Menstruation is my least favorite part of being a woman as it is gross, painful, and expensive. But it's there and you have to deal with it. Over the years I've mostly handled my menstruation with mainstream products of tampons and pads. I've made the effort to use biodegradable tampons and that was about it. But then I decided to join the Peace Corps and I was presented with a new challenge - your menstruation cycle without mainstream products and without creating trash.
Most developing places in the world don't have the products I'm used to using. In addition, the place I was planning to go to and the place I ended up going to - The Gambia and Vanuatu respectively - don't have municipal trash. Finally is the cost of buying your monthly supply when your going to be living on a modest monthly stipend.
For me, I can use one box of Tampax multi pack and one small box of all day pads during a cycle which costs about $20-30. So now my mission was to find an alternative that would be affordable in the long run, very little to zero waste, and environmentally friendly.
To begin is menstruation underwear. https://www.shethinx.com/ These are underwear that absorbs the menstrual flow. They can absorb about two regular tampons worth of fluid. Pre-IUD I had a very heavy flow and it felt very weird menstruating directly into the underwear so I always use them with tampons. The second problem is they are not as easy to change out as a pad, and if your away from home, the change out becomes logistically problematic. Post-IUD I have a light flow and can wear one underwear all day without tampon or needing to change out. In country this is my favorite option. One panty is $24-$65.
Next I got some reusable pads. Basically these are cloth and are washable. A pad will fold up on itself and button together making a neat little packet. They are easy to clean but bulky to wear. Single use pads are out of the question as there is no public landfill, no municipal trash pick up. You burn your trash or bury it and single use pads have too much plastic and chemicals in them to do either. One set of six is $15-27.
I also tried the menstrual cup before leaving the states. I don't like it. I don't like the act of putting it in our taking it out. If you don't have a way to wash it when your taking it out and before putting it back in it becomes problematic. I was using a public restroom and needed to leave the stall to wash it before re-inserting it, yuck. In country there are rarely sinks or running water near the bathroom. And now that I have an IUD my GYN recommended to me to not use the cup. The suction and the act of taking it out could potentially move the IUD. A cup costs $12-$40.
I like tampons with applicators. Applicator-less tampons have been around for a while but I don't like using my finger to insert it. So I was excited when I came across the reusable applicator. https://wearedame.co/ About $32. However I've had trouble getting the tampon inserted as it gets stuck on the end of the applicator. So I've ended up not using this after all.
Since I'm on the subject I want to get one thing off my chest. The comment I've been hearing all my life of “It's unnatural for a something to bleed for four days and not die.”
I'm not bleeding. Menstruation fluid is not blood which comes out if your veins. Menstruation is the shedding of your uterine lining.
Menstruation is the most normal and natural bodily function that is the key for why the human race exists. Because of menstruation woman are fertile throughout the year which is how humans can have as many offspring as they do thus propagating the species in even the most harsh and hostile of Earth's varied environments. Your welcome.
I am not a thing. And every time a man or a woman quoting a man says this awful saying it is always referring to the woman as a thing. Fuck you I'm a woman.
This saying is not only the product of a mind that doesn't respect women it is the excuse men use to continue to disrespect women. This saying de-humanizes and demonizes women. No one who would say something like this considers women to be of equal value to men or to even be human. And it breaks my heart to hear a woman quote this like it's a truth. This a woman who doesn't understand her own body or role is human beings surviving and existence.
Sayings like this is why I don't use euphemisms. The euphemism of calling menstrual fluid ‘blood’ leads to this kind of misconception. We can't rely on people having the education to understand the reproductive system enough to know that saying ‘blood’ is a euphemism for the shedding of the uterine lining and is not a literal description. Reproductive health isn't a priority in the US education system or any Patriarchal society. So I'm direct and call it by the appropriate name and hopefully that will help break down barriers which leads to these kind of awful sayings.
That said, please be respectful and considerate of women and their menstruation needs. It's challenging having a menstrual flow. And please thank a woman and her menstrual flow for your existence and the existence of the human race.
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