Sustainable Menstrual Practices - Revisiting Sanitary Pad

Time flies and as it flies we go through a cycle.  Have a quick read on my 2013 Blog post on Sanitary Pad before proceeding further. 

Wishing all the wonderful and Superhumans

A Happy Menstrual Hygiene Day 2019

Two things I would like to share in the below post are 

1. Need to switch to sustainable menstrual practices

2. Awareness about Menstruation to Boys / Males.

As most of you are aware that women used cloths during the menstrual periods before a decade, even some tend to use even at present because of their financial status. In the starting of this century, through the reach of Television, Advertisement, Internet, Awareness and Availability, most of the women started using Disposable Sanitary Napkins. The number of brands in the sanitary napkin industry grown and as a school going child, I (and most of you) have seen television ad with blue colour liquid poured on the pad to show the absorbance capability. The shocking fact is that even today there are people who think that women bleed blue during their periods, that is the level of awareness in some parts of the society even in the age of the internet.

Fig. Showing the popular blue liquid poured on Always Sanitary Pad

Fig. A brand Bodyform showing Red colour (blood) in Ad

Reusable Cloth Pads

In 2020, I witness many, especially young women's are switching back to reusable cloth pads.  Awareness is being created by a lot of cloth pad brands including Ecofemme, Saukhyam Pads to name a few. The majority of women who switched to disposable sanitary napkins for convenience, comfortness are now slowly getting back to what their grandmothers and mothers used. The concern over their personal health and the environment's health is motivating women to think for a sustainable solution.

Fig. Saukhyam Reusable Cloth pad Set

At end of 2019, I volunteered myself to join as an ambassador for Ecofemme - Cloth Pad Revolution and I received their awareness presentation which very clearly details the stages of menstruation, which I believe a lot of mensurating women themselves are not aware. In Feb 2020, I got to hear about Saukhyam Pads initiative by Amrita Serve where they conduct awareness about the importance of switching to sustainable menstruation. Their initiative not only let women switch to sustainable menstrual practice but also supports women at a lot of villages by providing them with an entrepreneurial opportunity in making and selling of these Reusable cloth pads.

The Disposable Sanitary Pads contain dioxins which have ill-effects to the user as this is in continuous contact with the most sensitive part of the women. These pads also affect the environment, as each pad is estimated almost equal to 4 plastic bags. A quick calculation with an assumption that women would mensurate for ~37 years with min. 4 pads in a day for 5 days, approx.  9600 pads will be used by single women.  In general, women would use around approx. 10K pads over her lifetime that could cost around ~90K Rupees. This is same as using 40K plastic bags.

How long have the majority of the population used these disposable sanitary pads? 
How many pads ended up in waste and how many years it took for degrading?  
How much money you spent over your lifetime?

Here is feedback on some reusable cloth pads.

Person 1

I am a student (25 years) have been using disposal Sanitary pads and earlier used cloth pads. Recently, starting using reusable cloth pad. I have used it on less bleeding days at night and the following day time. It felt it was soft and comfortable for usage. I tried it on a heavy flow day as well during the night. The pad was little stiff after the first wash as it also got shrunk from sideways, resulting in leakage and staining my dress. As after the second wash, the pad got further stiff and shrank, it could not hold much of the bleeding and through the middle portion, the bleeding reached the pad holder and dress. I felt that the pad didn't cause any rashes or infections to my skin.

Person 2

I am working women (31 years) and was always looking for an alternative option. Recently, switched to a reusable cloth pad after my friend shared the information. I have used it during night time as well as day time to my work. I used it for ~ 3-4 hours before changing and I felt comfortable using this pad compared to disposable sanitary pads. Though after the wash the pad turned little stiff, I did not feel any inconvenience using it. At times there was leakage sideways staining the dress. During both the times, I felt rashes on usage which was a concern.

Person 3

I am a student (25 years) have been using disposable Sanitary pads for years. One of my friends shared about reusable cloth pads and I thought of giving it a try. Recently, I have used it on my second day. It didn't cause any rashes but it shrank from sideways resulting in slight leakage.

Menstrual Cups

The menstrual cup is the latest feminine menstrual hygiene product which is similar to tampons, inserted into the vagina during the menstrual period to the blood. Menstrual cups are normally made of silicone and come in different sizes and shape (refer to the image below).  "CupVert" is the new word to refer the user of menstrual cup.  Generally, there are many myths around the usage of a menstrual cup as this has to be inserted into the vagina.  Whether an unmarried woman can use a menstrual cup? How difficult it is to insert and remove the cup?

Please follow Swati Jagadish, from Coimbatore Parenting Network, on Instagram to know more on this topic - Click Here

Image copyright belongs to the respective owner

Here we present the feedback and experience from two new cupverts.

Person 1

I am a working woman (31 years). Here I would like to share my experience on menstrual cups. I have been using sanitary pads during periods for the last 20 years. As per some good friend's suggestion, I felt to try a menstrual cup. The first time when I started using, I felt its inconvenient since it gives immense pain during insertion but managed somehow to insert. I had a constant thought, "will it be safe?", "What if leakage is there?". So I used an additional pad even I have the menstrual cup in place.  But to my wonder, it didn't give any spots or leakage.

