AIBU to be so naive - embarrassing question!!!!

[loveyouradvice]

Almost too embarrassed to ask... so simple, so ignorant....

Im a long-term Lillets user... occasionally I buy Tampax as desperate and nowt else to buy....

So much stuff... Lillets, everything flushes down the loo....

Tampax - nice little paper wrapper AND double tube thing.... At home, where do you put these? Presumably neither flush....

I've spent last 3 days, carefully wrapping in loo paper and putting in bathroom bin... feel a bit ridiculous... but they feel too revealing just lying there for all to see in the bin.....

Guessing Im missing something really obvious....

Moon cup is giving me thrush at the end of my period so I'm going to have to stop using it. Just so selfish of me .
I always bin tampons and towels though, fucking nuisance though it is.

I have heavy periods. It is possible to use a moon cup (although I don't always). I would need backup sanitary towels for the first couple of days definitely.

You can empty a mooncup in a public toilet even when heavy. I find it best to pour most of the blood on a wad of toilet paper (this stops the embarrassing problem of a collection of blood which lingers at the base of the toilet bowl even after flushing).

Then, if there is no sink in the cubicle, just wipe out the mooncup with some more toilet roll and reinsert it. You can wash it out properly when you get home.

The really good thing about mooncups is if you are wearing it you've got all you need - don't need to be frantically searching in the bottom of your bag for a tampon you are praying is there!!

I'm no eco-warrior and don't go around evangelising about reusable sanpro, but I would recommend giving them a go - I tried mooncups as I often feel that tampons irritate me and sometimes even think I might be allergic to them. For the same reason I have just started using reusable cloth sanitary towels, which, although not perfect, I definitely find more comfortable than disposable ones.

Reusable cloth pads from Honour Your FLow online. Game changer.

I had no idea these things weren't flushable.

I am mainly a pad user, but use tampons occasionally for swimming etc. I always thought you could flush them until I read it on here a few years ago. I try to avoid changing at other people's houses because they rarely have bins - and I'm just as bad, I have them in the upstairs bathrooms but not in the downstairs loo which is where most guests will go. When I first moved in with now DH we went shopping to IKEA and I put a bathroom bin with a lid in the trolley. He looked totally baffled and asked me what it was for. He said he'd never heard of a bin in the bathroom and I asked him what his mum and sister did when he was growing up - he had no idea but said there definitely wasn't a bin in the bathroom! I intend to bring DS up with more awareness!

Dorkmainden, try the generic non branded £3 ones on Amazon, they are my favourite! Soft, the stem isn't irritating.

Bathroom bin - small pedal bin with a bag in it.

Unless it's toilet paper or has been through your digestive tract then it SHOUKD NOT BE FLUSHED!

Buy sanitary disposal bags and have some respect for the environment. (Of course full respect woukd be a mooncup or reusable sanpro but I couldn't get on with the first and draw the line at the second).

How have you not heard of NOT flushing tampons, pads etc? 😒

I am 62 and didn't know you shouldn't flush tampons. My last period was though over 30 years ago but I always flushed them

Menstrual cups... everything is just plain selfish. Can't believe so many women still use disposable San pro

Did you mean to say 'I use a menstrual cup, look at me, I am so much better than those of you who don't'?
I think you did, didn't you?

I am all for doing what we can to save the planet but I am sick of women being targeted. Sanitary protection allows women to work and live in a way that was impossible before it was developed. The fact is it has been taxed for so long just shows that it has been considered a luxury product.
How dare women expect comfort and efficacy from these things.

I hate 'flushable' wipes but I was wary of a proposed campaign by MN because, yet AGAIN, it would be women targeted as The Problem.
I have yet to see a campaign to get men to stop using plastic razors despite them being completely non biodegradable.
No lets just call women ignorant and selfish for wanting to be able to leave the fucking house when they have a period.

I can't read the writing on the back of tampon boxes so there is no way there is a big warning telling us not to flush.
I have not been told by anyone outside of MN that you shouldn't flush tampons.
I am 50. If it was common knowledge I would have known a long time ago.

The manufacturers need to sort this. Instead of working out ways how to disguise sanitary products so no man has to accidently notice on in a woman's handbag or how to make them smell of fabric conditioner so no-one, NO-ONE GOD FORBID, might get a whiff of an unscented foof, they should be developing more eco friendly products.

