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How to Find Your Natural Waist

Most people think their natural waist is the mid-point of their torso, which isn’t true. If you have a high waist, your “natural waist” will be closer to your breast. If you have a low waist your “natural” waist will be closer to your hip.

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My grandma Doonie was a seamstress for over 70 years. Every time I go home to Minneapolis, she drops little pearls of fashion/garment/shopping related wisdom. On a recent trip home, Doonie gave me these simple instructions on finding your natural waist.

Steps to finding your natural waist and waist size

Woman measures natural waist with cloth tape.

Finding your natural waist isn’t hard (if you know where to look). Grab a fabric tape measure and follow these steps:

  1. Place a tape measure around your middle torso.
  2. Bend your body to the side. You can go either left or right — it doesn’t matter.
  3. Feel for a crease/indentation/fold below your breast, but above the top of your hips. For those of us with love handles, you’re looking for the fold closest to the the top of your hips.
  4. Move to the tape measure to where this fold occurs.
  5. You’ve found it! This is your natural waist.
  6. While you’re there, take a look at the number on your tape measure. Now you know your waist size.

Here’s a video that gives you a bit more detail on how to measure your natural waist.

Your lower waist and how to find it

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You might have a couple questions right now, as in:

  • Waist vs. natural waist…is there a difference?
  • Is the natural waist at the belly button?

These are reasonable questions. The confusion comes in because some references to “waist” actually refer to your lower waist. This is closer to your belly button, where a normal rise pant usually sits. (High rise pants edge up higher to your natural waist. Low-rise pants don’t even go that high; these top out at your hips, which makes them incredibly unflattering on most body types.)

So, no, the natural waist is not at the belly button. That’s closer to your lower waist — which usually about 2 inches below your natural waist.

The easiest way to find your lower waist is to put your pointer finger on your natural waist, then add your middle finger and index finger. The point where your index finger lands is your lower waist.

Natural waist and your measurements

Knowing your natural waist measurement (i.e., waist size) helps you pick the right sized jeans off the rack — but it’s not quite enough info to help you choose the right rise for your jeans or construct outfits that balance your shape.

While you have a cloth tape in your hand, go ahead and measure your bust and hips, both at their fullest point. How these measurements compare to one another will tell you your shape. Reference the bullet points below, borrowed from my post on buying swimwear for your body type.

Drawings of five different female body types with labels.
  • Banana/rectangle: You are thin all over and your bust, waist and hips are all about the same.
  • Pear: Your bust and waist are significantly smaller than your hips.
  • Apple: Your waist and bust are about the same, and slightly wider than your hips.
  • Hourglass: Your bust and hips are roughly the same, and your waist is significantly smaller.
  • Inverted triangle: Your bust (and shoulders) is fuller than your hips.

Armed with your body type, you can make smart outfit decisions based on your body type.

I’ll say here that whatever your numbers are, accept and love them. You could try a waist trainer or, for a quick fix, shapewear. You could even gain or lose weight. But learning how to flatter your shape as it is today is a skill every woman should have — no matter what your future body plans are.

Low-rise, mid-rise, or high-rise jeans?

It’s possible you’re not in the mood for measurements or formulas — you just want to know what rise to pick for jeans that will flatter. I get it. The vast majority of natural waist questions my readers ask are ultimately about jeans. So here are the bullet points on what rise will flatter:

  • Wear high rise jeans if you have a pouchy middle and larger backside or a long torso. High-rise jeans make your legs look longer.
  • Wear lower rise if you have an athletic body type with a flatter stomach and smaller backside. Low-rise jeans make your legs look shorter and your body longer.
  • Wear mid rise if you have a small waist and curvy hips. Mid rise jeans accentuate your hourglass figure.
Different jean rises

Looking for more great tips? Check these out…
How to Wear Skinny Jeans: If You Have Large Thighs
How to Wear Skinny Jeans: If You’re Petite

Goddess On Knees

Friday 29th of November 2013

Really helpful guide. Thanks! Buying a David Meister gown from SAKS online and this really helped.

Joanne

Wednesday 16th of February 2011

I agree! Now all we need to do is get the fashion designers, especially those who design jeans and pants to learn this fact. Our "natural waist" is NOT across the navel!!! Waistbands that sit across the hipbones promote "muffin tops" and look AWFUL on anyone who has feminine curves below the waist and woe to those like me who are just plain middle-aged fluffy!

Any

Saturday 4th of September 2010

Super helpful! Thanks =)

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