Plastic & Toxic Free Periods

By Beatice Tridimas

Talking about periods can be embarrassing. Writing the word period can feel a little daring.

P E R I O D.

And to be 100% honest, periods are completely unpredictable and mine didn’t come when I expected it to, so I couldn’t review these reusable menstrual products as I intended. (I did still slip on these Modibodi bikini which I give a 10/10 for making my PMS womb feel snug as a bug!)

In support of the European Week for Waste Reduction, KeiSei started investigating the available reusable menstrual products, and just how much they do for women and the environment.

It’s suggested that regular, disposable pads are 90% plastic. This is equivalent to 4 plastic bags. Changing your pad 4 or 5 times a day adds around 20 plastic bags to landfill a day per cycle.

Wuka, a brand selling period pants, have estimated that by switching to their reusable products (where one pair of pants will work effectively for around 2 years) you are sending only 129 items to landfill over your lifetime, as opposed to a whopping 13,000+ of conventional products. What’s more is that Wuka pants are made using a new material, LENZING MicroModal, which is compostable and recycles the chemicals used for its production.

Wuka aren’t the only brand Waking Up and Kicking Ass with their products. Cheeky Mama by Cheeky Wipes also make period pants as well as a range of reusable menstrual pads. I chose the bamboo and minkee ones, slightly thicker and warmer than the cotton alternative but just SO soft. Pulling these out their recyclable package, I considered how putting on a nice pair of underwear in the morning can really make you feel good, so why can’t putting on a cute and cosy pad?

But don’t worry, this isn’t just going to be a review of products I’ve looked at, touched, but not actually bled on. The conversation doesn’t end here.

There are more benefits of using reusable menstrual products than just reducing waste. One thing is that we can replace the mystical ‘tampon’ and stigmatizing ‘sanitary pad’ with ‘menstrual product,’ says Ruby, CEO of Wuka. Using the word ‘menstruation’ when we talk about periods, removes the implications of uncleanliness, associated with the word ‘sanitary’, and acknowledges exactly what these products are for.

Another is that all the benefits these products have for the environment, they also have for our personal environment.

Tampons and pads made from non-organic cotton contain all of the chemicals and pesticides used to make those materials. Toxic chemicals could have serious health effects; the issue is, is that not enough research has been done concerning the effects of these materials on menstrual health (classic patriarchy).

If we consider that the chemicals used to grow plants and treat materials have a considerably negative impact on the environment and those who manufacture them, why would they have zero effect on our intimate areas? We need to remember that our vaginas are super absorbent and when we use tampons, we are actually inserting something inside our bodies.

Whilst reusable period pants or pads are made without any of the chemicals that conventional products use, you can also get organic cotton disposable pads and tampons (if you’re feeling a little unsure about reusable ones). These TOTM ones are super breathable and work just like conventional disposable products except that they are completely biodegradable (that means everything from applicator, to wrapper to the product itself, the box it comes in etc).

9/10 women are unaware of what tampons are made from. I, for one, don’t think I ever really questioned the material of the products I used, I just took it for granted that there was something that soaked up my blood every month.

Limiting mainstream menstrual products to disposable pads and tampons, we are taught to physically throw away any evidence of having had a period. We are coerced into the suppression of our own natural bodily functions, taught only to deal with periods as easily and discreetly as possible, never to question what effect this might have on our bodies. Women are repeatedly asked to endanger themselves so as to avoid embarrassment over a perfectly natural bodily function.

All over the world, periods are considered dirty, embarrassing or shameful. ‘In Nepal we have a word for period which is called Nachune,’ says Ruby. Nachune translates as untouchable, ‘so, like the word, you are untouchable actually for a whole five days.’

Silencing conversations about periods is just another way of suppressing women’s control over their own bodies. If we refrain from discussing periods or discovering more about them, the female body becomes shrouded in mystery and women are prevented from knowing the truth about their own bodies.

If women cannot understand their own bodies, or acknowledge them for what they are, the relationship between self and body is ruptured. Our self-understanding is not defined by our own relationship with our bodies but by a societal understanding of menstrual-related inferiority.

‘We’ve always been told that periods are dirty,’ Ruby tells me, ‘actually we’re not, it’s just like a normal bodily function…without our periods, nobody would exist and that’s the end basically.’ Whilst periods remain a subject of taboo, women are continually caught in a double bind; we are not allowed to openly acknowledge our periods and yet we are still expected to have babies.

What we suppress when we make an excuse for staying home from school or missing work because of our periods is our freedom to properly own our physical selves.

‘There needs to be a cultural mind shift,’ says Helen, creator of Cheeky Wipes, ‘and the only way to get this is to educate not just our girls, but our boys and young men.’

Periods should be embarrassing for no one. We need to be able to talk openly about periods so that we can understand each other and ourselves. ‘No period is the same. Every woman is different. Every woman has a different body. Every woman has a different period,’ says Ruby.

New initiatives have been put in place, however, to improve our interaction with menstrual care. Menstrual health will be taught in all schools from 2020 and ex-minister for women and equalities, Penny Mourdant, set in motion a campaign to end period poverty worldwide by 2030.

It’s thought that in 2018 more than 130,000 girls in the UK missed school because they couldn’t afford menstrual products. If girls are missing school once a month because of their periods, they are missing out on their education. Men will continue to dominate the spheres which dictate our scientific research and period health will remain at the bottom of the pile. Menstrual health is a feminist issue.

Wuka have estimated that you can save around £2000 over your lifetime by switching to their reusable pants. Whilst the initial buy might be a little more than you’d like, it will save you money in the long run. Cheeky Wipes price their reusable pads at £3 or £4 each or around £20 for a pack of five. ‘We want to make reusable the norm,’ says Helen.

Periods are unique to women and this means they should empower us, not hinder us. Just by buying a pair of period pants or a few reusable pads, women can feel empowered knowing that they have a made choice, that they have a choice, and that the choice they have made is not only benefitting them, but the world around them. There is one thing to say of all periods, and that is that are uniquely ours, so let’s own them.

Beatrice Tridimas

Bea is a content writer and editor based between Hampshire and London. When she’s not diving deep into the ethics of the fashion industry, she’s writing book and theatre reviews with a steaming cuppa to hand. You can keep up to date with her writing projects via her twitter @bea_trid

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