to think plastic applicators for Tampax are disgraceful and unjustifiable?

[appropriatelytrained]

I sent DH to buy me a pack of tampons recently from the local shop. He came back with Tampax Compak (the only choice).

I'm no green activist, but I was shocked to see non-biodegradable, non-recyclable plastic applicators used for this product.

It seems to me that applicators are generally pretty unnecessary but to make them out of plastic just for convenience and comfort (Tampax's response to my query) makes them an unjustifiable vanity product.

Churning out plastic applicators for no genuine purpose when the company know (despite what they may say) that these products will end up flushed down the toilet, is disgraceful.

Right, I'll get off my soap box. I don't post here usually but I just felt really angered by this when so many companies are trying very hard to change the necessary packaging of their products, this company is producing unnecessary packaging without thought of consequence.

[QuickLookBusy]

Sarah, clots form because the bood flow from the womb is so fast and heavy that it doesn't have time to break down and become liquid. It has nothing to do with what sort of sanitary protection you use.
I know this as I use to suffer from clots and very heavy periods which made me anemic. This has all been solved by medication [tranmanic acid sp?] which I take when I have a period. No heavy periods, no clots and no anemia.

[WhereTheWildThingsWere]

No. it's not disposables, I have been using washable san-pro for three years and I have mahoosive clots, always have (tmi, but on a thread like this.....)

We are for some insane reason brought up to believe our periods are somehow dirty, it is just blood, could you bear to rinse out and a wash a childs tee shirt when they have had a nose bleed? What difference?

I rinse mine under the cold tap and then they go into any 40 or 30 wash, then onto the line to form what my dp refers to as menstrual bunting

Once you get your head round it, it is no biggie, in fact the idea of using something disposable seems not only bizarre but really rather disgusting.

[SarahLundsredJumper]

ARF !! at menstrual bunting !

[ElaineReese]

I get what you're saying, wildthings but I don't think it is the same. Blood from a wound stops fairly quickly - and menstrual blood isn't actually only blood anyway, is it? Without wanting to be too gross, I don't think menstrual blood smells especially nice, and sitting around when you haven't been able to change a pad for a while is not pleasant just on comfort grounds - so I can't imagine enjoying sitting gushing onto a bit of cloth!

I think that as we have come so far to remove the stigma from periods and make it easier for young girls when they start, and to show that life can go on as normal while you're having one, it would be a retrograde step to make having a period more work again!

Besides, when I washed nappies I was at home with little children and had more time to do it (and to keep the nappy bin tidy!). Now they are big, I don't expect to spend my time washing three lots of periody towels a month.

[porcamiseria]

yanbu, I thought the same. that said does anyone recycle the paper ones

Lilets or mooncup!

[porcamiseria]

We are for some insane reason brought up to believe our periods are somehow dirty, it is just blood


SORRY but period blood is MING, not the same as noseblood, sorry

[WhereTheWildThingsWere]

Actually menstrual blood small a whole lot less when it's not mixed with chemicals, it's not like I have always used them and know no other way, I used pads and tampax for 13 years, I genuinely prefer cloth and would never go back.

They are more confortable and just as absorbent as disposables, we have been sold the idea that periods are disgusting and it all needs to be dealt with in a very clinical manner, it's all bollocks.

My life is still totally normal while using them, I even wear them to do Bikram yoga in 110 degree heat.

I hope dd will be using them too, two friends of mine who also use them have started their dd's on them rather than dispoables and both are very comfortable using them.

[WhereTheWildThingsWere]

small = smells obv.

porcamiseria, WHY, why is it dirty? It is blood and tissue that lines your womb in preparation for a BABY, why is that MING?

[mumsamilitant]

I like plastic bags and I like my plastic applicators so ner.

[schroeder]

That smell that we associate with period blood is actually the menstrual blood reacting with the superabsorbant chemicals in disposable sanpro. Just like the nasty distinctive smell of a wet disposable nappy.

When you use washable cotton/bamboo/whatever pads it is a revelation to find that the smell has gone. [hsmile]

[SarahLundsredJumper]

Agree totally where the wildthings I found that disposables far from being "fresher" actually had a really strange odour .

I also used disposables for years and would never go back . There is hardly any more work or fuss and its as simple to pop them in the machine as it is to unwrap and then place disposables in the bin and then empty the bin !
Also the convenience of not running out or if using a mooncup not having to carry them with you.

[WillbeanChariot]

I haven't seen these tampons up close, is there one applicator per packet or one with each tampon? Perhaps a solution for those who need a particular type of applicator would be to have a reusable one of whatever type/length is better for them?

I am not the least bit squeamish, and I don't understand people who are grossed out by their own period blood or by sticking a finger up their chuff. The comfort thing I do get. But I agree with the point that they haven't been around for that long, and it's a shame to be introducing products using more plastic instead of less. I am a happy mooncup user and I don't think I'll ever go back to tampons.

[TandB]

We use re-useable nappies and I have a mooncup - am I allowed an opinion on that basis?

If these applicators are the best option for many women then it is good that they are available - but surely they could recreate the same product in a slightly less environmentally unfriendly material?

I tried them a couple of times when they were all I could find in a small shop - I found them really difficult to use for some reason. I didn't like them at all.

I might consider cloth pads for lochia after this baby arrives - I hate pads with a passion and think cloth might be a bit nicer.

[lesley33]

How do you insert tampons without an applicator? Genuine question. I have tried and just can't get them far enough up to be comfortable. I can't figure out how to get them further up without something else to push them up - I have used my fingers - but they stay in the part of your vagina where you can still feel them and it so uncomfortable.

[AKMD]

I just pushed them up lesley. I do have pianist's fingers though :) (can't play the paino for toffee I might add!)

[lesley33]

Okay my fingers are short and stubby - maybe thats the problem.

[rabbitfeet]

What's wrong with using your finger to push in the tampon? Most of us have sex, have babies etc... all things that require things going in or coming out of your vagina. Why the squeamishness about putting in a tampon by hand?

[AKMD]

I don't know rabbit Do people not generally wash their hands afterwards?

[lesley33]

Please read my post above. I do use my fingers but i can't get the tampon in enough. I can still feel it and it is uncomfortable. But if I use a cardboard applicator it goes in fine.

[lesley33]

Just checked - my finger is about half the length of a cardboard applicator. I would be quite happy not to use an applicator if I could get the tampon in far enough to feel comfortable.

[rabbitfeet]

That's fair enough, Lesley, but it sounds like some other posters are uncomfortable with using their finger because they feel squeamish about it.

[screamingbohemian]

My mum was a big hippie who raised me to think periods were totally natural, not dirty or anything to be ashamed of, blah blah blah. I still think menstrual blood is gross. It's clotty, it's sticky, just ewww.

I can and have used tampons without applicators but I prefer not to, in the same way I could live without kleenex and blow my nose into my hands (hey you can just wash it off!) but would rather not.

This does not make me a bad person. And as I have not driven or owned a car in more than 20 years, I will match my carbon footprint up against anyone's.