Christina Applegate is doing her part to promote the beginning of National Breast Cancer Awareness month by sharing details of her double mastectomy with Oprah's vast, estrogen-heavy audience.

In a frank and inspiring interview that aired on Tuesday, the amiable "Samantha Who?" star reveals how she set up her "first and last nudie photo shoot at home" before her July surgery.

"I made sure that I have close-up photographs of them from every angle so I can kind of remember them," she tells the Big O of her mammary memories.

The actress, who describes how she went through a "grieving process" over the loss of her breasts, has yet to undergo reconstructive surgery, but quips, "I did a lot of research, and they can make some pretty boobies."

Christina arrives at the Emmys on Sept. 21.

She currently has saline-filled expanders that are designed to make room for the impending implants. And while Christina says the expanders are "kind of the same" as new breasts, she admits that she deals daily with the diagnosis because her body is so altered.

"You've got scarring and there's a lot of things you're missing and the shape is not the same and it doesn't feel the same," she explains. "It's hard to carry your purse and there are so many limitations to it."

Applegate admits she cries "at least once a day about it because it's hard to overlook it when you're standing there in the mirror. When you look down, it's the first thing you see. You're brushing your teeth and it's what you see. So you're reminded constantly of this thing -- this cancer thing that you had. That can be really difficult."

Not so difficult? Ditching her binding undergarments.

"I don't have to wear a bra," she laughed to audience applause, adding, "Ever again. So I look at the bright side, too."

Christina, who recently participated in the Stand Up to Cancer telethon (on "Oprah," she wore a star necklace designed to raise money for the cause), says she's now focused on ensuring that the best options are available to women for early detection, including MRIs and genetic testing (she tested positive for the breast cancer gene), which aren't necessarily covered by insurance companies.

"I am a 36-year-old person with breast cancer, and not many people know that that happens to women my age or women in their 20s," she points out. "This is my opportunity now to go out and fight as hard as I can for early detection."

Applegate also says her cancer battle has made her reevaluate pretty much everything in her life, which has been "a strange blessing."

"I have taken a very progressive stance in the rest of my life," she says. "[There's] this need and this desire to make every single day count. I used to say ... 'Don't sweat the small stuff -- not even the big stuff.' At the end of the day, none of it matters but your own joy, your own spiritual journey that you go on, God, your loved ones, your friends, your animals. These are the things you've got to cherish and love and embrace."