Having an Eco-Friendly Period
****WARNING WARNING WARNING****
THIS POST IS ABOUT MY PERIOD. IF YOU ARE SQUEAMISH ABOUT THIS TOPIC, OR IF YOU ARE MY DAD, PLEASE STOP READING NOW!
OK, ladies, looks like the men all left. Now we can do what we always do when the men think we're talking about our periods and continue our plot to take over the world. Now, Hillary called me last night and she thinks....
What? They're still here? Oh crap. Never mind, I guess we'll really have to talk about it then.
Let's rewind to a time about five months ago when I was so rudely awakened from my hypnotic, disposable-loving, consumeristic euphoria. Sister Heather and I were discussing various eco-friendly changes we could be making and she relayed the following story about her friend, whom I'll call Amber.*
Amber is a pretty eco-conscious gal who borders on crunchy-granola. She had recently attended some sort of fair or vendor gathering or whatnot where she met a woman who was spouting the virtues or reusable pads.
As she explained to Amber, the pads were made from organic cotton and could be fastened to your underwear with little snaps. When the pad needs to be changed, you simply unsnap it and place it in a bucket of water to soak off most of the blood. At the end of your period, you would then ring out your pre-soaked pads and run them through a wash cycle. The woman went on to explain that the "soaking water" should not be dumped down the toilet, but should be used for watering the garden, as it is extremely high in nutrients and acts as sort of an all-natural Miracle-Gro.
According to Amber, the vendor wasn't very successful in trying to convince women to switch to the eco-friendly pads. She also wasn't having much luck selling her home-grown tomatoes.
Well, I'm not quite ready to go that far with my period yet, but I am going to dip my toe into the pool of period-protection options by switching to NatraCare brand panty-liners. Unlike my Kotex liners, these ones are manufactured using non-chlorine bleach, they are plastic-free and biodegradable.
Savings:
Due to my selection of birth-control (a whole other post), a dozen panty-liners per month usually covers all my girly needs. In the course of one year, that's 144 plastic-backed panty-liners I'll be avoiding.
Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5
Once I found where the store kept them (because GOD FORBID they put them with all the OTHER panty-liners) this became another one of those super-easy changes to make. Now I really can have a happy period, despite what Hubby says.
*Please note, Amber may actually be her name. As usual, I wasn't really paying that close attention to the details. I'm more of a "big picture" listener.
9 comments:
What about the Diva Cup? I've been using that for over a year now and it's awesome. :-)
Not to get all TMI on ya, but my "flow" just isn't heavy enough to justify it. I use Mirena birth control and it damn near eliminates my period. All I get is about five days worth of needing 2-3 pantyliners a day. I know I really should use the reusable liners, but 1. they're a pricey initial investment and 2. about the time I come downstairs to find the dog drinking out of the water bucket I will puke. ;-)
PS. How are your floors coming? Did you check out Lumber Liquidators at all? We got our flooring there and it was very cost effective...
Alrighty then...and I thought we wouldn't have anything to talk about over Thanksgiving!!
Glad to know that I won't have to keep an eye on Adam to make sure he doesn't play in the water bucket.
:)
I've had cloth pads for a few years now and like them so much better than disposables. They're soft and flannel-y. :-) I wouldn't put the soaking water on vegetable plants, but I might feed it to the geraniums. (This is of course, if I ever get my period again - it's been a over year and a half between pregnancy and breastfeeding.)
I use the LunaPads, and I just put them in a lingerie bag that I hang in the bathroom and when that few days are over I toss the whole thing in the washer. Easier than disposable pads if you ask me.
I'm with Vera on this one. I just switched to the Diva Cup from organic tampons (am I really writing this in public???!). So far so great. First two days were a little weird, but now it's just amazing. I wonder why no one thought of this way of doing things sooner. Highly recommended.
I've got to echo others with my love for the Diva cup. I have quite a short period myself with really light flow after the first day (another echo--can't believe I'm talking about this!) That's one of the reason's I love the Diva cup, unlike tampons, no TSS worry. I can just empty it morning and night. It's great! And I ordered it online for less than $25. Even though it used to take me a few months to get through a box of the old supplies, those things are pricey, so it will pay for itself pretty quickly.
And I have to add I've just started reading your blog. I've nearly made my way to the current posts now! I'm really enjoying it and I so appreciate your take on things.
Awww, thanks Sarah! I'm glad you're enjoying it :-) Keep leaving me comments, that really helps me decide whether or not to try different things. As it is, with all the feedback, I might add "Diva Cup" to my Christmas Wish List. Wouldn't Hubby just LOVE shopping for that!?!?!?
I'll vouch for the Diva Cup.
Also, there is another natural and reusable-then-disposable option: Sea Sponges. No, not like you need to go to the beach and search for a squishy hunk of algea covered mass -- there are "pharma-grade" sea sponges avaible. May be worth looking into
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