Reusable Menstrual Products - Think they're gross? Think again!

I remember the first time I read about reusable menstrual products like those found at www.lunapads.com www.gladrags.com www.pandoraspads.com and many other places online. "Eeew - gross!!" I said. I simply could not imagine taking a bloody pad, tucking it into a waterproof liner and putting it back in my purse. Or even worse - taking a cup or sponge and rinsing it out and putting it right back in. I was convinced it could not be clean or healthy. I could not have been more wrong.

Years earlier I had tried an Instead disposable menstrual cup, but it was horribly uncomfortable and spilled on the way out. I tossed the rest of the box and went back to my trusty tampons. It was not until very recently that I found out my "trusty" tampons aren't so trustworthy. Dispite what is implied by the white medical look of tampons, they are not sterile. Even the seemingly natural cardboard applicator tampons have chemicals like dioxin, which has a half life of 11 years in the human body, so if I absorb the dioxin of a single tampon today, 11 years from now half of that dioxin will still be in my body - now THAT'S gross! Sure, the levels won't kill you, but nobody really knows how much dioxin they are getting from all sources and we do know that it can cause a whole host of medical issues in high doses, so why expose yourself to more than you need to? Tampon manufacturers would rather expose you to the byproducts of the chemical bleaching process than have their tampons look like natural fibers. That is, if they even are - many tampons are made of a lot of synthetic fibers that can scratch the vagina and open tiny wounds that increase the risk for infections, including Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS).

So what to do for internal protection. I was never a pad person since they always ended up chafing my skin and leaving a nasty rash up to a week later. They also had a bad odor, and I am sensitive to scented products and they are subject to the same chemical bleaching products and covered in non-breathable plastic that makes me sweat. I was not going to all pads and Instead cups don't fit. Luckily Instead is not the only option. I found things like the Moon Cup http://www.mooncup.co.uk/ (great for women that are not so large "down there"), the Diva cup, the lady cup http://www.ladycup.eu/ and the Keeper cup (and their version of the Moon Cup) http://www.keeper.com/ and many more. Check out http://menstrualcups.org/ for information from many women that have used these products and find out what is right for you. These cups can last for up to 10 years and cost $20-40 USD, so imagine the savings for your pocket, too! But maybe the cups aren't right for you for whatever reason. Maybe, like me, you are right on the cusp between the two sizes because of age, or maybe you are planning on having a baby soon and don't want to buy a cup until after when you will need the larger size. What to do in the interim if you're ready to dump your disposables? I decided to buy some silk sea sponges. When they come, they seem hard and uncomfortable, but once damp they are softer than any tampon on the face of the planet and you can trim them to the perfect size for you. They are easy to clean (just rinse them out like a kitchen sponge and reinsert) and are natural and renewable. I suggest buying 4 sponges to start so if you have to use a public restroom you have extras. You can tuck a used sponge into a reusable pad carry bag to clean at home.

I did eventually decide I needed some better pads though, and so I finally took the plunge and got some cotton pads. I have since been amazed at the difference in feeling and odor and my entire opinion of pads has changed. When I got my first pantyliner (from Gladrags) I was immediately shocked with how soft it was. These pads wrap around your panties and close with a snap, and once in I could barely even feel it - a far cry from the disposables that make me feel sorry for infants everywhere trapped in diapers. They even make different absorbancies - some companies make 3 (liner, day and night) and others have many different sizes and styles (liner, mini, maxi, long, wide, heavy/night and postpartum). I got some Gladrags, but the day pads are too big for my light cycle and I had to continue in search of a cloth pad that was soft, but smaller. I found my match in Lunapads mini pad and liner. They are a perfect fit, and you can adjust the absorbancy from maxi pad to pantyliner by adding layers of some of the softest fabric I have ever touched, then because the liners attach on the top rather than fitting under the pad, you can change only the liner and go on with your day. I thought I would do no better until I saw that Lunapads also makes a line of menstrual underwear called Lunapanties with built in liners and the ability to add additional ones. These are quite plainly the most comfortable external menstrual product I have used in my life. They feel like regular underwear. There are many other brands out there, and I encourage anyone willing to try a few.

Still thinking it's gross? Well - I guess gross is relative. If you think it's disgusting to wash out a cotton pad or sponge in the sink or empty a cup of blood into the toilet and you think you can't take it, I ask you to think of how many cycles you've had in your life so far. About how many soiled pads and tampons do you throw out during the course of that cycle? Now imagine all those pads with their non-biodegradable synthetic fibers and plastics and all the packaging and applicators that came with those pads in a heap in your backyard. Maybe they're not in your backyard personally, but they and all the other products from all the other women using disposables are in someone's backyard, or maybe floating in a bay, ocean or river somewhere. Wherever they ended up, they are still on this Earth contributing to the mountains of trash we call landfills. That's really gross, a whole lot more gross than throwing a blood stained cloth in the wash (something you would not think twice about if you got cut and bled on your favorite blouse).

But they cost too much, some people say when they first see the staggering prices of these products. Well - up front these may seem like expensive solutions, and you can easily spend $100-200 getting all the reusable products you will need for your cycle, however once you buy them, that's it for the next 5-10 years. Even if you buy discount products and sale products, you will still spend more than that in the course of 5 years, and if you take good care of your products, they may even last longer.

I should also note that many pad manufacturers also make pads for during pregnancy and after childbirth. The soft, skin-friendly fabrics are great for soothing already irritated skin (not to mention promoting healing and preventing secondary infection - there is a reason we don't use airtight bandages) and the adjustable absorbancy is great for heavy bleeding and incontinence.

Still not convinced? There's probably nothing I can say that will open your mind, but I leave you with one final, albeit less ideal, solution. Seventh Generation, Natracare and other such Earth-friendly companies offer a line of organic cotton disposable menstrual products. These are biodegradable, renewable and non-toxic, though they still end up in landfills and still require packaging and manufacturing energy and shipping and all the other nasties that go hand in hand with anything disposable. Still, if you must dispose, now you can do so in an environmentally conscious way.