The only difficulty I faced was during insertion and removal. After 5th day of usage, I felt a bit easier to insert and remove. It only needs proper practice to do, and I would suggest watching some videos available before try it. Else you will give up before seeing its benefits. It is more challenging for unmarried girls. Coming to the benefits of using the menstrual cup, you won't feel like you are on your periods, there is no irritation or uncomforted like in disposal sanitary pads (proper placement and cross-checking multiple times etc., etc.). No extra tension of leakage and even disposal. As I have to work for 9 hours with an additional 2 hours journey, I felt its a perfect choice though it needs bit practice for first time usage. It only needs to be cleaned 2 to 3 times a day. You can sleep without any worries at night as well as enjoy your workout sessions.

I have been using it for last 6 months and I would recommend it to everyone since its environment friendly as well as no harm of chemicals. I have ordered it from Flipkart, a brand names "wow menstrual cup". There are many brands available in the market. Before buying check for the ratings and different sizes. You will have no regret for buying and trying a menstrual cup.

Person 2

I am a working woman (24 years). I have been using disposal Sanitary pads and after my friend suggested to try reusable cloth pad or menstrual cup, I decided to go for a menstrual cup. Now for the past 6 months, I am using the menstrual cup and I feel a lot more comfortable and confident during my periods. The first time I had a lot of doubts on how to use and a small sense of hesitation because this has to be inserted into the vagina. Actually, I took more time to try it the first time. But once tried, I felt I was not even on my periods. Though for safety I still had my pads on, to my surprise no bleeding was seen on the pad.  From my second use, I confidently went on to use only the cup. And also to my surprise, I had no leakage. The difficulty of handling blood while urination was also not there. When I used pads after some time I used to get blood smell. Now because of the menstrual cup, such difficulties were also overcome. Whenever I changed the cup for safety I used to keep in hot water for one or two minutes after washing. I found that washing with hot water makes it easier to insert. Once the period is over I used to boil the cup and keep it safe in the bag provided.

Finally, please check out the experience share by my college junior Mrs Vaishnavi on her IGTV

 

Period Panties

What if, you don't need any extra hygiene products during your periods, except the panties you wear? Yes, Period Panties are special panties designed with special fabric and anti-microbial technology to help you. I am not getting into the technical details of the period panties, please check them by yourself.

Here we present the feedback and experience from one practitioner:

I am a 25-year-old working woman. Recently got to know about ill-effects of disposable Sanitary pads. Heard about Period Panties through my friends. Got two-period panties to try as an alternative to the regular pads. Period panties had thick cloth pad attached to it. I was not confident enough to try on a working day, so I experimented it only when I was at home. I was not happy with the experience. The reason is, that cloth pad which comes with panties is moving and sometimes it gets folded. Also since it has plastic cover below the cloth pad, there is no possible way of air circulation, which made me feel too hot. It gets wet soon, which makes me feel the wetness throughout the day and makes uncomfortable.

Menstrual Awareness to Male/Boys:

Awareness about periods/menstruation is not just limited to females, even male should also be made aware of the menstrual process. It is important that male understand, what a woman goes through during periods, to better understand and be supportive to his mother, sisters, and friends.  Below image shows, "First Period Experience" from a woman, where she quotes, 

her father has taken the initiative to talk to her about periods during her childhood, which made her first period fearless and comfortable.

Over the years, I always wanted to try using a Sanitary pad to experience and understand what any women go through. But was always hesitant and something was stopping me. Finally, a couple of weeks back, made up my mind to try this.

"I got a whisper ultra disposable sanitary pad. Though unwrapping and fixing up a pad in the underwear is a simple and known task, at that moment it looked like rocket science to me. Somehow managed to fix it and wore the underwear. First, though, it feels like a cushion when I sat down. As time went, I felt that the pad was not fixed properly. As I went to sleep I could sense a slight disturbance during my sleep." 

Period

நம் சார்பியல்

காத்திருந்தேன் பல மணி நேரம்,

நீ சொல்லும் சில வார்த்தைக்காக.

பார்த்திருந்தேன் பல மணி நேரம்,

நீ காட்டும் கள்ளமில்லா பாசத்திற்காக.

விழித்திருந்தேன் பல மணி நேரம்,

நீ விழி மூடி கண்ணுறங்க.

மௌனித்திருந்தேன் பல மணி நேரம்,

நீ மௌனத்தை கழைப்பாயென்று.

எதிர்பார்த்திருந்தேன் பல மணி நேரம்,

நீ வந்துவிட மாட்டாயாயென்று.

....

பல மணி நேரமும், சில நொடியானது, 

உன் நினைவுகள் மனத்திரையில் ஒளிப்பரப்பானதால். 

- இராமகுரு ராதாகிருஷ்ணன்