What to Know
I’ve been getting my period since I was 12 years old. Throughout the years, I’ve tried a bunch of different products to keep it managed. When I was a young teen, it was pads, and then I switched to tampons. Now, I use period underwear because it’s so light. Even when I used tampons, I would still use pads at night or on light days. And never once did I concern myself with what was in them. But now, women on social media are claiming that Always brand maxi pads are full of mold. However, many people are claiming that they may be misinformed.
One young woman had a crash out about it recently.
@alannalangdon If you own @Always products, I want you to check them. The amount of mold inside of the pads is disgusting and gross. We have to stop this. #checkyourpads #always #feminehygiene #spreadtheword #disturbing ♬ Piano famous song Chopin Deep deep clear beauty – RYOpianoforte
A TikTok user named Alanna Langdon shared an alarmist video, telling people “do not buy” Always brand pads. In the video, she unwraps a brand new pad to make her point, and holds the pad up to the light, but doesn’t show what she allegedly sees.
She then points directly at the absorbent core of the pad, saying that it’s full of “mold,” and calling it “disturbing.”
“If you own @Always products, I want you to check them. The amount of mold inside of the pads is disgusting and gross. We have to stop this,” she captioned the post.
People in the comments didn’t spare her feelings.
One person begged “babe.. delete this 😭.”
“Loud AND wrong,” someone else quipped, while another user wrote “i wish i had this much confidence.”
Another person responded, saying “Girl please, I’m already annoyed today.”
“We go through this at least once a year,” another user wrote. “Yet they never rip them open they just like of dark shadows must be mold,” someone replied. The original commenter responded again, saying “I actually have cut into them😭i don’t even use them I took one of my friends un used one and cut it open literally it was fine I then took another one and ran it under water and it was also fine.”
Where did this all start?
@mamaaakris Please be aware of this. @Always why does a brand new just out of the bag pad have mold on it? #fyp #women #womenshealth ♬ original sound – | 𝒦𝓇𝒾𝓈 |
Back in October 2025, videos began circulating around social media featuring women claiming their Always brand maxi pads were full of mold. In the videos, women would take their brand new, previously unopened pads and hold them up to the light, usually in their kitchen or living room.
When they do that, the inside of the pad looks yellow, and there are specks inside that people believe are mold. But it’s almost entirely likely that these people are in fact, loud and wrong.
Deborah Lee, a United Kingdom based practitioner spoke about this trend with Healthline, telling the outlet what people are seeing is probably just the materials the pad is made out of.
“When you hold an unused period pad up to the light, it can look dark and splotchy in places because of the superabsorbent polymers (SAP) that make up the inner absorbent layer,” Lee explained.
SAP, a common material used in pads to absorb moisture “absorbs blue light and reflects yellow light, meaning the pad may naturally appear to contain darker areas when held up to the light,” Lee said.
Always brand addressed the claims.
In a statement to Cosmopolitan, the brand tried to calm people down by explaining what exactly is inside the pads.
“At Always, we are committed to delivering superior period products that adhere to the highest standards of quality, performance and safety. We use a rigorous, multistep process to evaluate every component of our Always products. This includes extensive quality testing that is carried out before and during manufacturing,” the statement began.
“Always only uses virgin pulp designed specifically for our menstrual products – no reused, no recycled fibers! The pulp inside these pads is white. Why does the pad appear discolored when you hold it up to a light? The darker colors you see when putting your pad up against a light are not foreign material contamination. They are normal shadows that appear in products that contain pulp. When you shine light on these products, the absorbent core material creates visible shadows as it blocks the light. You get the same result if you repeat this experiment with many everyday household items made with pulp like cotton balls, make-up remover pads or even paper.”
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