Avon has joined forces with The Dr. Susan Love (aw) Research Foundation to create an “Army of Women.” Robots? No! This initiative to raise breast cancer awareness has two perky goals:

• To recruit one million healthy women of every age and ethnicity, including breast cancer survivors and women at high-risk for the disease, to partner with breast cancer researchers and directly participate in the research that will eradicate breast cancer once and for all.

• To challenge the scientific community to expand its current focus to include breast cancer prevention research conducted on healthy women.

It’s touted as a “partnership between scientists and (non-scientist, we guess) women.” So enlist in this particular Titty Committee, if you should feel so inclined. As for our part, allow us a moment to show you how to check for breast cancer at home. Or in the office. Or in Union Square Park, in front of all those hot skateboarding 14-year-olds. It’s easy:

• Become familiar with your breasts. Each pair (and, actually, each individual breast) is different in shape, size and density. They can also change according to your menstrual cycle, whether you’re taking birth control or some other form of hormones, your sodium intake, how much water you’re retaining, etc. Familiarizing yourself with how your breasts look and feel will help you better notice when something’s different. For best results, check a few days after your period when breasts are least likely to be swollen. If you’re not menstruating, just pick a certain day each month to check
• Don’t be afraid of lumps. Some women have lumpy breasts normally, so it’s not an immediate cause for worry, and many lumps (8 out of 10, in fact) tend to be benign. So check, and be concerned when you feel something abnormal, but don’t feel the need to be panicked or afraid.
• Check by “zones.” The outer area of the breast merging into the armpit tends to be the most lumpy. The lower part (commonly referred to as the “under boob”) can feel pebbly. The area around the nipple and areola can have the tendency to feel grainy. So don’t fret if your tit feels more like a bag of wet sand and less like a perfectly smooth cantaloupe.
• Check your breasts by moving your middle and index fingers in small circles, firmly, over different zones on the breast. It can be helpful to write your findings down to make sure there are no abnormalities from month to month.

Also make sure you visit your gynecologist on an annual basis so that he or she can also do a thorough check and make sure everything looks and feels healthy.

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