Allergic to scented sanitary products? Add your story here!

[wheresmymojo]

Loads of posts about scented sanitary products causing some of us to have issues such as:

• Itchy rashes
• Thrush
• Bacterial vaginosis

After a few attempts I have finally been able to get the attention from Always to respond to my issues.

I know lots of us have them and don't want to be fobbed off that it's 'just me'.

Please can you add your story below if you have issues with scented products.

As another poster has said - I'm pretty sure men wouldn't be expected to spritz Febreeze on their cocks all day for 7 days and have no issues.

I will be adding a link to this thread to my response to Always on Twitter (so obvs don't put anything outing unless you name change)

Yours,

Itchy Vag from Hampshire x

I used to use Always - they were fab. No more since the awful scent. It's only with hindsight that I can link the (thankfully minor!) irritation to them too.

The only time I have ever been able to smell that a woman was on her period was when I could smell the fragrance.

Tbf my problem with always is two-fold.
One: the awful smell of them. I won’t buy them now because if I can smell when other people are using them, other people sure as hell can smell when I am

Two: the awful plasticky feeling when it touches the skin. The top layer doesn’t seem particularly absorbent and it feels yack.
I switched to Bodyform a while back and wouldn’t look back.

I refuse to use scented pads, but I'm so allergic to scents I have to use the blandest of bland washing powders. When Fairy changed their scent, I broke out in hives all over my legs and stomach. Teeny writing.

Always, FFS, read Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez, and carry out better product testing. With women, not men.

Your website says the fragrance meets safety standards set by IFA. Do those standards consider that vaginal pH balance is between 3.8-4.5 - acidic? What changes do lactic acid, hydrogen peroxide and menstrual blood cause to the ingredients in your scented pads?

Do the Skin Care Alliance know about these complaints?

Should women be reporting their ill health and injuries to you under a Yellow Card type scheme?

How many complaints have you received?

I should not be able to tell which girls in my class are on their period! It's not exactly the choice sent of a teenager.
For myself I have eczema and Always used to be my brand of choice but the last time I, in desperation, used a single one of their scented pads the reaction left me raw and swollen to the point I struggled to pee or even sit comfortably for days. I have two daughters in their late teens who have never used Always as I wont have them in the house. They have developed loyalty to other brands.

I have been stuck with no choice but to purchase always products in an emergency on a few occasion (they seem to be the most widely stocked). I ended up feeling quite sensitive down there are the smell made me nauseous while wearing. Would strongly consider bleeding all over myself if I meant avoiding these products.

I totally refuse to buy them anyway - they are full of plastic and won't biograde. Come on ladies there are other alternatives - thinx, mooncups and pure cotton tampons and ST brands that you never see in supermarkets because proctor and gamble dictate their shelf space. Buy better and they won't have the monopoly over sanitary ware.

I remember when they first were launched. I bought them unknowingly and had a huge reaction similar to a burn from the chemicals.
It's now 15 years on and I'm still very sensitive to anything with chemicals. It can trigger another full scale breakdown of the skin resulting in a burns type injury. The skin goes white and comes way leaving raw bleeding skin behind.

I can't believe the Sani pro companies put this nasty stuff in products that really need to be safe and pure.

Supermarket own brands seem to be the least offensive. I expect it's because they have to pay more to add the chemical scent so they don't bother.

I swapped to using cotton reusable pads and I can wash them in ultra mild detergent with a triple rinse.

There should be health warnings on the packets.

I bought them for 20 years but had to give them up when they went scented. My fanjo went itchy and sore afterwards. I went over to cloth pads instead.

I’m through the menopause now but have DDs who need them and have told them never to buy the scented ones from Always - they get own brand ones from Tesco etc instead.

Apart from anything else Always, the scents you use smell VILE.

Stop telling women that perfectly natural bodily fluids are smelly.

Good luck OP.

Yep. I get BV and I also get a very painful, itchy rash. I buy the sensitive ones now (when I can actually find them in the shops that is) and have no problems at all.

They inflame my inverse psoriasis. Open sores in a continuous line from just above my clitoris to half way up my arse crack. It is painful, it's itchy and it weeps. And it takes weeks to heal.

For fucks sake always, what are you thinking?!

I use washables now.

And just to add - what is with those cringey 'women are soft annnnd strong' adverts. Like why the fk is this sanitary towel advert trying to tell me who I am? Cringe.

