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

Well I’ve tried few supermarket lately I’ve found they don’t stick very well and move around.

I used them for years and then I got thrush every single month with the scented ones! In the end the doctor advised me to change them! I now use reusable ones, have never had any issues what's so ever and much better for the environment!

Is it because people like to show off they have so much money they can just waste it?

Yes, that's exactly it. 🙄 I like to wave my sanitary protection in the air and shout "Look! Look how much money I have!".

i like to wave my sanitary protection in the air and shout "Look! Look how much money I have!

To be fair soup it does sound like ice waves her SP in the air and should ‘look how much money ive saved’

So maybe its an actual thing some people do...

I can't stand the smell of scented sanitary towels, and have also developed recurring thrush since using them.

So I am another one who has to have the humiliation of sniffing the packets in the supermarket to figure out which ones are unscented. Always was my go to for ages but am trying alternatives now.

I can't see why anyone would want to smell like that. It's a very obvious smell to me and when I used them I was so paranoid that everyone would know what it was. I do think period blood can smell but only if pads not changed regularly enough and the smell is still preferable to the fake chemical smell!

I used tampons for years, and then when the menopause hit about a decade ago, I bought some pads.

On the first day i was like 'WTF is that dreadful smell'.

Later on it was 'Jesus H Christ have i sat on a red ants nest?'

I went to the loo, realised it was that pad that stank, didn't even click that it would have caused the inflammation and pain, used toilet roll for the rest of the day with frequent trips to the loo and chucked the pads out when I got home.

I got caught a few months later, same even though I'd checked the wrapping to see if it was scented, and as soon as I opened it, I could smell it. It really is such a nauseating smell it beggars belief that this isn't a massive prank on women.

Anyway I then bought reuseables, and have a pack of liners - unscented - for odd occasions when they are needed on long work days etc. I mainly use reuseables now for the very odd occasion that I feel like I might have a light bleed, luckily for me it isn't very often any more.

Should we bring some sort of class action? Is that even possible? For those that have long term after effects, this surely needs to be looked at as an option.

People just need to stop buying from this company. It is outrageous that they are causing harm to women and yet people till buy their products, not realising that they are causing the harm in the first place.

Raw bikini line. Itchy, can't stand them against my skin.

The only ones I can use by always are infinity. They're really thin but nice. And not scented! Although I'm looking at modi bodi

I have sent the following message and will be trying to get some media attention to this over the next couple of days...

Hi...

I have always used Always sanitary towels but have noticed that a change in the product has caused health issues for me.

Since the products became scented I have had strong allergic reactions to them including a very uncomfortable, itchy rash that starts within a day of using an Always sanitary towel and lasts up to a week after the last use. I have also had recurring Bacterial Vaginosis which I have treated only for it to re-occur every time I used Always sanitary towels.

I have also learned via the Mumsnet forum that my reactions are not rare as I had assumed but actually commonplace.

Many other women also find that the scented products cause an allergic reaction, rashes, thrush and BV.

In addition, we are finding it harder to find unscented versions of Always products. It is not clear at all on the packaging which are scented and which are not which means we end up in the position of having to sniff packets of sanitary towels in the supermarket.

This is frankly a ridiculous position to put your consumers in.

I will link to several threads that show that this is an issue across many women, and as I’m sure you’re aware, is not just in the UK given the recent campaign in Kenya (link also included).

The fact that so many women are experiencing health issues as a result of your products suggests that they have either not been satisfactorily tested or that these side effects were known and the product launched anyway.

The short term side effects mentioned also raise concerns about what, if any, testing has been done on the long term effects of introducing such chemicals into close contact with our bodies.

Having been a trusted brand that many of us have used for decades it seems that profits are being put above the health of women, not just in the UK but across the world.

I am writing not just on my own behalf, but on behalf of all of the women who have experienced such problems on Mumsnet and would like to know:

• What testing was completed on the new products?

• Over what period of time?

• How many women trialled the products?

• How many women in the trial reported side effects and what side effects did they report?

• Which chemicals are being used in the products?

• What long term studies have been carried out by yourselves or others as to the long term contact of these chemicals with the vagina?

• What are the results/outcome of such studies?

• How many complaints have you received in the UK about allergic reactions, rashes, thrush, BV or similar in relation to these products in the past two years?

• How many such complaints have been received globally?

• Why are these products still on sale given the reports of side effects from Kenya?