How dare anyone tell me how to manage my periods. How dare anyone suggest I am selfish for not using a fucking moon cup.

softkitty

Well, I don't read the leaflet in the box, it's not on adverts, nobody in school said anything about it, neither did my grandmother... Just assumed it was fine until now!

Wonder why the op hasn't been back?
I always use lilettes, can't get the hang of those applicatior ones, they seem to pinch somehow. Never flush them though, just wrap in loo roll then bin

"When I first moved in with now DH... I put a bathroom bin... He looked totally baffled and asked me what it was for. He said he'd never heard of a bin in the bathroom"

This thread continues to astound me.

I'm in my 40s and I can remember that the disposal instructions on sanpro in my teens and 20s (when I had time to read packets!) was to flush. I clearly remember instructions to tear towels lengthways.

I read somewhere a few years ago you shouldn't flus, so now I don't provided I'm somewhere there is a sanitary bin, or at home.

However if I'm somewhere there is no sanitary bin (or at someone's home) then in extremis I'll flush. I am not leaving a blood saturated parcel for someone to find later in their bathroom bin. If I have a carrier bag and it's a friends house I would bag it and go chuck it in their outdoor rubbish bin.

I'm naughty and do flush the thing itself but wrapper and tube bit goes in the bin.

I'm sorry, are you 4yo?
It's not naughty, it's irresponsible.

Please don't.

Menstrual cups... everything is just plain selfish. Can't believe so many women still use disposable San pro. It takes forever to decompose... it will still be here after you die!

Rather than call everyone using something you disapprove of, how about targeting the manufacturers who product and make a profit on these things? There are far, far worse things to pick on. Plastic packaging is everywhere and believe me, that will be there hundreds of years after we've all gone, never mind cotton tampons...

Instead of telling everyone what they should do, DO something yourself. Start a campaign for banning plastics in food production for a start. Or have you already?, in which case please do tell us about it.

Can I just correct something from a few pages back

You shouldn't put sanitary items down the loo because 1) it blocks the pipes leading to the water treatment plant 2) means the screens and filters at the plant have to be cleaned more often. 3) if they don't go to a treatment plant then they get into the environment

Cotton buds and tampons don't get through a treatment works, pretty much nothing but water gets through. The tampons get into the sea because of combined sewage system overflows

www.google.co.uk/search?q=combined+sewer+overflow&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

In a storm the untreated waste overflows the system and gets into the sea and rivers. It isn't a big problem for human waste, it gets diluted by the storm and diluted by the water it goes into and degrades naturally. The dilution and degradation is carefully calculated not to cause a problem. It is a big problem if non degradable waste is in there. That's the stuff that gets into rivers and beaches.

There are some great videos on YouTube showing how the treatment works process the waste if anyone is sad enough to be interested. (I was fascinated)

I hate 'flushable' wipes but I was wary of a proposed campaign by MN because, yet AGAIN, it would be women targeted as The Problem.
I have yet to see a campaign to get men to stop using plastic razors despite them being completely non biodegradable.
No lets just call women ignorant and selfish for wanting to be able to leave the fucking house when they have a period.

That's some rant. Yes, razors need to be targeted, but why the drama about women not being able to leave the fucking house when they have their period? How is having to bin something instead of flushing it preventing you? I've been managing OK for years and I doubt it's an unique achievement.

And while manufacturers definitely can do more to put warning labels why is it up to them to sort it all out? Can't we all accept we are grown women and can deal with our periods in a responsible manner, whether we're using tampons, pads, moon cups or sea sponges.

Baffling.

Hear hear MrsDV

Do you all have have bins in your downstairs loo? I never have!

I need to get one for visitors don't I

Chardonnay that post was a response to anything but moon ups being selfish, not binning

I use the tampax compac (sp?) or the pearl and put the applicators back in the wrappers and in the bin. Tampons are wrapped in loo roll and popped in the bin. But I'm really not bothered about DP seeing my sanpro or the aftermath!

I know the plastic applicators aren't great btw, but my vag gets drier than the sahara when using tampons and the cardboard applicators can be a bit of a nightmare to force up there!