I’ve been 99% braless since my lactation evened out some time after my son’s birth, but I still feel so self-conscious about it when I’m in public (but also can’t fathom going back to the unbearable discomfort of the bra) that I’ll never wear a t-shirt or top without some sort of distracting piece of clothing worn over it. Because I feel and see the stares. Until they cease, or I’ve grown a hide as thick as a woolly mammoth’s (confidence-wise), I will not be comfortable in public existing only with a t-shirt – the way I’d want to, because it’s what feels best on my skin.

Thank you for articulating this with so much differentiation!