Finding your size: the LivDry waist chart, and what fit has to do with leaks

Why fit matters as much as absorbency

A pull-up can only hold a leak that reaches its core. If the waist sags or the leg openings stand away from the skin, urine can find that gap before the core has a chance to take it in. The National Association For Continence calls fit perhaps the single most important factor in choosing an absorbent product. On that view, the size on the pack matters at least as much as the capacity printed next to it.

MedlinePlus, the health library of the National Library of Medicine, gives the same advice in fewer words: products come in different sizes, so wear a size that fits you snugly. Snug is not the same as tight. A pull-up that digs in at the waist or the thighs leaves red marks and is hard to wear through a long day. One that is too small for your hips may roll down as you move. Aim for close all the way round, with the leg cuffs resting against the skin.

How to measure your waist and hips

All you need is a soft tape measure, the kind kept in a sewing box, and two quiet minutes. Measure over bare skin or thin underwear, standing up and breathing normally. Skip the belt size of your pants. Pants often sit lower than the line we measure at, so their size tells you little about a pull-up.

Our product pages list each size as a waist range, and the pack prints the same numbers as a hip range, so take both and go by the larger. Pull the tape tight and you read a number smaller than your body, then wear a size that pinches by evening. Let it sag at the back and the number grows, and so does the gap at your legs. Level and snug is all the method asks. A mirror helps you see that the tape runs straight across your back.

1. 1

   Stand straight with your feet together and your arms loose at your sides.

2. 2

   Wrap the tape around your middle at the level of your navel, keeping it level all the way round.

3. 3

   Let the tape rest against the skin without pulling it tight or letting it sag, and breathe out normally before you read it.

4. 4

   Read the number in inches where the tape meets its start, then measure once more to be sure of it.

5. 5

   Measure your hips at their widest point the same way, and take the larger of the two numbers to the chart.

The LivDry size chart, XS to 3XL

Our pull-ups share one size chart, in inches and in centimeters, and each pull-up is cut in its own run of sizes. The Overnight pull-up is the only one made in XS, from 18 inches, and it runs all the way to 3XL. Extra Absorbency and Ultimate run from S to 3XL. Our black pull-up for men comes in M, L and XL, for waists from 34 to 64 inches. Find your waist in the second column and read across.

Briefs with tabs are sized another way. The EnduraDry Max brief comes in M, L and XL, and the waist range of each size is printed on its pack. Since its tabs open and close again, a brief can be tightened or let out after it is on, which leaves a little more room than a pull-up does. Boosters, inserts and pads have no waist size at all: they come in lengths and capacities and sit inside what you already wear.

Between two sizes: let your hips and legs decide

Neighboring sizes on our chart overlap, so many waists fall inside two of them. A 36 inch waist sits in both S and M, and a 50 inch waist in both L and XL. In that case the waist alone cannot settle it, and the rest of your body can. Think about where a pull-up has to hold: around the hips, and at the leg openings, where the cuffs stand up against the skin and turn a leak back toward the core.

Between two sizes, take the one that fits your hips best. A smaller size that feels tight across the hips, or rides up between the legs, is telling you to go one up. Go one down if the larger size stands away from the thighs, with a gap you can see at the cuff. Sit, bend and walk around the house for a few minutes before you decide, since a pull-up has to fit in motion and not only standing in front of a mirror.

• Waist in the overlap and fuller hips: take the larger size.
• Waist in the overlap and slim thighs: take the smaller size, so the cuffs stay against the skin.
• Still unsure: buy the smallest pack of each size and wear each one for a day.

Why a loose pull-up leaks

A loose fit can undo a good product. When the waist is too big, the pull-up slides down as you walk or sit, and the core ends up lower than the place where a leak arrives. With leg openings that are too big, the cuffs cannot rest against the skin. A leak then runs out along the gap, often just as you sit down or turn over in bed, and the core stays half dry.

Bigger is not safer. Sizing up for more protection is tempting, but capacity comes from the core, not from the size of the garment around it. To hold more, move up in absorbency instead: from our Extra Absorbency pull-up to Overnight or Ultimate, or add a booster pad inside. The absorbency guide sets out what each product holds, from the lightest pad to the brief with tabs.

Sizes do not match from brand to brand

Switching to LivDry from another brand? Leave your old size letter behind. The National Association For Continence notes that manufacturers all use different measurements for the same letter sizes, so a medium from one brand can fit like a large from another. Finding the right size can take some trial and error, and the association says as much. A fresh measurement against our own chart saves most of that trial.

Measure your waist again and read our chart, not the chart of the product you wore before. Then start small. Each of our pull-ups comes in a small pack as well as a case, so you can wear a size for a few days before you buy a month of it. Our pull-up shelf lists every size and pack, and the plus-size page gathers the pull-ups made in 2XL and 3XL.

Sizing for men, and for someone in bed

Men measure the same way, waist and hips, and read the same chart. Our Men's Ultimate pull-up comes in M for waists of 34 to 46 inches, L for 40 to 54 and XL for 48 to 64. It is black and cut for a man's body, with stretch panels shaped to follow it. If your waist is above 64 inches, the Ultimate pull-up continues to 3XL with a little more capacity.

Measuring for a parent who cannot stand is no harder. Have them lie on their back, slide the tape under them at the waist, then at the hips, and read it the same way, snug and flat. Write the waist and hip numbers in your phone or on the shopping list, so they are at hand the next time you order.

For a parent who spends most of the day in bed, fit is a job for the person helping. A brief with tabs goes on lying down, and its tabs let you tighten the waist after it is on, so the cuffs sit close at the legs. Fasten the lower tabs first, pointing slightly up, then the upper ones pointing slightly down. The caregiving guide covers changes in bed step by step.

Every product named here is part of the LivDry protection line.