To have missed the menstrual meeting

[CalishataFolkart]

where it was decided that sanitary towels will now have a definite front and back which will be indicated by hieroglyphics.

What the fuck does a star mean? Two stylised arrows pointing towards the star?

Don’t come at me with “duh! Just use a mooncup! Just use washable towels!” That’s not an option for some and the least we can expect is to make disposable sanitary items user friendly.

@Marmalady75

I bet it was a man that decided to make them smell like cheap air freshener! I bet it was another man that thought women ar so thick they need help with which direction to stick the pad.

Agreed. They stink

Ha @TheCountessofFitzdotterel! You may be right there.

I notice no one is going round selling scented boxers.

As for period pants. The best I would say are probably modi bodi. They come in a range of absorbencies. And some of them have a large absorbent back panel, which is far better than any pad. Some of the cheaper period pants require people to wear a pad as well. It is also possible to buy reusable pads.

I no longer have periods - mine used to be heavy - but have a dd, who uses them. I think someone with an average period, on the heavier days, you would possibly get through 3 pairs of the most absorbent pants in 24 hours to feel comfortable. At a push 2 pairs. One day, one overnight. 2 or even 1 pair if you were happy to wear them that long the rest of the time.

They do occasionally leak a little bit on the sides if the flow is suddenly too fast, but then so does a pad. There is also the option to wear a pad for a while then remove it and wear the pants. They take a long time to dry of course. But are pretty absorbent.

Modi bodi sell singulars to start with. Then bundles. They’re not cheap but seem so much nicer than smelly or scratchy pads.

Idk if they’d cope with the flow I used to have tbh. But seeing as you can buy singles from there or M&S, it is worth a whirl.

They need rinsing out and take a while to dry naturally but if I still had periods, I’d definitely try them seeing as my dd gets on with them so well. And they do swim pants.

Do the designers think that we can (almost retching writing this) smell our menstrual blood if they don't fucking febreze it for us? I have never had that problem!!!! has anyone???

Fifteen years of having periods and almost always using unscented pads (unless emergency purchase) I can assure you the febreeze is unnecessary!

I notice no one is going round selling scented boxers.

I have seen crotch deodorant marketed at men! And known some dudes that just spray Lynx straight into their boxers. It's vile though - please just wash instead!

Are disposable period products made scented as standard now? That's disgusting! What if your sense if smell is very prominent: like mine? Also no, even though I have a very sensitive sense of smell, I never smelled my menstrual fluid when I was wearing a pad. Even if I had, I doubt it would have bothered me. The smell in itself is not offensive.

It just goes to show that I haven't bought any throwaway products for years. I didn't know about any of this.

I know that 50% of people on mn don't believe anyone has heavy periods,

I know what you mean but I get the heavy duty period pants and have been pleasntly surprised how well they've coped at night in bad phase.

But during day - long day it would be disposible pads on top of them for worst days - which currently is one of two days but pre kids would have been all 7.

I used mix of asda own pads - none scented but very plasticy and resuable pads and pants.

For decades I used Always brand but the scent really put me off and it turned out several family members could smell them when I was wearing them - kept buying unscented to find they had scent - so now avoid entirely stick to cheap supermarket own brands and re-usable.

The square rectangle are still available, usually as whatever the basic range is

They are actually more soft ad comfortable than all the latest gel driven shit

The cover is only attached at the ends so it stays soft, where all these more expensive ones are welded all along and that makes them itchy

Ugh the scented pads, they made me gag. The one upside of cancer and subsequent hysterectomy was bye bye periods.

You can smell the pads. You can't smell period.

I didn’t get on with the body form pads, the always ones at least can cope with the flooding element on the heavy days.

The scent is vile though, and as I have a longer period, by the end, the old Fanjo is a bit sensitive feeling.

I should probably branch out and try unbranded or the heavy duty period pants really

I'm a rebel with some of the ones that have a 'front: and a 'back' and wear them the wrong way round. But I have super heavy flooding so need more protection at the front.

My periods are really heavy, to the point I'm anaemic. I use Kotex night time pads, usually 2 at once during my really heavy time and they still leak. I've never heard of period pants, need to have a look.

It just smacks of them trying to create this idea that you are dirty and stink on your period so you should cover it up. If that makes you itch, it’s because there is something wrong with you but don’t worry we also have a special product for that. The age old make women feel shit about themselves to make money.

That's the undertone here. It really is distinctly unpleasant. Our bodies are not disgusting; no one who changes their product regularly should need to mask it with these hideous, synthetic scents. There's also the question surrounding the pretty little diagrams, hearts, etc., and twee pastel colours typically geared towards the women's market. I use the Mac 3 razors designed for men that are hugely more effective than any similar product on the market for women, and don't resemble sugared almonds.

