To wonder why more people don't use cloth sanitary pads?

[Bex107]

They have changed my life, and I'm so sad I didn't discover them sooner! When my periods came waltzing back just three months after DS arrived I couldn't bear the thought of tampons or plasticky towels, but I couldn't find anyone I knew who'd used cloth. They are bloody (!) wonderful, if you're considering it give them a go - I wish I'd had someone to tell me that!

Had the cloth pads for about eleven years now- I tend to use them on days at home (work p/t) as periods are heavy so need to change often. I must have saved a fortune over that time though, even with buying the Natracare or Naty pads the rest of the time (can't bear the smell of plastic feel of the more mainstream brands).

Ok so having gone from ugh no at the start of the thread, I'm now persuing designs on amazon.

I have some couple of questions:

1. does the patterened bit go up? ie is that the bit that gets bloody?
2. do they absorb everything? or do you have to, um, scrape the bloody blobby bits off before they go in the wayh?
3. do i have to keep them somewhere seperate until washing? I throw my leaked-on knickers in the general wash basket (bunched up so nothing else gets blood on it). would this be the same? fold up and throw into wash basket?
4. do they last longer than disposable pads? I get through a lot of pads in a day, stupid heavy period, I couldn't possible afford a week's worth of that many pads
5. i only wear jeans, not very tight ones, but still - i've never had a problem with even thick disposable pads showing through, would this be the same?

I did have a mooncup for many years but my periods just got too heavy, I was having to empty it every hour and it was a nightmare, something would always spill (due to squeezing to get it out), everything would get covered in blood and it just pissed me off.
I've gone back to tampons with pads and I hate, hate, hate it. Plus whatever stuff they put in them irritates me so I get sore itchiness.
Am willing to try anything!

1. Usually, yes. Though some pads have a different design: patterned wings and backing but a plain black or white central section that faces up. I think generally if there's that section it faces up, but most pads don't have it so it's the patterned but that faces up (if that makes sense). It's usually obvious when you actually see it!
2. They absorb almost everything. I do occasionally scrape clots off, but it's the same with disposables. I just wipe it off with toilet paper and put it down the loo.
3. People have different systems. Personally I just fold used pads in on themselves (they make a neat little bunch closed by the popper, with all the blood inside) and gather them together in a plastic bag inside my normal laundry bin until I have time to wash them.
4. The lomg, thick fairy hammocks I use will take at least two or three disposable pads' worth of blood, I estimate. Most people say they find cloth pads more secure and absorbent than disposables.
5. This one is harder to say. The pads I use on heavy days are definitely a bit bulky so I only wear them with jeans if I've got my bum covered by a tunic or similar. Otherwise I just wear skirts those days. But there are also cloth pads you can buy, I believe, that are as thin as disposables and somebody else might be able to advise on that. Otherwise, you can start by using cloth pads at home and/or at night until you find some or get the confidence to wear them out and about.

Hope this helps

This has been the most useful thread I've read.

I am cringing reading this. Why do you all put up with it? I used continuous oral contraception to do away with my periods entirely. Saved a fortune and made life so much simpler.
Ladies, periods are optional!

Oral contraception isn't without its side effects. Plus, for many women, the sub concious cyclical element of periods is hugely important

Some of us don't do well on those types of things. Periods are optional indeed

Cringing, 57968sp? I don't use oral contraceptives, I like being aware of my cycle. Oral contraceptives increase the risks of cervical cancer and deep vein thrombosis. A common side effect is irregular bleeding and spotting (grand- have it more unpredictably!).

I feel almost suicidal on hormonal contraception, so no, periods are not optional thanks

Kitchenwitch -

I have honour your flow pads. The patterned but does face up.
I have very heavy periods. I haven't really noticed any clotty bits on the pad
My starter pack cane with a pouch for taking them out with you, like a fleecy envelope, so you can put a clean online and them the dirty one when you change. And a mesh drawstring bag which I keep in the linen basket for used pads, just fold them in, popper them closed and keep in the bag.
Yes they last waaay longer. I can do a days work with one or two pads. With heavy flow. You don't get a wet sweaty feeling from them (like I do with disposables)
The big pads are bulky, but I don't think you can see them through jeans.lsggings maybe, or stretch pull on jeans.

The first night I used one, I was up and down to the loo. I lay in bed and got that awful feeling of blood kind of glugging out. A disposable would leak, this heavy pad coped brilliantly .

57968 - I started using them after coming off the depo jab, no periods for years on that. Then got periods from hell, so heavy and painful. I was ttc though so contraception not really an option!

as for the woman above who wondered if a mooncup shifted when you went for a poo - the answers yes, the same as tampons for that. I always take it out first and put it back in again after

Oral contraceptives have many side effects, many more serious than having to empty a few spoons of blood out of my moon cup a few times a day for a week each month! Much rather do that than lose my libido, feel depressed and increase my risk of cervical cancer!

^Why do you all put up with it? I used continuous oral contraception to do away with my periods entirely. Saved a fortune and made life so much simpler.
Ladies, periods are optional!^

Tried it. I am now medically barred from some types of hormonal contraception, as is any woman closely related to me. Experimentation with the remainder left me period-free, but subject to other side-effects which impacted on my life every week, not just one out of every four. These side-effects included morning sickness (to the extent I kept buying pregnancy tests) and depression.

Best thing I ever did was to recognise that the morning sickness wasn't going to "settle down" after over a year of it.

I can't use hormonal contraception. Sends me really poorly

I must say, I'm a little disturbed by how grossed out many people are about their own bodily function.

Soubriquet, I know! It's a shame eh?

Mind you with applicator tampons and scented pads, it's a chicken and egg scenario. Are the manufacturers responding to the fact that women think they are smelly and dirty to touch, or is it teaching women to think that?

Before I used my mooncup I though that though. And to be fair periods are smellier and much more rubbish when you use disposables.

The blood I empty out of my mooncup is bright red and doesn't smell, because it's fresh and hasn't come into contact with air, and chemicals and materials in tampons and pads and gone brown and smelly! It feels far cleaner to me. You just empty, rinse and reinsert . Takes approx 30 seconds.

I've just discovered reusable tampons on etsy. Wonder how well they work.

www.etsy.com/uk/listing/261832766/reusable-crochet-tampon-starter-kit?ref=market

Lunalandings.co.uk do some lovely thin ones, that really do not leak. They are amazing! www.lunalandings.co.uk

Deeedeee I use disposables and I don't find it smelly or rubbish.

Fair enough fizz! X

They are made in a smoke-free, animal-loving environment, too, TaraCarter. I bet they come with dog or cat hair, but then I have become cynical with time.

Wow! Crocheted tampons! Think I might of found my Achilles heel. :-D

Great name for a girl punk band!

THose crocheted resusable tampons sound gross. A breeding ground for bacteria and a recipe for TTS.

Cotton is not inert, it decomposes and the material itself is food for bacteria and fungus. which would be having a feast in a warm moist environment.
I doubt they could be licenced for sale on health and safety grounds, although I doubt the seller has even considered that.

I have to use the highest absorbency towel and tampon together and have to change at least every hour for three days out of my 5 day cycle. I would be overrun with bloody cloths every where!

Lozzylizzy, if you read the thread, not necessarily. Lots of posters have reported that reusable pads are actually better for very heavy periods as can be more absorbant. :-) have s read back the last few pages at least