I warn Mr. AE and he's still surprised when I'm irritable with him. I've started leaving the tampon box out now so the penny drops sooner.
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I warn Mr. AE and he's still surprised when I'm irritable with him. I've started leaving the tampon box out now so the penny drops sooner.
Most importantly, wash your hands before using them. I was always shocked to see/hear women unwrap tampons in a public/work loo when I knew they hadn't washed their hands.
The leaflet with my brand tampons says 4-8 hours but others may be different, of course.
I use a menstrual cup overnight and love it. We're all different (just like our tampons), but I have a hard time understanding why anyone would find them disgusting. I use mine overnight when I'm less likely to need to empty it. If I do need to empty it I will rinse it before re-inserting.
I obviously don't just rinse and leave it until my next period. I'll wash it thoroughly with soap and water between uses, allow it to dry then spray with a purpose made sanitising spray. I also boil mine for 20 minutes as instructed after my period. My friend also does this but instead of putting hers away she leaves it in the dishwasher until it's needed.
I'm not a microbiologist but I'd hazard a guess that a kitchen sponge/cloth would have much higher microbe count than a properly used and kept menstrual cup.
I'm a total germophobe so would never have dreamt of using a cup while out and about. I suppose you can just tip it out into the loo and re-insert but I cringe at the thought of using a cup after handling door locks in a public loo. I normally use digital tampons but stick to applicator tampons while out.
Koala
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A girl at my daughter’s high school died a few years back from TSS she was around 13 years old.My Mum was a Nurse. They had a number cases where ladies who had used tampons were in ICU from Toxic Shock Syndrome from using tampons. Two of them died. Their life support was switched off. One lady her little boy was only two years old.
My Mum wouldn’t allow me to use them. I never did and neither did my close friend either. I think it still has TSS warnings on the dudes of the tampon box.
I just think these ads for Tampax etc are still embarrassing - and now the piddle pads have come in on the act . Frankly it’s Wful bring a woman at times
So sad seeing her mum’s posts on Facebook when she should have been doing her GCSE’s , prom night especially for her younger brother.
Wow so you find them ok! I shouldn’t knock before I try. Just something about them that looks like a teat/ loo plunger and the thought of no string!
I know that santitary products are essential, and expensive for some.
I do feel lucky that we have such a choice, when In other countries, it’s still taboo and can’t even get products
I think about that too, especially women who are in countries where there is war and opression.
Dame Fondacox
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It's not just worn torn, oppressed countries - period poverty is an issue here. I know lots of universities now have a free selection of products in toilets where there's high student footfall. The Trussell Trust, and most homeless centres also include sanitary products on their list of items people can donate, along with toiletries, nappies, toilet roles etc.
Timely discussion. An Australian charity called Share the Dignity just ran a survey and found that many working women also struggle with affording sanitary products. Not sure they will ever be free of charge:
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08...poverty-in-most-menstruating-people/104170146
I don't understand how people can't afford a pack of basic tampons. I went through a stage after my divorce where I was homeless and sofa surfing. I literally left with the clothes on my back and went to a refuge. Lots of people had donated toiletries and period products but even back then I'd noticed some women had refused to use opened packs. I was of the opinion that you don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I continue to donate to the refuge that helped me.
Even on the 'bones of my ar$e' as my mum would say, I never failed to keep up with basic hygiene. You could and still can buy supermarket brand products for a low price. I worked with a woman who lived 400 yards from me but I refused to give her a lift because she stank to high heaven. The manager asked her what the problem was (after many of us refused to work near her - she was that bad). She said there was no hot water or bath at home. So? Boil a kettle, fill a sink, use a soap and flannel. I wanted to be as little bother to my friends/family as I could when I relied on goodwill so this is what I did. I didn't want to add cost to their utility bills by using water and heat. I'd wash my smalls in the sink and hang them on their line to dry and use a laundrette once a week.
A 32-pack of tampons in Asda is £1.70. They'd last at least 2 periods for me. A 20-pack of maxi towels is 75p. I paid a fiver for my menstrual cup in Savers. The prices have doubled in the last 4 years but they're still affordable even on basic benefits. My next door neighbour has volunteered with the local food bank since Covid began. It'd been a real eye-opener for her. She says the same people who come in for their box are found 10 minutes later in the Costa a few doors down buying expensive coffee, feeding their kids extortionately priced toasties and cakes while playing with their latest iPhone!
Obviously, not everyone is like this but my neighbour says she's noticed that the few single men who use the bank are usually poorly dressed, unkempt and have an old phone. Unlike the women who are all dressed to the nines with fresh manicures and highlights (neighbour's words).
