The latest research by Playtex has found that 76% of women are wearing the wrong size bra. In the case of me and three of my colleagues, the statistic was 100%. Which was a shock. Our shapes are pretty standard; we are women of the world. And here we were at Satin Candy, Durban's best-known bra emporium, surrounded by staff who made Trinny and Susannah from What Not to Wear look like pussycats.My particular saleslady took an appraising look. "38C?" I said. "Not a chance," she replied. Turns out I'm a 34E. It transpired that I had been wearing my bras incorrectly since I was 12. It was all about packaging, she said. I'd been tugging instead of pulling; shifting instead of lifting.I was prodded, pulled, squashed and squeezed. "Does it matter where my nipples are?" I managed to ask. "Nah, just stick 'em in," she said. "It's all about illusion."She was right. I looked slimmer and a lot higher, but nothing compared with colleague Y. She had walked into the dressing room a size 36DD and emerged as Sofía Vergara. Her 32E boobs sailed proudly ahead, supported on the most slender of torsos. "A well-fitted bra," pronounced Y, "is as good as a boob job."Sandra Thomas opened her first Satin Candy branch in Hillcrest seven years ago when she saw a gap in the market. "You couldn't find anything bigger than a double D and I felt really sorry for teenage girls who were forced to wear ugly, old cross-your-heart bras."She ran through the litany of mistakes women make. Contrary to popular belief, she said, underwire bras are good - they don't cause cancer. If they dig, it means you are wearing the wrong size. Secondly, women are under the impression that a B or C is average. "The cup size is the difference in inches between the bust measurement and the under-bust measurement. Dolly Parton says she is a double D. She's more likely a G. The spectrum runs from AA to J or K."Thirdly, 90% of breast support comes from the band, not the straps. The back of the bra must fit snugly. "Physiotherapists send many clients our way. The first thing they say to a heavily busted woman with back and neck pain is, 'Get a decent bra'."Finally, don't throw your bra in the washing machine, and don't use fabric softener. It reduces its life span.Thomas said the bra market is enormous. "Our main market is the 35 to 55-year-olds, but we have girls as young as 14 and I've taught many a 75-year-old how to scoop her boobs. If women walk out of the shop feeling gorgeous and a little bit sexier then we have accomplished our mission."For more information go to www.satincandy.co.za..