Learn About Healthier Product Options for You and the Planet
With tons of product options, comes an abundance of questions. How do you know which product to choose?
We’ve got your back! We’ve done the work for you: our articles will introduce you to your options, go over their pro’s and con’s and share real life product reviews so you can decide for yourself which option is best for you!
Start with the articles to the right, then check out our other articles and free resources.
Consider Organic Hygiene Products
By Sarmaad Amin
Hygiene products are something that most of us use but don’t really think very much about. However, there are ingredients in many of them than contribute to pollution of our environment. Since you don’t want to give up the process of good hygiene there is a better alternative to consider. This involves the use of organic products, and more of them are offered now than ever before.
The average family uses a large number of cotton swabs and cotton balls. They use them to clean their ears, to put on medication, and to clean cuts. These items can all be found in an organic product to help you keep your body as clean as possible. Organic cotton is grown without the use of pesticides or chemicals so you can feel great about using such products.
There are many organic hygiene products made for women due to their menstrual cycle. These include both pads and tampons. There are also organic panty liners. All of them are made from 100% organic cotton. Women go through a large number of these products on a regular basis. You can easily see how that can contribute to too much waste in our environment.
Menstrual Cup Q&A
By Softcup
Q: What is a menstrual cup and what are the advantages of using one?
A: There are two kinds of menstrual cups: the first is a soft, flexible cup that is worn internally, in the natural space under the cervix and behind the pubic bone where it conforms to your body. You can wear it for about 12 hours at a time, after which it is disposed and a new one is inserted.
Other menstrual cups are bell-shaped, and inserted internally to form a suction seal once inside the vagina. These are emptied, cleaned and re-inserted and the same one is used for each menstrual cycle. Both types of menstrual cups are designed to collect your menstrual flow rather than absorb it.
A study in the Journal of Women’s Health showed that women prefer a soft menstrual cup to their current form of protection in terms of comfort, dryness, irritation, odor, length of wear, and interference with various activities.
There are several advantage to both types of menstrual cups.
What’s In Your Menstrual Product Advertising?
As odd as it may seem, for several years, I noticed every, single menstrual product advertising that came my way. Actually, I analyzed the ones that were out of my way, too. I bought magazines that I wouldn’t normally peruse and paid attention to television ads that I would usually mentally tune out. I wasn’t just obsessed; I was on a mission. My mission was to research and to shine a spotlight on the messages about menstruation that are routinely sent to girls and women.
Initially, this official investigation interested me one day when I bought a box of organic tampons from my local grocery store in Pennsylvania. The tampons were quite expensive (because they have dioxins left out, for crying out loud), but the biggest insult was that, at that time, I was charged a sales tax. Yes- taxed on something that is a necessity for over half of the population. In Pennsylvania, there is neither a sales tax on food (of course) nor certain clothing. That makes sense, but a tax on tampons- really? Those, or some kind of substitute, are absolutely a life necessity at some point for the female population. The inherent unfairness of this scenario sent me reeling, because what does that say about how the state views girls, women, and their worth? The bottom line is that to unfairly tax more than half of the population implies that the state doesn’t care or recognize that women live with a special circumstance. This got me thinking about how women and girls are routinely treated in the culture because of menstruation. What other “invisible” discriminations are imposed upon women?
I heart Softcup!
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Help us share why you love Softcup by leaving a comment below. We want to help educate women that there are more product options than the traditional pad or tampon. read more…
Tampon Awareness
By Natracare
Toxic Shock Syndrome was back in the headlines recently following an investigation on US television about the tampon related death of Amy Elifritz.
In response women around the world have been asking what is in their tampon and are there any potential health risks?
Natracare raised the issue of fibre loss in conventional tampons at least 15 years ago. The reaction from those conventional brands was that the body naturally dispels the fibres. We asked nurses doing smear tests and they said that they can always tell who uses tampons because they have to remove old tampon fibres before achieving a clear smear for sampling. Conventional tampons mostly use rayon to make their tampons. Rayon is a straight, smooth fibre made from wood pulp. These smooth fibres have little integrity so they slide apart more easily when wet. Eventually, these same manufacturers who claimed fibre loss was not an issue, decided to put a polypropylene (that’s plastic to you and me) non-woven wrapper around the rayon core to reduce the loss of fibres.
TOP RESOURCES
HORMONE BALANCING TEA BLENDS - $14.97
ORGANIC PERIOD 2GO KITS - $14.99
MENSTRUAL CUP 101
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