Around Earth Day, folks like to talk about sustainability — economically, environmentally, and socially. Of course, we discuss using reusable products (which admittedly, hit more of the first two factors rather than the latter), and inevitably the talk turns to menstruation. A commonly cited statistic is that the average woman uses 240 tampons a year or around 9,600 over her lifetime. For those who prefer sanitary pads, the average is 350 packs of sanitary pads over their lifetime — which, by the way, require as long as 800 years to decompose.
If you’re like me, you’ve probably seen in your social media feeds all sorts of ads for period underwear, menstrual cups, or cloth pads. I was so curious about these different types of products — especially about the period underwear. How wonderful did it sound not to insert anything into my vagina or not use a pad? Just fork over a ton of cash for fancy underwear and bleed into it!
I hate pads and tampons
Look, I’m sure I’m not stating anything revolutionary when I say that I hate using pads and tampons during my period. Pads — no matter their claims — were always just a little too damp, a little too juicy, a little too thick. They bunched in weird places and by the last day, my underparts were always irritated by whatever it is that allowed a pad to stick to my underwear. The placement on my underwear never worked quite right, there were always leaks — even with wings — and I felt like I was a giant infant when I had to wear overnight pads.
As for tampons, I hated that wet little string. Like, what do you do with that string when you’re evacuating your bowels or bladder? Do you tuck it to the side? Hold onto it? No matter what you do with it, short of getting a new tampon, it would always get wet thanks to capillary action (yay, science!). And then, the vaginal dryness near the end of my cycle was super annoying!
It was all so terrible.
I was skeptical about period underwear
I will caveat that I used cloth diapers for all four of my children, and because of that constant laundering, I got used to the idea of using cloth pads and the concept of period underwear and menstrual cups. What’s a little blood when you’re already used to all sorts of bodily fluids? And I have never been the squeamish type.
However, despite spending over $300 on cloth pads, I hated them. They felt as if they were constantly shifting, didn’t moisture wick, and everything I hated about disposable sanitary napkins, I hated about cloth pads — except now I had to wash them, too.
So, I was super excited to try period underwear. After my third baby, I went in with a friend and did a group order of Thinx underwear, hoping that it would indeed hold two tampons worth of menstrual blood. I don’t have particularly heavy periods and usually changed tampons every four to five hours. According to that logic, two tampons would be about eight to 10 hours.
Alas, it did not.
I found the underwear kind of ugly and not very breathable — which I would have tolerated if it worked — but instead, it leaked. This was not the two tampons worth of blood I was promised!
I was annoyed because the underwear was NOT inexpensive. Plus, there was the smell that accompanies all menstrual pads — and it was just too wet a feeling for my taste. How was it remotely practical to change underwear (and worry about leaking) every few hours? The cost alone (though it would be made up over time), seemed too much.
My other friends have said that other brands of period underwear are better and that the technology has improved since I first tried them (I suppose getting close to eight or nine years now).
Period underwear makes a great backup
Instead, I tried out menstrual cups. Though I prefer them to all other menstrual products, they aren't perfect, either. They always leak. I’ve tried at least 4 to 5 different brands, and it’s always the same. This is where my Thinx underwear comes in super handy.
While I don’t find period underwear to be robust enough to use as a primary menstrual product, it is perfect to wear in conjunction with a cup or tampon in case of leaks. Sometimes, I even wear the underwear the day I either expect (or the day before I expect) my period to start. I don’t worry overnight that I’ll leak onto my sheets, and if it catches the occasional cough pee, that’s a bonus. (In fact, I have worn period underwear when I couldn’t stop coughing because I'm a practical sort.)
Whether period underwear works for you all the time — or you use it as a backup just in case — having at least 4 to 5 pairs on hand is totally worth the investment. And if you can use it when you have a bad cold (or allergies), all the better.