We look forward to your response,

Regards,

Mojo

I then link to MN threads and the BBC Africa story and Twitter thread

Am also trying to get UK media contacts via someone I vaguely know @ the Guardian, Woman's Hour, etc.

If anyone has any contacts please let me know...

Excellent work mojo

I definitely don't buy scented sanpro.

1. the itching and burning.
2. the insensitivity from the companies to women's very real complaints and concerns (nobody can tell me it is going to be just fine to put air freshener chemicals next to a mucous membrane).
3. the rank misogyny (we are fine and clean thank you).

Get it together Always. And, other companies - please please recognise that this is an issue and a worry for women (the chemicals, not the non-problem you try to say you're helping with) and know that if you clearly market your product as free from scent, there are potential sales there.

They don't cause me issues but I wanted to add my voice. I cannot STAND this scented malarkey. Always - STOP DOING IT. Women do not want it

So the body form pure sensitive only comes in normal.. do those of you who use these and have a heavy flow just wear 2 at once?

IceCreamConewithaflake, I find that the own brand ones are not as absorbent, they leak, they don't stick well, they mostly don't have wings (which I prefer) and you have to change them more often. They also seems to be really bulky and not as long as the branded ones.
Preference means I buy branded. Same with certain products (not all value brands are equal to the brand- eg coca-cola vs smart price cola)

I've always used the brave Always and am 37 now. My periods started getting heavy in 2017 so I switched to the maxi unscented ones. Then they added a scent on those too. My flow became so heavy I was told I had fibroids and needed them removed. The heavy bleeding didn't stop after the surgery.
Then my ex boyfriend brought me back a bag with all my old stuff including unscented pads. The bleeding stopped when I used them and started again when I switched to the scented later that day.
I have now bought own brand pads at Monoprix (im in France)

They make me itchy and sore, I use body form and noticed the packet stated ‘unperfumed’

I used to have constant recurring thrush and be bright red and sore for a week, had to get those little tubes of Cannistan cream so I could keep them in my bag at all times.

I unexpectedly started a period at work and there were some emergency pads there which were unscented - I realised later that evening the expected period rash just hadnt arrived. Grabbed a few more the next day, bliss.

I've used exclusively unscented now for a few years and the Cannistan tubes got thrown away half-used after the first 3 months, and yes I have to stand like an idiot in shops sniffing packets because the labelling just can't be relied on and I've had to throw away packets before that were "natural scent" scented hidden in tiny writing.

Hey @wheresmymojo did you ever get a response?

I hate scented anything, but sanitary towels are just about the worst thing you could add scent to. Practically any doctor would tell you not to use scented products down there.

Hate them! Refuse to use Always anymore and they were my go to brand. The itching caused by the godawful perfume is awful. And they stink. Sickly and far too strong a scent. Why manufacturers can't do a decent range that have NO scent I don't know. At least women would have the choice then.

I am post menopause so not affected first hand, but I can smell these on other women. I wouldn't dream of mentioning it, but, scented towel manufacturers, just imagine how mortified you'd be if EVERYONE knew something as personal about you as when you were on your period, all the time, because they could smell it. I've never smelled a woman on her period if she's not wearing scented san pro.

It's a bit like making scented pile cream.

Used to get thrush frequently. It was only when I went on the minipill that it stopped but I didn't make a connection until I came off the pill whilst TTC and the thrush started up again. I then got a moon cup and the thrush went. I lost my moon cup and used pads again, and yup, back came the thrush! Bloody scented pads. Trouble is it's so hard to find unscented ones. Particularly as the ones with perfume aren't explicit about it, instead using phrases like superior odour control etc.

Thankfully I'm back to not having periods thanks to the minipill.

I was brand loyal to always for years until I started developing what can only be described as nappy rash each time. I now use supermarket own brands which I have been pleasantly surprised by (they do have a full range of wings/non-wings/night time etc)

MY DD started last year so I got her a big bag of a variety of products to try and see what she liked. She requests I get her the Morrisons ones because, apparently, they have the quietest wrapping for school loo changes.

Yes, you have to look out for the key words 'odour control' or similar. Not 'fragranced' as that would be too simple.

I’m post menopause, so I don’t even need the things, but I would like to add my support. Why would anyone think it a good idea to apply unnecessary chemicals to such a sensitive area?
‘Fragranced’ liners, towels and tampons (😱) are an abomination.

I used Always from my first period (20 years ago) but when they introduced scented pads I got a mooncup, which I love and never would have tried without Always' cheapass smelling, vag-burning pads forcing my hand. So thank you Always for your bad decisions.