Alternative Menstrual Products- Frugal and Green!
By Mrs Money on April 14, 2009 – 7:56 pm -
Throughout a woman’s lifetime, it’s believed that she will use an average of 16,800 pads or tampons. Tampons and pads can be cheap, but what if you could eliminate having to purchase them each month? You’ll be saving so much money over your lifetime, and also eliminating thousands of tampons and pads from making their way into our landfills. Here’s how you can do it:
Reusable menstrual cup, such as a Diva Cup, Moon cup, or Keeper. These are generally made of medical grade silicone. What’s nice about these is that there’s no risk of Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS) like you can get by using tampons. Also, it’s much more comfortable and pretty easy to use. It costs around $25 and should last forever. By using bleached tampons, you are subjecting your “girly bits” to bleach, chemicals, perfumes, irritants, and cotton fibers; and really, does that sound like a good thing? Not to me. I don’t want bleach or chemicals to be absorbed into my body through um, there. If you aren’t a fan of the menstrual cup, you may want to give our next product a try.
Cloth pads. These are pretty self explanitory, but I’ll give you a little break down on their benefits as well. Cloth pads are usually made from flannel, and some of them have a layer of PUL (polyurethane laminate) to make them waterproof. Cloth pads are nice for women that prefer pads to tampons. Disposable pads are made of chemically treated wood pulp! Yikes. You can even make your own pads if you are so inclined. Unlike the menstrual cups, cloth pads require a little more work. Obviously they have to be washed, and that turns some women off.
Either way you go, you are doing your wallet, body, and environment a favor buy using alternative menstrual products. I know it may sound gross, but I promise it’s not that bad!
Would you consider switching to a menstrual cup or cloth pad?
Posted in Green Living | 9 Comments »
April 14th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
Wow, I did not even know products like these existed. It would definitely save on money though, when you consider disposable ones are $5-$6 a box now!
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April 16th, 2009 at 1:56 am
I think these sound interesting and I have been considering them for a while, but I want to hear from someone who has actually used a menstrual cup.
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April 17th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
I started using one (the Moon Cup, the silocone version of the Keeper) about 8 months ago, and I love, love, love it. It pays for itself in a few months; you don’t even notice it’s there, and since it contains rather than absorbs, it doesn’t dry you out. There’s a bit of a learning curve, (figuring out your own cycle and how often you need to empty it, getting it adjusted right) but it’s pretty short.
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April 19th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Chelle- I am glad I could share that with you! Hopefully you’ll give one a try.
K-money- I’ve actually tried both, so if you have any questions, I’d be happy to answer them!
Phoebe- I’ve had a Diva cup for a few years and enjoyed that. There is a learning curve, but once you get past it, it’s great!
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April 28th, 2009 at 12:39 am
oh, i use the diva cup and i LOVE it!!! yes, it totally saves me money- plus i get to skip those store trips.
diva has a great website that i was obsessed with when i was researching; tons of info. no more bleach and chemicals inside my body, no more adding to the landfills… it’s perfect! whatever reusable product you try, applaud yourself for making an impact on both your life and the planet!
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April 28th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
Thanks so much for writing about alternative menstrual products – especially ones that are reusable, and therefore, gentler on the environment. It’s really great to see that so women are beginning to be bothered by the waste that is caused by disposable menstrual products, and are therefore turning to reusables.
I hope that you and your site visitors will want to see a concrete rendering of exactly HOW HARMFUL disposable menstrual products are to the environment. Just check out Keeper.com’s Comparison Photo Page. On the left side of the website, you will see a button with the words, “New: Photos!” in red. Clicking on this button will lead you to the Comparison Photo Page, which shows — in pictures — exactly HOW MUCH WASTE the average woman who uses tampons creates in one month, one year, ten years and 40 years. (And by the way, the average woman menstruates for forty years!)
I think you will agree with me that these photos are worth at least A THOUSAND WORDS, because, frankly, I don’t think that women who use disposable menstrual products — which is, unfortunately, MOST women — actually like to think about the lifetime accumulation of waste they are foisting on our environment.
This visual provides actual proof of the huge amount of environmental waste we women create, in this small area of our lives alone.
And you’ll just love the photo on this Comparison Photo Page of the DUMP TRUCK, which is FILLED with 260 POUNDS of tampons and packaging. Believe it or not, the average woman actually uses (and tosses into the environment) that many pounds of tampons in her menstruating lifetime – and if she uses disposable menstrual pads, there will be even more waste!
Thanks!
Julia Schopick
Director of Marketing
The Keeper, Inc.
Keeper.com
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April 29th, 2009 at 5:20 pm
kerry- the Diva cup is what I have too. I am happy that there are others out there that share the same passion I do!
Julia- Thanks so much for stopping by and for the lovely comment! I’m off to check the pictures now.
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