We live on a road of all private houses but the next street over is a rough estate. Two of the neighbours on our road have moved in from the estate - private houses being rented to the council. The single mother opposite has 3 kids by 2 fathers. She visits the bank every week but is a morning after school drop-off/afternoon after pick up daily visitor to Costa.
She costs the council a fortune as the fathers rarely turn up but when they do they're closely followed by the police as a visit always ends in a row where they turn up drunk t midnight, get violent and damage the house. The house owner isn't bothered as the council sorts all the damage. The single mum has been there several years but his other tenants have rarely lasted longer than 6 months at a time. Each tenant change sees the council arrive, rip out the carpets and replace and in the case of the last tenants (a seemingly single mum refugee with 6 kids but always has a load of adult males there), a new kitchen - the second in under 3 years.
None of this is any of my business nor is how people spend their money. But, seriously, stop moaning about lack of money and get your priorities straight. My opposite neighbour may be a one-off but her kids want for nothing. I doubt this has anything to do with the fathers. They would rather be the big I am and buy pointless expensive Christmas presents like drones and mini electric BMWs (that the youngest can't play with as he's too little and the oldest can't use as the mum refuses to supervise) rather than pay maintenance.
I honestly do not understand people these days. Why on earth would you wreck a kitchen or bathroom? Smash windows and break doors. Our newly-elected councillor got a little bit merry in the local pub and spouted out how much our council pays to repair deliberate damage. He also let us know how much the hanging baskets in the local town cost - let's just say I'd have done it for a tenth of the cost then gone on a Caribbean cruise with the rest! None of my business but ultimately rate-payers pay.
My food bank neighbour says the genuinely upsetting cases are the elderly people who have spent all their money helping younger relatives and are just a few quid short of getting extra benefits. They turn up thinking they'll get help but can't. It took me straight back to my childhood where my nan would give her meals on wheels to my uncle who had moved back in with her after divorce. He'd had 'compo' after a road accident left him slightly disabled. He spent all his money on booze and ****, abused my nan, ate her food and left her on the floor to go to the pub when she suffered a stroke.
Sorry. Rant over. I'm having a bad day at the hands of stupid people!
You can get a disc that looks similar to an old-fashioned contraceptive diaphragm or a cup without pull bit. Both need you to hook your finger under the rim to release. I think this design is easier as I usually have to break the suction with my finger or I'd be there forever giving myself a prolapse! So, you're spot on there with the plunger reference.
Lots of women don't like touch themselves let alone get a bit messy, which I understand, but once you get the knack it's easy. I wish I'd had them when I was younger.
Now, this I hate.
Why should it be taboo? I could go on for hours but I've worn myself out moaning up-thread. Let's just say I feel like throttling every teen boy that calls periods 'dirty' and girls 'dirty sluts' for having them (as happened in my niece's school not so long ago). What the hell?! It's bad enough men in undeveloped countries get away with making it taboo. What part of none of us would be here without them do these males not understand?
I'm relieved we have a choice, too. I remember my first pad. It was massive, uncomfortable and tied front and back with loops attached to a piece of string around my waist. My mum told me I was lucky as she had old towels or sheets torn into strips and fashioned into a home-made version that she had to wash and dry herself without leaving stains that might embarrass the family when they were hung out.
Stick-ons are a great invention.
TheFamousGrouse
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It's good to have a rant. I had a good rant when I saw on TV a woman trying to locate her nearest food bank by using the SatNav on her top-of-the-range smartphone.
A good rant makes you feel better.
I meant tin say it’s taboo in other some countries -l England, and and that poverty in somemof
These countries must mean That periods can be difficult for the women involved.
I’d like to see QVC making a donation to these charities very time they sel
a related product
I used to work in a community centre that had a foodbank attached and there was a couple used to park up in their nice BMW and come in for bags of food twice a week. It was as if they were using it as a free Tesco. I know you can be a bit hard up and still have a car but you'd have thought if they really couldn't afford food they might have sold that car and bought a cheaper one.
If I'm donating I usually put in sanitary items, razors, baby products and dog food as donations are low on those items.
CC
May
Registered Shopper
I so agree with all you say … Hygeine products for women are loads cheaper than they used to be and as you say they go to costa after picking up their “period poverty “ items … in the war they went through had ships and got on with it
I thought you had to get a referral to use a food bank.
stratobuddy
Registered Shopper
So did I
Do they turn people away who can't produce a referral?
Susie Wusie
Registered Shopper
No , there is a food bank near me and anyone is welcome, they have a maximum of 10 items a day and do keep a note of your name each time you attend but that is all. They also have childrens toys and clothes for people to take. It's a sponsored by a local community group and a referral is not necessary. It serves 250 to 300 people a day and local shops supply them with out of date food etc.
