Got Plastic?

I bled for the first time on 9th of December 1998 onto my favourite dress. That day I opened my first packet of pads.

Seven and a half years later, in June this year, I paused in the middle of a busy day, annoyed at the square plastic bin in the corner of the bathroom whose sole purpose was to contain used menstrual pads and their wrappers. It was over full. I made a calculation:

5 pads a day for 3 days = 15 pads
3 pads/liners a day for 2 days = 6 pads

Total: 21 pads/liners per menstrual cycle

Number of menstrual cycles experienced thus far = 91
91 cycles x 21 pads/liners = 1911 pads

With each of those 1911 pads came a plastic wrapper, two peel off wing tabs, and the peel off backing!

With a figure edging close to two thousand, not counting wrappers and other do-dads, dancing before my eyes, I took the calculation further.

The approximate number of menstrual cycles I will experience in my life time if I menstruate till I'm 50 is....
38 years x 12 cycles per year = 456 cycles

Which translates into:

456 cycles x 21 pads/liners =

...... 9576 non degradable bloody blobs of plastic, all created by me..... Oh and don't forget the 9576 wrappers, 9576 peel off backs and 19152 peel off wing tabs. Plastic heaven!

At that, with flashing neon lights around the dramatic number, "eco friendly Laura" appeared and said, as Miss Clavelle does in Madeline, "Something is not right!"

So I began looking for an alternative. Why I actually thought to look I don't know, because as we all know you're either a pad or tampon girl, right? Right?

Wrong!

Searching introduced me to 100% pure cotton pads/tampons (still non degradable), sea sponges, two menstrual cups called the Keeper and the Diva Cup, and reusable cloth pads. I'm sure there are a few things I haven't listed. For a bit of reading go have a look at the Museum of Menstruation. Interesting stuff

So I began investigating the four options.

1. The unbleached cotton pads and tampons did not meet my criteria simply because they were still not reusable. But in discovering them and the difference between them and the average run of the mill pads and tampons I also started thinking about chemicals. Why are tampons and pads made white? And why do neither pads nor tampon boxes contain a list of ingredients on them?! What's in them? What's used in the process of growing the cotton?

2. The sea sponges were just a little weird for me to think about as I began the journey to the Red Tent. I read about them and then the idea was discarded.

3. The menstrual cups sounded fantastic. In fact they are fantastic! I was very comfortable with the idea of putting my fingers inside myself to put it in and take it out. Being a student midwife one of my teachers advised all the students to get acquainted with ones own vagina before even considering doing a vaginal examination on another woman. The acquainting had been done (a post related to that might eventually make its way here in the course of the Red Tent exploration... maybe). While a two finger VE is easy enough the idea of the size of the cup (not all that big but big enough) did't appeal.

I still love the simplicity the menstrual cups hold for travel and hiking and will be acquiring one for those purposes, but not for every day. The other reason that made me decide not to use the Keeper or the Diva Cup on a regular basis relates to the fact that I was sure I'd loath loosing the experience of bleeding out blood. It was a strange moment when I realized that but it has only become something I feel more strongly about... a feeling I am gradually beginning to understand as I explore what it means for me to bleed.

So with three of the four options crossed off the list I turned my mind to cloth pads, argued with myself over cloth pads, persuaded myself why I should try them, persuaded myself shouldn't and finally bought a single cloth pad.... just to try.

It was good-bye plastic!

And I'll let you know why next post.