Feminine Hygiene! Go with the (societal) flow or look for an alternative?

How to go green and natural when it comes to feminine hygiene!

This post shows how to make very simplistic home-made menstrual pads. If you want a more absorbent, no spill, highly effective menstrual pad, which is still easy to make but takes more time, effort and materials... but worth it, then go HERE :)


REASON
So after deciding to go "no toilet paper", I decided to go without pads or tampons. The reason? Same one. Pollution. Pads, tampons, and nappies are major contributors to world pollution, it's crazy! Imagine how many are used every single day, by every single woman in the world... and so imagine in a year? a lifetime? Well to top this, did you know that once it's been created there's no going back! Every single one of these pads and tampons will exist for ever! (almost) So I was like "say what? I ain't using those no more!".

So after lots of research, I realised there are lots of alternatives to those and there is quite some choice to suit every woman, so I would suggest you shop around online and see what you like, maybe try out several options before sticking to one. Up to you. There are cups, reusable pads, natural tampons made of natural sponge... all sorts really.

Now I don't like spending money on something I can make myself so I'll tell you what I use during that time of the month.


HOME-MADE MENSTRUAL PAD (VERY EASY)
I bought a few flannels (small square towels) which I fold in 3, to make it thicker and place in my underwear. The flannel/towel material is very absorbent so it works very well. I bought pink and purple ones so that the blood stains don't look to nasty! When I need to change the towel, I wash it by hand (with water and detergent) and put it to dry either on the radiator in the winter or air-dry in the summer, and put a clean one in my knickers, then do that again and again till the end of my menstruation week. At the end of the week I machine wash them. (You can make loads if you want so you can machine wash them directly. I only made 3 so that's why I wash them by hand... I wouldn't have time to wait to fill of load of washing between each pad change!) In the night I place an orange towel in my bed in case of overflow because these flannels don't have extra absorbent chemicals that store-bought pads have - which is one reason I stopped using them. Those pads are so absorbent that they suck the blood out of you which means you end up having a heavier period than you would have naturally! Why do they even make stuff like that? It's like 'they' want women to suffer even more than we already do! Seriously if you haven't already then you need to do some research!

Another even cheaper way is to cut 20x20cm squares out of an old towel and do the same process. Using a white towel won't look too good but if you do your own laundry then it doesn't matter so much.

If this doesn't work for you and you want something more sophisticated then read THIS post, about how to make a menstrual pad with a sewing machine and make it look cool and really waterproof and absorbent.

Peace out! :-)