In a nutshell – Instead of buying tampons monthly there are alternatives that save you money & are good for the environment. Guest Post by Rachael Hertogs.
This is a guest post by Rachael Hertogs of Moon Times. Reusable menstrual products are safer for your body and more cost effective; they are not a step back in time but a positive step towards our planet’s well being!
Will you accept the challenge?
Moon Times Cloth Pads and Rachael Hertogs are here to challenge women to at least TRY a cloth pad- even if you only use them at night you will be making a difference to the amount of waste we women produce from ‘disposable’ sanitary products every month- so go on, I dare you, have a go!
Menstruation, periods, monthlies, Aunt Flo, on the rag, moon time, whatever its called I find it amazing that in the 21st century we still find this topic taboo! Women try so hard to bring it out, get it ‘mainstream’ but “society” (isn’t that me and you??) goes against us with their blue dye on pad adverts, the individual wrapping to disguise what’s really inside, not to mention the scented pads to hide the smell and puzzling tampons with ‘skirts’ to keep that blood at bay! Heaven forbid it drips on our knickers…isn’t that what they are for??
The market for sanitary products gets bigger and bigger and more and more ridiculous. We are turning women hygiene mad and are piling up landfill sites (and blocking our loos) with over 17,000 products per woman in their life time.
WEN (Women’s Environmental Network) have done a great job over the years promoting washable nappies after research showed that disposables take over 500 years to decompose- almost every pregnant woman will have heard about washables either from her antenatal class or from friends.
The Mooncup (a silicone cup used as an alternative to tampons) has gone from being barely known 15 years ago (back then they were £40 compared to £19.99 now) to being stocked in Boots and most health food and alternative products shops.
But what of the humble cloth pad? Is it just too ‘back to basics’ for most women? When I first looked in to washable pads (around the same time I was washing my babies nappies!) and I was considering the waste women produce with pads and tampons each month I found it difficult to find any ‘alternatives’ to disposable pads. So I asked my mum what they had used in the ‘olden days’! When she was a young woman, she and her mum had used rags, literally rags of old cloth, folded and placed in your knickers, then washed and reused. They really knew their 3 R’s back then- reduce, reuse and recycle! I often think about our ‘throw away’ society and what a shame it is that we don’t take the time to repair and reuse things the way our parents and grand parents would have.
So I decided to make myself some cloth pads, choosing pretty, patterned, soft flannelette and I haven’t looked back since!
Reasons to Switch to cloth pads
Better for the planet
Disposable products are full of chemicals and toxins that are bad for you and bad for the environment. Manufacturers are under no obligation to let you know what they have made your pads with on their packaging.Wouldn’t you rather know what your putting on and in your body? Read more about this here www.moontimes.co.uk/blog/2014/09/period-making-toxic/ and www.moontimes.co.uk/blog/2012/04/guest-post-sanitising-the-truth-the-impact-of-advertising/
Better for your Purse
You could spend up to £5000 over the course of your menstruating lifetime on disposable pads, tampons and hygiene wipes, that could be around £150 a year! Although re-usable products look expensive at the initial outlay, the savings over time are huge! www.moontimes.co.uk/blog/2014/10/period-making-skint/
Better for you!
The majority of women who make the switch to re-usable products say that they found their menstrual pain and PMS were significantly reduced, if not gone altogether!
