Cloth Pads
|
Tampon Options
|
|---|---|
The Keeper |
Testimonials |
The Keeper itself is available internationally; for those of you here in Australia, here's some contact and ordering information from a recent Earth Garden magazine (http://www.green–pages.com.au/earthgarden/):
For those of you who prefer nothing inside of you that you're not involved with, here's the info on Radpads (one of many brands of reusable cloth menstrual pads) –
For those in other regions of the world, or interested in other options, try the following:
The Moonwit Collective, makers of cloth pads in Canada
100% Cotton Washable Pads
Thirsty, Rugged, Low Maintenance
Reliable, Comfortable and Lovable
Three Kits - Two Sizes
One Great Idea - No Problem
No Belts - No Plastic
Made With Love By Women for Women
Ask about our 'Bleed Now-Pay Later' Plan!
-Working hard to change the face of menstruation-
Plastic pads are so passé,
I don't throw my cash away
Washable pads are here to stay.
It's time to bleed the modern way!
Clothpads.com
The Womban Power of Menstruation!
NATURAL CHOICES PRESENTS: THE CLOTH MENSTRUAL PAD WEB PAGE
"This site is dedicated to providing information and reSupplies and Sources for women on cloth menstrual pads"
Or you can do what I did, and make your own – I can scan the pattern I used for the outline, or you can just trace around your favorite pad – just make sure that the rounded wings are long enough to meet underneath the pad with the liner in place, and snap. The liners should be oval, or slightly hourglass–shaped, if you prefer. I made the outside out of thick diaper flannel, then made the liners out of a sandwich of cotton flannel on either side of thick cotton terry cloth.
Stitch the outside edges (I used a wide zig–zag, and then straight stitched the inside edge of the zig–zag), bearing in mind that you DON'T turn this inside out when done, so you're stitching with WRONG sides together. The back side should be made in two pieces, overlapping by at least 1/2 inch (*at least* 1 1/2 to 2cm), and stay–stitching the edge (just make sure it won't ravel – seam–binding tape is good for this, too).
These things last for years – just give them a rinse and a bit of a scrub, after use, and make sure you wash them the way you would anything that you'd treated for bloodstains; in other words, disinfect them – borax is good for that and it doesn't hurt the environment. Or you can use 1/2 cup baking soda, and 1/2 a cup of borax (or tea tree oil, or eucalyptus, but not everybody likes even a bit of that next to their mucous membranes) per load of wash, including your pads.
Most of the commercial brands that I've seen use a dark fabric, so any stains don't show – hygeine is important here, not stains. I could only get diaper flannel in white, (and extra narrow, for some reason) so that's the color I wound up using, with apricot liners, chosen as what was on sale.
I was recently horrified to encounter yet another religious campaign to run other people's lives, this one claiming that "Tampon" was a dirty word, and that "Satan controlled the manufacture of these instruments of damnation", even going so far as to call them "Satan's Fingers"! <chuckle>
All that aside, there are some very real arguments against the use of tampons. Some of these can be dealt with by doing such things as using organic cotton tampons, and *never ever* leaving it in for longer than 8 hours (unless you're really that interested in getting Toxic Shock Syndrome, which can kill you), but other concerns can't be dismissed as easily. Especially when the commercial disposable menstrual product companies responded to finding out that the dioxins (a by-product of the bleaching process, created whenever bleach touches wood products, including rayon) present in their products were making women bleed more – they intentionally *raised* the dioxin levels in all of their products.
S.P.O.T. – the tampon health website
Did you know that major brand tampons can be deadly?
We didn't. Since reading the Feb. 7th. 1995 Village Voice article Pulling The Plug on the Tampon Industry, we have been on a mission to inform as many women as possible about the dangers of synthetic tampons!
a chlorine–free, cotton tampon developed by women for women
Warning: Tampons can damage your health
Dear yOni readers
This is my opinion based upon observation and research. I am sharing it with you because I feel you will be interested. If you can, please share this information with other women.
In health,
Roni Bregman
The article on The Keeper and the one on Radpads can be found back to back, on pages 41 and 42 of Issue Number 109 of Earth Garden magazine, September–November 1999, Spring. As the author of the Radpads article, Jane Bennett of Castlemaine, Victoria, quotes from a letter the manufacturer received,
She goes on to say, in her own words,
I have to agree with both of these people, though for me the change–over was immediate. I had built–up a greater and greater reluctance to pawn my unnecessary plastic wastes off on a landfill where they would sit, unchanged, until the time of my grandchildren's grandchildren. Each time I had to throw away a piece of plastic, I had a greater and greater revulsion, and eventually found a way to eliminate most un–recyclable plastics from my life. This was a comparatively easy step, and quite cheap – I bought one commercial pad as a pattern, 1/2 a meter of terry cloth, and a meter each of flannel and diaper flannel, and made myself 7 envelopes and 14 liner inserts.
That must have been around 1993 or 1994, and I'm still using mostly the same ones. I've lost the original commercial one (by Glad Rags), and bought 3 new commercial ones (Radpads), and had a laundry accident that left a couple of envelopes and liners more stained than I like. Other than that – it takes a LONG LONG time to wear out extra–thick diaper flannel, poly–cotton thread (Dual Duty, by Coats and Clark, it's a cotton–wrapped polyester thread, very strong – I'd choose silk if I could get it at a reasonable price), and metal snaps, and there's nothing else to wear out!
I don't know about you – I'd rather spend a few minutes rinsing fabric in a sink than keep throwing plastic in the garbage – there is no magical place called "Garbageland" where all of that goes, it goes into our Earth, and Her health is my own. If She is sick, I am sick – and in the long run, so are you. And as an overly–sensitive person, I'd way rather have that sun–dried fabric against me, than dioxin–laden miscellaneous fibers and plastic.
How about you?
You Are Visitor Number:
