Banana and Hook Breasts: The Upturned Shape, Explained

Q: What does the folklore say about women with banana breasts?

What the folklore says. The Russian breast-shape lists that have circulated online since at least 2007, and that this chart is drawn from, give every shape a character. Here is what they say about this one, with the unkind parts left out. Only the hook half of this pair carries a character in any list we found. The hook woman is clever, persistent and clear about what she wants. Once she has chosen someone, the lists say, she keeps him for as long as she likes, and she gets where she is going. One list sums her up as a woman who never wants what belongs to others but will not give up what is hers. The banana half has no character at all in any list we could find. It seems to have joined the chart as a picture, not as a personality.

Banana-shaped breasts, sometimes called hooks, are a longer shape with a straight or gently scooped slope above the nipple, fullness in the lower part, and a curve that lifts at the end so the nipple points upward and a little outward. In profile the outline looks like the curve of a banana or the end of a hook, which is where both names come from. It is a common shape at every size.

What do banana-shaped breasts look like?

The upper slope is the defining feature. Instead of rounding outward from the chest, it runs fairly straight, sometimes even dipping slightly, towards the nipple. The fullness gathers below, and then the lower curve turns upward, so the nipple sits at the high point of the end rather than the middle.

From the front, bananas often look slimmer than they are, because much of their volume is in their length. The base is often average to narrow, and the two sides can sit close or slightly apart.

How do I know if my breasts are banana-shaped?

Side-on in a mirror, look at two things: a straight or scooped slope above the nipple, and a nipple that points up rather than straight ahead. Together those are the banana signature.

The nearest neighbours are pears, which also carry their fullness low but end in a nipple pointing down and out, and bottles, which are narrow at the top and full and rounded at the base but sit lower on the chest. If the curve lifts at the end, it is a banana. Your two sides may not match, which is entirely ordinary; see One Breast Is Bigger Than the Other: The Honest Answer.

Which bras suit banana-shaped breasts?

The question with bananas is the top of the cup. There is less fullness up there than most cups are built for, so a rigid cup can leave a gap.

Stretch lace and unlined stretch cups follow the slope instead of arguing with it. They take the shape of what is in them, so the upper edge lies flat.

Balconettes and demi cups suit the low fullness. Their lower cup is built to hold the bottom of the breast, and the lower top edge does not ask for fullness the shape does not carry.

Plunges work well if you are close-set, and the low centre follows the line of the upper slope.

Moulded T-shirt cups are the ones that often gap at the top, because foam holds its own round shape whether anything is in it or not. If you love the smooth line, a shallower moulded cup or a half size down in the cup (with the band checked) sometimes solves it.

Upturned nipples and sheer fabric: an upturned nipple sits right at the apex of the cup, so it shows through thin lace more than it would on some shapes. Whether that is a feature or not is entirely your call. Lined or moulded cups hide it if you want them to.

For the cuts themselves, see Every Bra Type Explained. For the numbers, the bra size calculator and the fitting guide.

Do banana breasts change shape?

Every shape does. Volume shifts through the month, and across years, age, weight change and pregnancies all move where fullness sits. A study of women seeking breast surgery found that age, body mass index, the number of pregnancies, pre-pregnancy bra size and smoking were each associated with breasts sitting lower on the chest, while breastfeeding was not. That was a surgical-consultation group, not women in general, but the direction is familiar: shapes settle. A banana at twenty is often a pear at forty-five. That is a description, not a decline.

What does the folklore say about women with banana breasts?

What the folklore says. The Russian breast-shape lists that have circulated online since at least 2007, and that this chart is drawn from, give every shape a character. Here is what they say about this one, with the unkind parts left out.

Only the hook half of this pair carries a character in any list we found. The hook woman is clever, persistent and clear about what she wants. Once she has chosen someone, the lists say, she keeps him for as long as she likes, and she gets where she is going. One list sums her up as a woman who never wants what belongs to others but will not give up what is hers.

The banana half has no character at all in any list we could find. It seems to have joined the chart as a picture, not as a personality.

Is any of that true?

No. None of it comes from a study, and no study we could find has ever tested whether breast shape and character are connected. The lists name authorities that do not hold up. The "Italian sexologist" is a real author of popular books on the history of erotica, not shown to be a sexologist, and the system credited to him changes from one outlet to the next. The "Japanese doctor" cannot be found at all. The "eighteenth-century Spanish" origin has no source behind it. Where the lists disagree, and they often do, they disagree completely. Read the box above the way you would read a horoscope: for fun, and about nobody in particular.

The short version

A longer shape with a straight or scooped slope on top, fullness below and an upturned end. Stretch lace and balconettes follow it; moulded cups can gap at the top. The shape will move over the years, and that is only a description.

Sources

Rinker et al. 2008, The effect of breastfeeding on breast aesthetics - factors associated with breasts sitting lower after pregnancy, read as an abstract.