I don’t use pads or tampons

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This is inspired by the post on winged pads. I have always hated tampons and found them uncomfortable and used to use pads when I had a heavy flow as a teen but now in my mid twenties I have quite a light period and now tend to bypass both.

I find pads uncomfortable and also am reluctant from an environmental perspective don’t like to throw hundreds of them away each year. I intended to buy thinx or a similar brand but then just began using a little loo roll (as I’m sure most women have done when caught short!) and found that as I go to the loo once an hour or less anyway so can replace and am very light, it works fine.

Does anyone else do this?

Mooncups scare me but there’s loads of much less scary cups which are easier to use, smaller and softer. If something works for you that’s all that matters

I had very light periods in my 20s and didn’t really need to use anything either. My periods were irregular and infrequent and I’d only get a bit of spotting. What I didn’t realise at the time was that my light and irregular periods were a symptom of my PCOS.

I got thrush just reading that about using loo roll

Modibodi for the two days I need it (one lasts all day) liners on the other days. Since having mirena much lighter

I have problems with Urinary incontinence due to prolapse, so have learnt a lot more than I ever wanted to about normal urination patterns!

It really is not normal to need the toilet once an hour - regardless of how much water you drink, the normal range is 4 to 10 times a day.

Frequent urination is a symptom of diabetes among other things, so you should get checked out.

Discussing it should not be frowned upon. This is partly why people think it is shameful and dirty :(

Discussing it should not be frowned upon. This is partly why people think it is shameful and dirty

And keeping it that way, means theres alot of money to be made.

We really need some of the lovely women who have YouTube channels to go into schools and have real shame free, open and honest conversations with correct language and informing them they have options other than buying into giving themselves thrush with perfumes and putting up with rashes etc. Really normalise it and teach them it's just a sign their body is developing normally. ( akd of course informing them of what's not normal.

No, OP, I'm really sorry but however active you are/how much water you drink, it's not normal to need to wee that often. Could be a UTI as others have said, could also be a symptom of diabetes. I think a conversation with your GP about that as well as the change in period flow would be worth it.

I used pads on day one and two and period pants for every afterwards. I might look into reuseable pads.

If you have a daughter please don’t insist she uses loo roll. My mother did this to me then would belt me for leaking through to my clothes

It's good you posted. Now you can chat to your GP about it and just make sure everything is okay.
I used to do this as a teen with no pocket money. It was ok for an hour or so but not something I'd go back to. Period pants sound a great option

There's nothing 'unhygienic' about using loo roll. If the flow is light it's a lot more environmentally healthy as the paper will dissolve in the loo whereas you cannot flush tampons or pads and they end up in landfill. If you're at home and can change it frequently, it's fine.

Women have been conditioned to think that horrible sickly-smelling plastic-coated pads are better.

Even if you can't smell it, everyone else can (< not envy!! I've been around women who think loo roll is perfectly acceptable, they smell rank!!)

Big flooding, clotting periods, perhaps. Small amounts of spotting or very light flow at the very beginning or end, no-- it's fine for a stopgap.

Wow, that's a lot of trips to the loo. Are you working? You can't be very productive with all those breaks.

Even if you can't smell it, everyone else can(< not envy!! I've been around women who think loo roll is perfectly acceptable, they smell rank

I have never done it but I cabt see how it can smell. It's the plastic on the disposables that make u sweat and make the blood smell.

Theres none of that with reusables. ( again cant speak for loo roll but surely it's missing all the crap of pads)

There’s so many types of sanitary products on offer... and you go for loo roll?

I now use reusable pads. Much, much more comfortable and assauge my environmental guilt. I find tampons super uncomfortable - and struggle with things like moon cups.

I used to know a girl who free bled, perfectly normal :)

There's nothing 'unhygienic' about using loo roll.

It’s not hygienic at all to use loo roll on a regular basis. First of all its been touched by you and whoever else at some point was having a shit earlier. It’s kept unwrapped very near the toilet, so let’s hope you and everyone else are religious toilet lid put-downers. It’s also flimsy and disintegrates easily, small parts of it, harbouring bacteria, probably continue to stick to you after you’ve got rid of it.

@sarah I wasn't talking about reusable pads, I was talking about toilet roll... it does nothing to contain the smell of blood, or whatever it is that causes women who don't use sanitary products while on their periods. They stink, it's extremely unpleasant especially when you have to sit next to them 8 hours a day.

Even if you can't smell it, everyone else can envy (< not envy!! I've been around women who think loo roll is perfectly acceptable, they smell rank!!)

Weird that you should know so much about other women’s sanitary habits - how do you know they are using toilet paper?

It is normal to urinate more often if you have only just started drinking lots of water, but if you keep doing it, your body should adjust, so it shouldn't continue. Perhaps it indicates a health issue.

I use washable pads.

Hi all wow I had no idea this would be so controversial! So I managed to get a phone consultation earlier and the doc doesn’t think it’s pcos as I don’t have any other symptoms but I pushed for confirmation so have been booked in for a blood test next week. Thank you for all the advice. Some people seem to get way too angry and make unkind comments though, what is the point? What are you really angry about? Anyway have a lovely weekend everyone.

[quote PurpleButterflyAway]@sarah I wasn't talking about reusable pads, I was talking about toilet roll... it does nothing to contain the smell of blood, or whatever it is that causes women who don't use sanitary products while on their periods. They stink, it's extremely unpleasant especially when you have to sit next to them 8 hours a day.[/quote]
How do you know the difference between someone using reusable washable pads and loo roll (if it’s low flow end of period)!?

Surely the loo roll would be more likely to have been changed?

Ask for wearing any kind of protection for eight hours flat... I hope you don’t do this. That really would be unpleasant.