FAQ: Reusable Pads: Why Reusable?

This is Part One in a three part FAQ series on reusable menstrual pads. Part 2 >> Part 3>>

I've had a few people contact me on Etsy to ask about how one goes about using and cleaning the cotton flannel menstrual pads I sell. Some of them are a bit incredulous, and seem simultaneously horrified and intrigued that there is an entire subculture out there of women reusing their pads! I understand that in our society it can be scary or gross to talk about your period, and that our euphemistically-titled "feminine hygiene products" are designed to minimize contact with, and thoughts about, the less-savory aspects of owning a female reproductive system. 

Be scared no more! I'm creating this simple guide for both my customers' reference and also to provide a very general web resource. So grab your surfboard and hang ten on the crimson tide! 

Part One: Why Reusable?

For some people, the concept of a reusable menstrual pad, like a reusable diaper, is unusual and kind of dirty-sounding. These products, like bandages or toilet paper, seem to deal with our most unsavory of bodily functions, and in the interest of sanitation, shouldn't they be disposable for a good reason?

The answer to this is part of a larger discussion on our modern lifestyles. Before plastics and cheap, mechanized production flourished in the last century, all these 'drugstore disposables' which we now take for granted were, in fact, made from either reusable or renewable resources. Although disposable pads may sound like progress, there are three ways in which reusables trump disposables:

1. Saving The Planet: Ok, this is the biggie and it's probably the most obvious. Disposable pads are just that- disposable, one-time-use products. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 80 billion pads and tampons are dumped in the landfills of North America each year. Disposables advertised as 'biodegradable' or 'all-natural,' while used out of good intentions, take up just as much space as conventional disposables: compacted into a mulch of plastics, metals, rubber, and organic material and deprived of oxygen, sunlight, or condensation, these products are unable to biodegrade as quickly as promised. Disposables contribute to many forms of pollution during creation, as well. Dioxin used to bleach pads and tampons, for example, or petrochemicals to create thin sheets of plastic.
2. Saving Yourself: All that stuff that's so nasty for the earth is also nasty to you. The average disposable pad is a swarm of chemicals and irritants: perfumes, dyes, bleach, plastic, something that feels like a hospital gown... something else that feels like fiberglass insulation... why on earth is this invited into your pants for a week each month? Neither the FDA nor the EPA regulates or supervises what materials go into disposable pads, or disposable diapers for that matter. A friend once told me of the moment when she switched over to reusable diapers for her babies: seeing a strange fleck inside a disposable diaper, she tore it open and found bits of a shredded rubber tire. 
3. Saving Your Wallet: I read while doing some research the other day that the average woman spends an accumulative eight years menstruating. I know what you're thinking --ye gods, why?!-- but aside from that, think about how much money you would have forked over for disposable pads by the end of that time. Enough to buy a lot of other really cool stuff that you actually like better than pads. Like antique pinball machines, or a day at the spa with your Nana. 
   

Now reusable cotton flannel pads, on the other hand, are made from renewable plant resources and will last five to ten years or more. My reusables are soft and get softer with wear; made with 100% cotton flannel, they are exceptionally gentle, comfortable, and breathable. And they pay for themselves many, many times over. 

Certainly, I know some people find the idea of reusable pads, at best, a strange idea. And certainly it might take some getting used to. If you've never used reusable pads before and would like to start, you can start slowly by using a reusable pad once instead of a disposable during your next cycle, and just see how it feels (best to do this at home). The more you learn about using and cleaning the reusable pads, the more at ease you will feel with it.

I hope this helps answer some questions! The FAQ continues with Part 2 on  how to use reusable pads.