Always were my brand of choice from being a teenager, particularly their super-long nighttime towels.

I can't wear them since they've been scented - I get nappy rash within moments which takes days to clear up, particularly where the wing meets my thigh.

Recently, I've been using up my store of maternity pads. No plastic, no scent, no fanjo issues.

Too old for sanpro but mistakenly used a couple of sheets of stinking Cushelle loo roll a couple of years ago and haven't stopped itching since. Satan's work. A pox on all misogynist manufacturers of all products that encourage women to hate their bodies' natural functions.

Scented products made me make the push to 100% eco sanpro - cloth, and jam sponges.

Because:

Asides from the smell of scented products in use being like rotting flowers and meat (the meaty smell was because of irritation down there with the blood), within minutes of putting on a scented pad, my vulva started coming out in a rash which I've never had a problem with before when using Always products (nb - I've only ever stuck with Always sanpro, no other brand ever worked for me). My inner labia would become swollen, itchy and I'd keep developing thrush. Within two to three days the discharge from my vagina would be awful, turning already uncomfortable periods into burning, itching hot things which couldn't be improved on without several days of no product up, or on my privates.

I don't know anyone who has not had an issue with them. And I don't mean MumsNet, I mean my actual friends. So it doesn't surprise me that MN has hundreds of women reporting this same problem.

Oh and fwiw always, I also had to stop using the discreet for my incontinence. Washable for all needs now.

I hate scented sanpro. I get a rash, sores and itching. I'm never clear which products are scented until I actually open them so I simple don't buy any Always products ever.

Have they not seen a decline in sales since introducing the hideous scent?

I was stood in the supermarket the other day pondering if I could bring myself to sniff the various products to double check I was getting unscented ones. I would really appreciate a big label on the packet to say if they were scented or unscented and would enthusiastically purchase unscented ones.

I used Always from when I first started my periods 18 years ago. When they brought the scented pads in I had to stop using them as they made me really itchy and the smell was awful, like cheap floral toilet cleaner. Even worse is the toilet cleaner smell mixed with fresh blood, it's horrific. I occasionally get a whiff when walking past someone and you can instantly tell what it is. I would be so embarrassed if anyone could smell my period like that.

I have found my people!! It took me ages to work out I was having some kind of reaction to sanpro. I also can't use the 3 in 1 washing capsules as they set me off so Aldi or Tesco own brand non bio for that and TOTM for sanpro. My fanjo (and my husband 😜) are much happier!!

Have a look at them (and no I don't work for them!)

www.totm.com/

I have a perfume allergy so know to avoid perfume, diffusers etc. Didn't expect to encounter the same problem in sanitary towels!! Used the a month ago, vag is still raging! Awful itchy rash in the worst of places ☹️

I spent ages in the shop trying to find ones that didn't smell, decided on the night ones in the end as I thought surely they don't need to scent those (God help us if the DPs and DHs were to smell some period blood). Boy was I wrong. It really made me angry. To be honest I never liked always anyway because it was so plasticky but at least before it wasn't an instant itch and rash (it was more gradual lol). Bought some reusables now plus I own a mentrual cup.

I used Always from the time they appeared on the market and would never have considered anything else. Then they made them scented. Each period I got thrush and very sore. I decided to try Bodyform instead. No thrush or rashes with them. Plus, I don't smell like a tart's boudoir mixed with menstrual blood!

It's a classic case of inventing a problem (smelly periods ), instilling fear and shame ( oh my god perhaps my periods have been stinking and I just hadn't realised ) and then creating a product to solve the problem you didn't know you had.

It's particularly easy when it comes periods because of the embarrassment factor - so introduce a product, tell women that all the other women want and use it and create a perfect storm of manufactured insecurity feeding sales. Dress it all up as being pc and 'healthy' and open about periods and you've created a new shame monster.

I normally use tampons, so the scented ST thing bypassed me until just after I had given birth to DC2. Decided to switch from maternity pads to ST when it all calmed down a bit and picked up Always as that was what is used years before. Ended up with horrific thrush! Add that to the broken foof and piles from giving birth and it almost finished me off!

Out of interest, why do people choose to use an expensive branded sanitary towel when the own brands are so much cheaper? I never understand this (the same goes for loads of other products eg food and drink). Is it because people like to show off they have so much money they can just waste it? Own brand products are the same quality as branded so I really don't get it.