Quiz Yourself: Boob Basics

Because understanding your body can be as quick and fun as a true or false quiz!

True or false: It’s normal for one breast bud to develop before the other.

True! Boobs grow because hormones - the natural chemicals that control puberty - circulate through the body, instructing various parts to stretch and change. Even though hormones float all through your body, the body parts don’t always respond to them at exactly the same time or in precisely the same way. 

True or false: Hair on your boobs is normal.

True! While this is rarely talked about, it’s totally normal to have hair on your boobs. Different parts of the breast have different types of hair. The nipples - which are right smack in the middle - rarely have hair. But the flat red or dark brown circle around the nipple - the areola - can have thick, dark hairs. The skin covering the of your chest also can have hair, but this is usually so fine that you’ve never even noticed it before.

True or false: Your boobs will never change size once you are done growing.

False! Boobs can swell and change shape and size your whole life… or not. It just depends. Because boobs are particularly good at holding onto water, some boobs swell a lot - so much so that you need to wear an entirely different bra size for a few days. This is most common right before your period, thanks to the balance of hormones circulating through your body that signal to the body to hang on to extra water. What you eat can have this same effect (particularly a diet high in sodium). And boobs can change in size with normal weight fluctuations as well.

True or false: Big boobs cannot make your back hurt.

False! Heavy breasts can put strain on the neck, shoulders, and back. If this is happening to you, talk to someone about it - maybe a parent, maybe your doctor - especially if your boob size is stopping you from doing sports or working out the way you want to. 

True or false: Having asymmetrical boobs is normal.

True! For the same reason that breast buds can appear at different times (hormones!), boobs can wind up different sizes. This happens when body parts don’t respond to circulating hormones at exactly the same time or in precisely the same way. In some bodies, this can cause boobs to wind up being different sizes or shapes.