As for the menstrual products, they can erase the Venus symbol for me, but the erasure of the women who buy the damned things in favour of 'people' (or worse, 'menstruators' - might as well call us bleeders and be done with it) infuriates me. Who'd have bought sanitary items could become such a politicised arena?

Sticks in the craw that women's products are so infantilised and rarely as effective in doing the job they were designed for as those marketed toward men. Then they pretend said products are not 'women's' in the first place. Weird, huh.

@TheCountessofFitzdotterel

Where can I get Natracare? Do I need to go to a health food shop?

After 15 blissful years of needing nothing but a mooncup I am having a perimenopausal nightmare in which the mooncup overflows within an hour so I am rediscovering sanitary towels.
They do seem better designed now- yay for those nighttime ones that are about a foot long and actually manage to catch blood at both ends- but bleurgh at the revolting smell, hieroglyphics and plasticky feeling.

Ocado have Natracare www.ocado.com/search?entry=natracare&filters=natracare-&sort=PRICE_ASC

In an emergency Amazon have it too.

@ChickpeaCrunch

You can smell the pads. You can't smell period.

Thanks Chickpea @CoalCraft and @AutistGoth for confirming this! It does make me wonder if you’re the weird one.

I am not in the UK and admittedly I haven't bought pads for a while, as dd uses reusable and I use tampons. But I did buy some recently as dd was going away and didn't want to have the used reusables with her. So remembering the scented pad posts here, I had a good old look to be sure that I didn't take a scented version. Only to find that most of what is available are unscented, and very few are scented. But, what did surprise me is that there is one house brand range, that are really cheap and the idea is that they are for donation purposes (I live in Africa and so we have massive period poverty), so think about 30p for a packet. But these are scented! So my thoughts are that they just don't sell well, and now they are practically giving them away. The unscented version of the exact same pad is not that price, but about 60p. Which is still cheap enough to chuck a few packets in for a donation, but I don't get the reasons for this. I refused to donate scented, so got the others, but why send something to underprivileged women what will possibly cause more issues.

I just had a look now. I bought 3 different packets (as they had a deal on), not one is scented and they are all Always brand. They don't even say unscented on them, just the odd one that is, says so.

I find it odd. Same brand, different country, very different products.

@YesILikeItToo

I agree with Arcasia, they’ve always had a right way round and I’ve always worn them the wrong way round (except at night, when the right way round suits me better).

Hallelujah!! I thought I was just odd. Didn't realise others did this too!

I don't have periods but had to use pads for a while after an operation. Was stood gawping at them for a lifetime trying to figure out what they were all for, and then spent weeks smelling like my granny's nightie drawer. Dunno who decided to make them scented but they should have to wear them strapped to their nose as punishment.

I am also confused by the pictures! Don’t usually use them but buy for DD. When caught out the other day I had to grab one and was like “is that a flower or a bum hole?! Is the scalloped shape meant to be camel toe or bum cheeks?!” In the end I think I plumped for ‘flower’ at the front but not sure there’s actually any difference?!

@Duckington

I didn’t get on with the body form pads, the always ones at least can cope with the flooding element on the heavy days.

The scent is vile though, and as I have a longer period, by the end, the old Fanjo is a bit sensitive feeling.

I should probably branch out and try unbranded or the heavy duty period pants really

Try Always Infinity- they are unscented and cope well with heavy flow. They are my go to but don't seem too widely known about and only really available at Boots or online. I'll be lost if Always discontinue them or make them scented!

Hells bells. I mean yes I've used a moon cup now for 8 years and I've used pads maybe twice in my 38 years of menstruating history but if I was faced with symbols im afraid I would have assumed * means 'towards bum hole'.

Ok well I have been to the health food shop (no Waitrose or Ocado here) and bought Natracare. I also got some of these:

[quote user1471462428]@steppemum I have heavy bleeding and use a reusable pantyliner and period pants. When the blood goes through the pantyliner then the period pants catch it. I had tss so can’t use tampons or a moon cup. I do like period pants as I used to just wear dark clothes and hope for the best[/quote]
Just to let you know, I had TSS and I used a mooncup for 10 years without a problem

@AndTheReasonIsYou

😬 white rectangle.

Oh I don’t know - I think shite rectangle was a pretty accurate description of those awful wodges of padding that needed an elastic belt with hooks on, to hold them up, @AndTheReasonIsYou!

@AutistGoth - I use mainly reusables now - partly because the scented ones irritated me so much - but I did find that the supermarket own brand ones were less likely to be scented. I have some Sainsbury’s night time ones in the house, for emergencies, and they definitely aren’t scented.