Eco-friendly feminine hygiene

I don't know why menstruation is such a sensitive subject. Half the population either has it, will have it or had it. Yet not as many people talk about it. But we should because, believe it or not, sanitary towels/ tampons can contain chemicals and may impose risks on our health and the environment.

We like to share what beauty products are great or what restaurants have great food, so why don't we share what sanitary products we rate or hate?

Do you ever wonder where your sanitary towel ends up? Nor do I. But considering each woman uses 12,000 sanitary towels in a lifetime (yep that's the correct number of zeros), we are contributing to the amount of rubbish on landfill. If you're thinking "well there's nothing I can do about that", there is. There are a few brands out there that manufacture more natural alternatives.

Natracare (from £1.39, Love Lula) produce biodegradable towels and tampons made entirely from organic cotton. So no plastics or perfume. And the cotton isn't bleached with chlorine either. I never really understood the point of perfumed sanitary towels! And do we really need plastic or chlorine anywhere near our private parts?

The towels sound great in theory, but do they work well?

In all honesty, no. The quality is quite poor. In fact, similar to the supermarket own-brand. I wouldn't recommend it without wings at all but I would assume that the one with wings would be much better.

So what other alternatives are there?

There is the mooncup, which I have read positive reviews on. I'm sure many of you have heard of it but for those who haven't it basically looks like this...

... and is used just like a tampon, except it can be worn for up to 8 hours because it is even more absorbent and because it is safe to do so as it contains no toxic chemicals.

There are also reusable sanitary towels, which you can just wash and reuse so they would save you a lot of money overtime too. You can find them in many websites such as Earthwise Girls.

I can't review these two options as I've never tried them. So if you have tried them or tried any other similar products, please let me know what you think.

xx