To not understand common attitudes to disposable personal hygiene products?

[hooochycoo]

I'm confronted by this again and again on MN, and I confess I don't understand why it's OK to justify using disposable nappies, wet wipes, sanitary protection etc? Why is it OK to add so much rubbish to the world on the justification of convenience when there are alternatives that are still easy but generate less or no waste? Use a flannel, use a moon up, put/hold your baby regularly over a toilet/ potty, use modern easy quick drying cloth nappies. Why's it OK to recoil in horror at the hippyness of such things? But it's ok to continue buying disposable rubbish from huge corporations and throw them into landfill? Apart from an argument of "each to their own", aibu to not get it?

This isn't about chucking things in the street though.

I prefer to use tampons and toilet roll. I will keep doing so. It has fuck all to do with anyone what I wipe my arse with or stick in my fanjo.

Convenience is a valid argument. Why do you think these things are available? Because people buy them as its easier.

I use recycled loo roll, only use what I need, and don't use wet wipes, facial wipes, kitchen rolls etc.

So do you use a cloth to wipe your arse and then bury the shit in newspaper in the garden, pee in a pot and put it on the roses?

Because unless you're doing that then your argument doesn't hold up.

It's about time and effort.

I am weird, and a hippy, a feminist and environmentalist. In theory I agree with you. In practice I just can't manage it.

I was stocked up on reusable nappies prior to birth of Pfb. He was jaundiced and pooed about 15 times a day for weeks. I was totally overwhelmed as a new mum, could barely cope with cooking, the interminable laundry (even without cloth nappies), establishing bf etc. The cloth nappies never got used.

Same with everything else. I drive everywhere as I loathe lost hours standing at bus stops, and I hate cycling on busy roads in the rain. Last time I tried to grow my own food the potatoes went to seed as I forgot all about them.

I'm happy to vote for a party that will make environmental choices easier (install cycle lanes and showers, mandate a 35 hr working week, offer free childcare to all), but given the current conditions I make the choices I do and try not to feel bad about it.

I'm still tired and ready to drop at 9pm at the end of each day! Given an unexpected free half hour during the day if much rather cuddle the baby, nap, or just have a cuppa than run to put another load of laundry on.

Hth :-)

Jolly Just wrap a sheet around you like a nappy on those journeys.

It is a choice. But I am amazed people chose not to use reusable products. I don't see it as my own choice because I recycle everything, and feel wasteful if I don't. Mooncup has saved me a fortune. Love it. Kids had washable nappies, loved those too. Bought a few second hand and added as I went on.

It's our planet today, but our children's and grandchildrens too. I really feel an obligation to do my part. That's my choice. I wish more would see it this way. I pay for things to, but don't see how that gives me a right to fuck up the planet for future generations.

Oh yeah, and hold the baby over a potty??! Wtf?? He poos everywhere, usually on the highchair while eating a meal. When smaller it was typically on my lap while bf. Yes no nappy would have been just delightful :)

I don't use reusables but don't assume that I think it's weird, hippyish, unfeminist, extreme... Massive projection there that I really don't appreciate.

Tbh I think good causes are done a disservice by uptight pushy people. I don't crow about what I do because I don't want to be associated with the public perception of the people who support such causes.

We live in a flat, we have no outdoor area to hang out washing, we have no tumble drier (nor room for one), we have room for one clothes airer in the flat and that is it.

It's hard enough getting clothes dry, to the point where we never manage to clear the backlog of washing. Am I going to willingly add more washing to that amount? Especially washing that involves waste products? Fuck that.

Convenience isn't a valid reason? Really?

YABU

Keep your own house in order and never mind asking strangers to justify themselves.

Although smug, yes, you do sound smug.

They are available because big corporations make lots if money out of people's desire for convenience.

And I said medical issues aside. I'm sorry for some folk's awful periods. But I would also advise an open mind. My awful periods were helped by using a moon cup. Of course it won't work for all, but will for some!

I'd always prefer a wash with a flannel than a wet wipe or loo roll. So much cleaner. And no waste!

My 17 year old twin dds use washable sanitary protection, they are happy with them and find them more comfortable than the disposable.
However, I have psoriasis and cannot use loo roll of any description, I have to use cotton wool and water or the wet wipes that are available these days. If not I end up ulcerated and unable to walk/move for days. Some of us don't have the choices others do, and the reasons are as diverse as the planet.

Reusable things are not cheaper!!!! Maybe in the long run but not initially. You obviously do not stuggle with money or you would think this a valid excuse.

I recycle.....use alot of recycled and natural products.

Bit Iike others have said re periods......sometimes people are just too heavy!! Theres nit a chance for the firat 5 days each month that id beable to cart around bloodsoaked reusables with me everywhere. Also wouldnt be anywhere near absorbent enough!!

Or are we supposed to hold ourselves over the toilet too to avoid using any sanpro?

I would try that SP but thankfully I got the Mirena coil.

It results in no paper, cloth or silicone products whatsoever, and no excessive toilet flushing.

Perhaps I should buy a set of washable cork bungs for the other side.

They make money because people like the convenience exactly. So it is totally a valid argument.

I honestly don't know why people care about what others use on their arses or for their periods.

Use and pine cone and feather duster for all I care just don't moan when others don't want to

Freedom of choice... Don't judge me for using tampons because I wouldn't be able to stomach using a mooncup or washable pads & i won't judge you for holding your child over a toilet terrifying him or her into going to the toilet!!!!!!

Well, not everyone can do what you do. Like Murder I live in a tiny flat and there's room for one clothes horse. No tumble dryer or outside space. We can never clear the backlog of washing because there's not enough room or time to dry it all. No way am I going to add to that by adding reusable nappies or pads or towels. Sorry. I just don't have the space. Until I win the lottery or someone dies and leaves me a nice house with lots of space, I'll be using disposable products.

Apologies if I sound smug, uptight and judgemental, but i guess that's the danger when you start a thread like this! I don't generally talk about this endlessly in real
Life. This is an anonymous rant to pass a long train journey. - And something i genuinely wonder about. but then if we're trading character assessments, yous all sound lazy, arrogant and bit uneducated. There are alternatives to the mainstream convenience ways of doing things, do the research and try things out! Some of them may well work for you.

I guess the key point is "common attitudes" - that using disposable nappies and san-pro is common and acceptable. The convenience argument only works because it's a mainstream belief.

A similar example is plates/cutlery. Pretty much everyone uses these every day. It's a chore to scrape them, wash them, dry them and put them away. They are more expensive than their disposable alternatives. And yet, the average person does not use disposable plates and cutlery on a regular basis - if someone did, I suspect they would be thought of as odd.

And yet how is this any different?

I tried the mirena. I had to have it taken out because my body thought I was pregnant and was making milk in my breasts.

I can't use a moon up. I tried.

I tried washable sanpro.

What the hell do you expect me to do?

I've read a few times now that using modern disposable nappies is on a par with reusables? Reusables mean more water and electric to wash, more detergent contaminating waste water etc? I don't know, it's just what I've read in baby books...

the centre of this argument seems to be that OP is against 'big corporations'.

who supplies your internet access, OP?