Some of you will likely have to close your mouth and pick up your chin from the floor and read this post twice. Others will know exactly what I'm talking about and are likely nodding their heads.
Two years ago my annual pap came back with abnormal stage 4 pre-cancer cells. I had a small surgery and had a
cervical cone biopsy. Not fun, but not major, thank goodness. Turns out that the cells were
not pre-cancer, but rather, 'extremely irritated and inflamed'. My doctor explained to me that it was likely from the use of tampons and
Always products, which are not made from a breathable material. How else could they possibly hold a 5-gallon pail of liquid?!
*Ahem* Anyway, he told me that continuing with tampons and
Always could be a big mistake and may worsen the condition of my already irritated cervix. He suggested using organic tampons if I insisted on using them at all, and to switch to a breathable pad. Kotex comes closer, but then there are still the aspects of the environment and my wallet, not to mention comfort.
Three things to think about (aside from your health):
1) The environment
2) Your wallett
3) Comfort.
Environmental Aspect
According to
Best Health Mag, "a woman can use between 8,000 and 15,000 disposable pads, tampons, and liners" in her lifetime. We're all intelligent women - I don't think I really need to explain the environmental impact of millions upon millions of women using 8,000 to 15,000 tampons, pads, and liners in their lifetimes. Just imagine.
Your Wallet
Let's take a look at the cost, shall we? I'm going to use rather crude calculations, simply for the ease of it. In the past couple of months, I have bought the following items (I do my best, but I'm not a saint!) :)
42 Kotex liners in the clearance bin for $3 (which is ridiculously cheap)
40 OB tampons for $8 (average price)
10 organic tampons for $11 (not joking).
Let's use the lower number of 8,000 for my calculations.
The clearance liners for $3 for the package of 42 comes to .07 cents each. Times that by 8,000 and you will have spent $560.
The 40 pack of OB comes to .20 cents per tampon. Times that by 8,000 and you will have spent $1,600.
The $11 box of 10 tampons comes to $1.10 PER TAMPON - yowsers! Times that by 8,000 for a whopping $8,800.
I don't know about others, but I think it's safe to guess that no women uses only one product 100% of the time. Let's say we use 4,000 liners and 4,000 tampons in a lifetime.
That would be $280 for the clearance liners and $800 for the OB tampons, for a grand total of $1,080 spent in a lifetime.
Anyone care to withdraw that much from the bank and take it straight to the landfill? On the way to the dump you could stop by your doctor's office and have a pap, which may or may not yield abnormal results, which could definately yield a moderate nervous breakdown for the two months you're waiting for your cone biopsy (you know, the breakdown where you worry that you have cancer and what would you tell your kids if it comes to be)...
Ugh, sorry. I slipped back 2 years for a second there...
Comfort
Aside from the environmental and financial aspects of using disposable menstrual products, we have the issue of what is more comfortable - cloth or scratchy, non-breathable plastic and highly refined, chemical laden cotton.
I think that if more women wore cloth pads, fewer babies would wear disposable diapers. I really do. We cloth diapered our daughter and loved it. We started with cloth with our son and eventually switched over to disposables for convenience while I ran a dayhome. Now that I use cloth pads, I could kick myself for ever using disposables on him. Really.
How do you get your hands on cloth pads? There are a couple of options.
Your first option is to make your own, which I have done. They are not pretty, but they do the trick.
This site lists a whole bunch of tutorials for making your own. And don't think you have to buy all new terry for $20/meter or flannel for $8 a meter - think *flannel PJ's and towels from Value Village (or other thrift stores)*. They sell king size flat sheets for about $14 each - there are a whole lot of liners in a king size sheet!
But, the easiest option is to visit these 3 fabulous Etsy sellers and buy them online and have them shipped directly to you:
Moms Crafts 4 U has a good variety of liners and pads. She sells the pads below for 3/$11, which is a great investment, considering a good cloth pad should last about 5 years when cared for properly. I also LOVE this print - how appropriate!
Photo Credit: Mom Crafts 4 U
Emmastar also offers cloth pads in a great variety of colors and sizes. In particular, I love this starter pack of 12 liners for $36. Want to know the best part? She has offered to throw in a free mini liner for our readers who mention Significantly Simple when a purchase is made. And take a look at this math: Each one is worth $3. If each liner is used once a month, it would cost you .25 cents for the first year. If you use the liners for 5 years, each one would cost you .05 cents. Remember - that's .02 cents cheaper than the clearance liners I bought. AND, you're going to use each liner more than once a month, which brings the cost down per use.
Photo Credit: Emmastar
And finally,
Crea8tiveMama has the perfect starter set, entitled 'Committed to Cloth'. 24 pieces for $120 (includes free shipping to US customers). The set includes 4 overnighters, 16 pads, and 4 liners. Now THAT is money well spent!
Photo Credit: Crea8tiveMama
I urge you to give cloth pads a try if you haven't already. You won't be sorry! :)
