#356: The Reusable Pad
Making monthly life sustainable
On the scale of publically announcing my every thought, to keeping every inch of my life private, I consider myself closer to the private than public end. Yet I also write a blog, and I have a concern for the environment. So today, I’m writing about something I never thought I would write about, online, in the public sphere: reusable period pads.
I, like many people who have periods, rely—or did rely—on an awful lot of disposable products to cope with this monthly experience. Yet, also like many people, I have a concern for the environment, and the thought of continuing to throw away these products month after month for at least the next 20–30 years made me pause.
The other mainstream eco-period option—the menstrual cup—was just not up my street, so that option was out. When I first discovered reusable pads last year, I thought: really? Does that work? Yet the reviews, when I finally waded through the many products online, were amazing. What was I missing? Ten months into Lockdown—the perfect time to test such a product, with nowhere to go—I finally found a brand that looked promising, and I took the plunge.
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We like objects on this blog, if you couldn’t tell. And even these sanitary objects, I like. In fact, I experienced an odd excitement for my next period when these arrived. I have never been so excited for such a grim time of the month, but that is the power of new objects. They offer a moment of thought, and anticipation.
I won’t go into too many details here—I haven’t reached that level of public sharing—but I will say that two months in, I have enough pads, and a reliable system, to get me through. And I’m proud to say that I have now successfully completed my first period relying solely on reusable products. I have a new space for them in the bathroom, while the leftover disposables I had have been boxed away: there if I need them, but no longer relied upon.
The switch was not seamless. It took some logistical thinking for me to figure out how to store them, rinse them, wash them. But now it’s routine, automatic. And weirdly, like some of the reviews say, rinsing them is almost therapeutic. When I rinse them, it is with the thought that that is one less pad in the landfill. Now, one whole month’s worth less.
It is a small step, but it is a step. And now I own objects that make me think differently about my period. While the excitement has worn off, the sense of accomplishment remains, as well as the surprise at how easily I have shifted my routine actions.
Half of the world’s population use pads, or some sort of sanitary period product, yet like other common yet seemingly taboo objects, we don’t tend to talk about them. But that means we don’t learn about them, either. I only found out about these pads by seeing someone post about them on Instagram; now I’m taking the plunge and posting about them here, considered as an object, so that you might know about them, too.
A note to say that I have no affiliation with the Wear ‘em Out brand, they were just the most promising-looking reusable pads I found. Personally I’d recommend them, but you can read extensive reviews here.
