck pain, shoulder pain, and just general discomfort around this whole area." Add the wrong bra and you get "marks and digging lines right across your shoulders," from two thin straps carrying everything.

The Comfy Curve tank has wide straps and spreads the support across your shoulders, ribs, sides and back. No single point carries the load, so nothing cuts into your shoulders by the afternoon.

Rounded shoulders: "if you think you're shrinking, it may be your bra"

When that pull goes on day after day, "your posture is going to decrease." Your shoulders and chest slowly round in.

Here's the surprising part: women "can lose between half an inch and an inch of height just wearing the wrong size bra." So "if you think that you're shrinking, height-wise, it may be more to do with your bra."

The tank lifts from the whole garment instead of hanging everything from your shoulders. Turn sideways in the mirror the first morning you wear it. Most women notice the difference before they've finished their coffee.

Damp, irritated skin when a hot flash hits

When your breasts sit lower, "there's not going to be a lot of air getting into the skin just in the crease of the breasts and also down the middle."

Then a hot flash or a night sweat hits, "that area is going to get damp," and it can lead to "rashes, irritation." A tight band only adds to it: a strip of elastic wrapped around your ribs for twelve hours, right where you're already hottest.

The Comfy Curve tank has no band at all. The fabric is soft and breathable, and the built-in cups hold you up so skin isn't pressed against skin all day.

Headaches nobody connects to their bra

"Headaches are a really common symptom in the menopause," and many women get them "on a daily basis."

One cause hardly anyone thinks of: "if your muscles are being pulled down your neck and your shoulders, that can cause constriction in the blood vessels which can lead to tension headaches." So "if you've tried a lot of the other remedies that haven't helped, then maybe it's time to look at your bra."

We're not doctors, and this tank isn't a treatment. But if your bra is part of the problem, swapping it for a top with no band, no wire and wide straps that spread the weight is the easiest experiment you'll ever run.

That squeezed feeling around your ribs

The last one is breathing. "If your shoulders and everything is pulled in, especially if you're wearing the wrong size bra around here, it's going to constrict you and that's going to affect your breathing." And "it could be your exercise bras too."

Every breath you take expands your ribcage, right where a bra band is wrapped tight. That's why the first breath after you unhook it feels so good.

There is nothing wrapped tight around your ribs in this tank. No band. No hooks. No wire. It pulls on over your head in one move, and that's it.